Stress, what does it do to us? And how does it affect reintegration during absenteeism? Can it cause absenteeism ? Siham Aen Messaoudi, Labor and Health Advisor is increasingly seeing stress as an absenteeism cause. What exactly does science say about stress and what causes it? And what exactly is stress?
Calmness and tranquility
The basic requirement for every human being is safety. And as soon as you don't feel safe, a stress reaction occurs. This reaction is regulated in our body. To properly explain what stress is, let me first take you through the opposite of stress; calmness and rest. There are two types of rest, namely passive and active. The difference between actually doing nothing (staring into the void, letting go of your thoughts). In passive rest, you are relaxed, but your brain is still actively "recording" something.
A walk can be active rest: if you take a familiar route whose surroundings you already know, and have already recorded once in your brain. You can then mindlessly walk the route; your brain gets active rest. Add to this a headphone with a podcast or music and you are talking about passive rest. Each person has their own forms of this rest and it is important to ask yourself if you are also getting your active rest. In this day and age where information and stimuli are constantly coming in, passive rest is gaining the upper hand. Active rest is a must.
The stress circle
Stress, on the other hand, is a state of being to which you "must" react. It is a positive or negative stimulus from outside. It triggers a response, or the stress response in the body. Your hypothalamus continuously scans your environment and wants to know if it is "safe. Once a stress response occurs, the hypothalamus begins producing the stress hormone (cortisol/adrenaline). An overload arrives from the acute response to the hippocampus that doesn't know how to slow down all that stress, and then the frontal lobe can no longer slow down the emotions, causing them to take over. The amygdala then goes red hot and lets all those negative emotions (anxiety, etc.) run wild. And so the stress circle is complete. The recovery time from an acute stress response takes 48 hours.
Continuous stress
Cortisol is present in the body and we as humans always need it. For example, it helps you to get up in the morning. In addition, cortisol has an anti-inflammatory effect during busy or stressful periods. However, when this hormone is maintained for a long time, it can cause a stacking effect. This causes your body to constantly be in a state of readiness to produce more cortisol. And indeed, because the hormone is constantly needed (the body thinks), the adrenal glands go to work on their own.
Individuals who are constantly under stress have no recovery time. The body keeps going around in the stress circle. It can sometimes be the case that the stressor(s) are long gone, but the body is still in stress. Therefore, it is important to get to your active rest before you fall into a vicious cycle.
With prolonged stress, the body starts to slow down or speed up all kinds of processes. For example, you can imagine that your pupils will dilate so that your hypothalamus can continue to scan properly. Your bladder will relax so that you don't "have to go to the bathroom" during the stress reaction as well. Your pancreas slows down the production of juices so your energy during stress doesn't have to go to your metabolism either. And so there are other processes in the body that adjust. All energy and focus goes into survival mode. So prolonged stress can cause medical symptoms.
Tips
With absenteeism in which stress plays a major role, it is important to focus on "safety" and "active rest. As an employer, you certainly have a say in this. Here are some tips;
- Take your employee seriously if he/she reports experiencing stress. Stress is more than the everyday catch-all term that we sometimes fail to acknowledge together. It is "unsafe" for the employee if they feel they have to defend or explain themselves. This is often why employees find it difficult to come into the workplace the first time;
- Safety in the workplace, ask your employee what he or she feels safe with. Whether or not colleagues in the hallways, a different time of day, a particular office, etc. Try to continually encourage concreteness in the contact moments;
- Ask the employee what he or she does to get rest/soothing. Pay attention to passive or active rest;
- Ask if the stressors are still present and if you as the employer can influence them. Recognize that even if the stressors are gone/resolved that recovery will still take some time.
Returning to the workplace after a long period can be a barrier for the employee. As a manager or employer, you can make the threshold as low as possible and guide your employee through this.
