Understanding Stress and Resilience

Evelyn Kaluza

Executive Wellbeing Coach

Inchcape UK

April 2020

Workshop Overview

• The biology of stress and is all stress bad?

• Are you thriving or surviving?

• How to build your resilience

• What action can you take today?

Stress - The Facts

• 74% of UK adults have felt so stressed at some point over the last year they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope.

• In 2017/18 stress, depression or anxiety accounted for 44% of all work-related ill health cases and 57% of all working days lost due to ill health.

Source: Mental Health Foundation

57% people who experienced concerns about their mental health turned

to unhealthy behaviours – smoking, drinking alcohol, unhealthy eating or

taking recreational drugs

8 in ten (83%) people have experienced early signs of

poor mental health including feeling anxious, stressed, having

low mood or trouble sleeping in the last 12 months

Mental Health Survey

Source: Public Health England

Just over half (53%) of people who experienced concerns about their

mental health avoided social situations or contact from friends and family.

EUSTRESS or DISTRESS

Is all stress bad?

New job

Getting Married

Having a baby

Peforming on Stage

See things as challenges rather than threats

changes our mindset and our physiological

response

Burnout

Burnout is a reaction to prolonged or chronic job stress and is characterized by three main dimensions:

• exhaustion,

• cynicism (less identification with the job),

• and feelings of reduced professional ability

Sources of stress or worry

Money

Workload

Mental

Health

Work

Relationships

Physical

Health

Personal

Relationships

Boss

Family

Daily

Hassles

Job

Security

Corona

Virus

Internal sources of stress

Negative

Self TalkProcrastinating Weak

Boundaries

People

Pleasing

Can’t say

No

Do It

Yourself

Mode

Unmotivated

Boredom

Rescuer

Fear of

Failure

Over

thinking

Challenged

Inspired

Energetic

Engaged

Alive Tired

Tense

Pushing hard

Rushed

DisorganisedDepressed

Guilt

Negative/angry

Helpless

Low focus/control

Thriving

Surviving

Burnout

12

34

5

6

98

7

Wellbeing and Resilience States

How are you feeling?

Biology – the Brain

FIGHT AND FLIGHT

REST & DIGEST

Human Brain –

thinking,

Reptilian Brain

Limbic –

Emotions,

Memory

The Warning Signs

MindWorrying

Muddled Thinking

Impaired judgement

Negativity

Hasty decisions

BodyHeadaches

Fatigue

Infections

Muscular

Skin

Emotions

More fussy

Irritability

Depression

Alienation

Apathy

Behaviour

Accident prone

Loss of appetite

Drinking more

Insomnia

Restlessness

STRESS

PHYSICAL EMOTIONAL

MENTAL

HOW ARE YOUR

ENERGY

RESERVES?

Building Your Resilience

EXERCISE

RESTAPPRECIATE

CONNECT

SLEEP

EAT WELL LEARN

FUN

SELF CARE

Deposits

Deposits

Deposits

Withdrawls

Withdrawls

Withdrawls

Wellbeing Bingo

“A mind that is racing over worries about the

future or recycling resentments from the past is

ill equipped to handle the challenges of the

moment.

By slowing down, we can train the mind to focus

completely in the present. Then we will find that

we can function well whatever the difficulties.

That is what it means to be stress-proof: not

avoiding stress but being at our best under

pressure, calm, cool, and creative in the midst of

the storm.”

― Eknath Easwaran, Take Your Time: The

Wisdom of Slowing Down

Slowing Down

Achieving better balance

✓ Remind yourself what really

matters

✓ Remind yourself you have been

through a difficult time before

✓ Take small steps every day

✓ Focus on the good things

✓ Know when your energy

reserves are getting low

✓ Try slowing down

✓ Ask for help

So what are you

going to do

today?