News, Occupational Health | Caroline Kalu | 17 April 2026
Stress Awareness Month: how to manage stress and build resilience
This April, Stress Awareness Month focuses on how we can turn understanding of stress into actions to reduce tension and build resilience. NLPSS lead occupational health advisor, Joan Adeniji, shares her expert advice on how you can identify common workplace stressors and undertake basic management techniques that will keep you calm when faced with challenges or demands.
What is stress?
“Stress can present itself as an emotional or physical tension,” says Joan. “It can be triggered from events of feeling frustrated, angry or nervous. It is the body’s reaction to a challenge or demand. Stress can be positive in short bursts, such as when it helps you to avoid danger or meet deadlines.”
These short bursts of stress are known as ‘acute stress’ — where symptoms subside quickly once an intense or immediate event is over. Then you have ‘episodic acute stress’. This is when someone experiences frequent bouts of ‘acute stress’ which means that the body never has chance to relax, such as working in a high-pressure job. Finally, there is ‘chronic stress’. “This is the type of stress that can drain your psychological and physical resources,” adds Joan. “It is when stress persists for weeks and months and you are not consciously aware of how it affects you. Stress becomes a problem when it lasts for a long time.”
Signs of chronic stress include a persistent feeling of being overwhelmed, physical exhaustion, difficulty concentrating, irritability, anxiety and depression.
Common workplace stressors
In 2024/25 the latest Labour Force Survey, conducted by the Office for National Statistics, estimated that 964,000 workers are suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety with a total of 22.1 million working days lost due to these factors.
There are numerous work-related stressors which can be triggered at different times, but particularly during periods of change. “Tight deadlines, heavy workloads and lack of support from management and colleagues are key triggers for workplace stress,” says Joan. “Job insecurity and difficult work relationships, particularly bullying and discrimination, can also have an effect as can lack of reward and recognition schemes and development programmes.”
Stress management techniques
If you are experiencing high levels of stress, there are some basic techniques you can adopt to lower tension and cope better with future workplace pressure:
- Exercise regularly to improve emotional intensity and mood. Committing to 10 minutes brisk walking a day, provides significant benefits according to data from Public Health England, and can be fitted easily into your lunchbreak or scheduled before or after work.
- Practice mindfulness through meditation and breathing exercises to calm your nervous system. Download apps like Calm or Headspace for guided meditation, breathing exercises, and sleep aids.
- Get enough sleep which helps to rejuvenate and repair your body. Adults need around seven to nine hours of sleep a night and it is advisable to stick to a regular routine.
- Prioritise tasks and work smarter not harder.
- Connect with others and build a strong support network.
- Avoid relying on unhealthy habits such as alcohol, excessive caffeine and smoking.
- Talk to a professional for support when overwhelmed, such as your occupational health team or GP. Therapy can help. The Stress Management Society also has resource hub including webinars, planners to help with workload and suggestions for relaxing activities.