Stress and anxiety can happen for all sorts of reasons. One of the most common sources of anxiety is work. When your workload starts to pile up, it can feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day. You might start showing up early and leaving late, only to feel like you can never stay on top of your inbox.

If this resembles your work life in any way, you might start to notice an impact in other areas of your life as well. It’s hard to focus on your personal life and relationships when your mind is constantly pulled back to what needs to be accomplished at work. Everyone deserves a healthy balance of work and personal life. Let’s look at some tried-and-true ways to reduce anxiety at work.

Take Care of Yourself

First things first—you have to take care of yourself. When work piles up, it can be difficult to find a balance, but this is necessary for building a healthy life. Taking care of yourself is extremely important to make sure your body is performing to the best of its ability each day. A healthy, strong body is better equipped to deal with stress and anxiety when they arise.

If you don’t take care of yourself, it can lead to added stress, anxiety, burnout, and other mental health conditions. Make sure you’re eating a healthy and well-balanced diet, aiming for at least eight hours of sleep each night, and finding ways to move your body throughout the day.

Set Boundaries

Instead of constantly taking on more and more work or not knowing when to call it a day, you should think about setting, enforcing, and maintaining boundaries. Setting boundaries may feel harsh at first, but they’re actually a necessity when it comes to healthy relationships, including the one with your career.

As an employee, you may feel like you can’t say no, but it’s something we all must do from time to time. Your coworkers and boss know that you’re not a superhero. They also can’t expect you to work around the clock. Make sure you’re setting clear boundaries that help you keep a balance between your work and personal life.

Find Activities Outside of Work

Make sure you’re dedicating time in your calendar, including the work week, to engage in activities outside of work. This could mean hanging out with friends, going out on a date, seeing a movie, or going to a sporting event.

You can’t be expected to go to work all day, grab dinner, and then continue to work. It’s important to turn off and unplug so that you can rest and recuperate for the next day. It can also help to have something to look forward to after work.

Take Breaks

You have personal days, sick days, and vacation days for a reason. Use them! No job should expect you to leave these days unused. Make sure you’re using them throughout the year when you’re sick, when you just need a day to yourself, when you need to go to the doctor, or for a holiday. Breaks and days are important for feeling refreshed and avoiding anxiety and burnout.

Seek Professional Help

Anxiety is a normal emotion, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to manage. While it helps to know that you’re not alone, you don’t have to just accept that you’ll be anxious forever.

If you’re noticing that your anxiety is starting to take over and you’ve been experiencing signs and symptoms for two weeks or longer, consider reaching out to a mental health professional. They’ll be able to help you get to the root cause of your anxiety and work on implementing coping mechanisms to better manage it moving forward. Reach out today about anxiety counseling to get started.