The World

We all know that too much stress hurts our health, our relationships, and our productivity at work. The good news: New research reveals that controlling stress is easier than you thought

THESE DAYS, stress is even more rampant than it was in 1983, when Time magazine declared it to be "the epidemic of the eighties:' Stress is growing: According to a survey by CareerBuilder, an on-line recruitment site, the overall percentage of worker stress increased by 10% between August 2001 and May 2002. And stress hurts the bottom line: In 1999, a study of 46,000 workers published by the Health Enhancement Research Organization, or HERO, revealed that health care costs are 14796 higher for those individuals who are stressed or depressed, independent of other health issues.[1] The study, which included employees from Chevron, Hoffman-La Roche, Health Trust, Marriott, and the states of Michigan and Tennessee, also found that health care costs generated by stress and depression exceeded those stemming from diabetes and heart disease both stress-related illnesses.

But what exactly is stress? Generally speaking, "stress" refers to two simultaneous events: an external stimulus called a stressor, and the emotional and physical responses to that stimulus (fear, anxiety, surging heart rate and blood pressure, fast breathing, muscle tension, and so on). Good stresses (a ski run, a poetry contest) inspire you to achieve.

In common parlance, though, stress usually refers to our internal reaction to negative, threatening, or worrisome situations-a looming performance report, a dismissive colleague, rush-hour traffic, and so on. Accumulated over time, negative stress can depress you, burn you out, make you sick, or even kill you. This is because, as our research shows, negative stress is both an emotional and a physiological habit.

Of course, many companies understand the negative impact of cumulative stress and do their best to help employees counteract it. Some offer on-site yoga classes and massage; others provide stress management seminars; still others require workers to take a vacation every year.

The problem is that the overall company culture, exacerbated by the stress in people's private lives, works against such approaches. Stressed-out employees are unwilling to take precious time away from work, even for an hour, to partake of amenities that they - and their bosses- generally regard as optional. Moreover, those who use the employee wellness programs are the ones already most willing to confront their stress head-on. Those in the greatest need often don't show up.

Since 1991, we have studied the mind-body-emotion relationship - specifically, the physiological impact of stress on performance, both at the individual and organizational levels. (Thoughts and emotions have different types of physiological responses, so we distinguish between thoughts, which are generated by the mind, and emotions, which are produced throughout the body.)

Our goal, in large part, has been to decode the underlying mechanics of stress. We've sought to understand not only how stress works on a person's mind, heart, and other body systems but also to discover the precise emotional, mental, and physiological levers that can counteract it. Having worked with more than 50,000 workers and managers in more than 100 organizations, including Boeing, BP, Cisco, Unilever, Bank of Montreal, and Shell, we've found that learning to manage stress is easier than most people think. And stress reversal can do a lot of good for your organization.

Our research has spawned "inner quality management" a system of tools, techniques, and technology that organizations can use to reduce employee stress and boost overall health and performance. In this article, we'll use the story of someone we'll call Nigel, a senior executive with whom we worked, to describe how these techniques reduce stress in the real world. Among the things Nigel learned was a specific technique for lowering his body's stress response within a minute or two. Like Nigel, you can practice this technique virtually anywhere, even during a tense meeting or while laboring under a tight deadline. By doing so, you can reverse the toxic effect that stress has on your body, your mind, your mood, and your overall effectiveness and productivity.

Nigel's Story

When we first met Nigel, he was a mess. A 52-year-old engineering executive at a global oil company in Britain, Nigel was irritable, pale, and occasionally short of breath. He had dark circles under his eyes, and he complained of stomach problems. In fact, he was under a terrific amount of stress. His company was in the grips of powerful geopolitical and competitive pressure. It also faced internal challenges resulting from global restructuring efforts, the intense demands to develop new sources of oil, and a string of acquisitions. In addition, one of Nigel's managerial reports was making his life difficult, and his division's performance was dropping. Unending international travel, combined with family concerns involving aging parents and a troubled teenager, took their toll. Though he had endured this situation for years, Nigel had no idea how much the unrelenting stress had affected his health and performance.

He did have a hint, however. For 15 years, Nigel had suffered from high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Since both conditions are significant risk factors for heart disease and stroke, Nigel's physician prescribed a straightforward, but not so simple, treatment: Reduce your stress.

But how? The work environment was such that Nigel didn't feel he could afford to take time out to exercise or time off to recuperate from stress. He also doubted that such strategies would provide lasting solutions. In fact, on those occasions when he was able to take time away from the office, he felt so flattened by exhaustion that he wound up getting sick. Moreover, even when he did manage to relax, he correctly guessed that his blood pressure would shoot up again as soon as he returned to work. He didn't know what to do, and that sense of hopelessness discouraged him even more. Secretly, he even nursed fantasies about having a heart attack-at least if he landed in a hospital he could finally get some rest. Then, of course, he would chide himself for entertaining such ideas, knowing how much his company, his colleagues, and, most of all, his family depended on him.

Physiologically speaking, here's what was happening to Nigel. As Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, and Annie McKee explain in their article "Primal Leadership: The Hidden Driver of Great Performance"(HBR December