Five tips to lower stress at workplace

When it comes to lowering stress at work, studies from around the world have yielded a set of five tips, with advice ranging from grabbing 40 winks at your desk to taking your pet to work.

The first tip highlighted by New Scientist magazine is that workers should be sociable - but not too sociable.

British research has shown that sociability is good for the health, with a study of thousands of civil servants revealing that moral support from colleagues, encouragement from supervisors and clear direction from bosses kept stress levels down.

Male civil servants who lacked support in the workplace were 31 per cent more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression, and women 43 per cent.

However, too much socializing could lead to work piling up.

The second tip is to ensure your surroundings are as pleasant as possible.

Simply being able to see your colleagues makes the working day much more manageable, with the height ofpartitionsdividing up office space affecting stress levels.

Surprisingly, the higher the partition is, the more people complain about noise from their neighbours.

Research from the University of Montreal shows that the optimum partition height is 4ft 3ins (1.3m) - high enough to provide privacy but low enough to ensure staff do not feel isolated.

The third piece of advice for workers is to learn to switch off.

Mobile phones and other electronic equipment should be switched off after hours to allow burnt-out brain cells to recharge.

Playing with a cat or dog can also aid relaxation and if workers can persuade their boss to let them into the office then the day will fly by.

如果要缓解工作时的压力，可以参考世界各地的研究得出的五大妙法，其中包括在办公桌前眨眼40下以及带着你的宠物去上班等。

《新科学杂志》强调的第一大妙法是，要善于交际，但不要过头。

英国有研究表明，善于交际有利于健康，一项对几千名公务员的调查发现，同事的精神支持、上司的鼓励和老板给予的明确指示可以缓解工作压力。

在工作中缺乏支持的男公务员心情焦虑、情绪低落的可能性比得到支持的人高31%，而女公务员的这一比例则为43%。

然而，过于爱交际则会导致工作干不完。

第二大妙法是保证令人愉快的工作环境。

办公室里用以分隔空间的隔板高度会影响压力的大小，所以在工作时只要让自己能看见周围的同事，你这一天就会舒心得多。

奇怪的是，办公室的隔板越高，觉得周围噪音大的人越多。

蒙特利尔大学有研究表明，办公室里隔板的最佳高度为1.3米，这个高度足以保护隐私，又不会让员工感到孤立。

第三大建议是学会“关机”。

下班后关掉手机和其它一些电子设备，让自己养精蓄锐。

和宠物一起玩耍也有助于放松，如果能说服老板允许员工带宠物上班，那一天就过得飞快啦！

Vocabulary:
partition : 办公室里常用的“隔板”