Workplace Stress Is More Than a Feeling

April is National Stress Awareness Month in the United States. It’s been observed every April since 1992, when the Health Resource Network launched it to bring healthcare professionals and the public together around a topic that affects nearly every working person in the country. This year, we want to talk about workplace stress a little differently.

It Lives in Your Body, Not Just Your Head

When we talk about workplace stress, we tend to talk about it like it’s a mood. Something you feel on a tough day. Something that passes once the shift ends or the schedule finally sorts itself out.

But stress is not just a feeling. It’s a full-body event.

When the brain perceives a stressor, it sets off an alarm that ripples through the entire nervous system. Hormones are released. The pulse quickens. Muscles tense. Respiration deepens. The senses sharpen. CDC Your body is preparing for action whether you asked it to or not.

Physically, this shows up as headaches, muscle tension, elevated heart rate, fatigue, trouble sleeping, and an unsettled stomach. Emotionally, it can look like irritability, restlessness, and difficulty staying focused. SingleCare That’s not just a bad day. That’s your whole system under load.

When stress becomes chronic, the effects go deeper. Research points to increased risks for heart disease, hypertension, digestive problems, and weakened immune response. Stress also disrupts sleep and poor sleep makes stress worse, creating a cycle that’s hard to break. American Institute of Stress

For shift-based teams especially, this matters. Irregular hours, last-minute roster changes, and communication that’s spread across too many channels can quietly pile pressure onto people in ways that aren’t always visible. The team member who seems distracted might be running on three hours of sleep. The manager who snaps in the group chat might be holding together five competing schedules. Stress doesn’t announce itself. It accumulates.

The Numbers Behind Workplace Stress

The American Institute of Stress a nonprofit founded in 1978 to serve as a central source of knowledge on stress-related research has tracked workplace stress for decades. What they’ve found is hard to ignore.

According to the American Institute of Stress, 80% of US workers say they experience stress because of ineffective communication at work, and 39% report workload as their primary source of workplace stress. American Institute of Stress

Approximately 65% of US workers describe work as a very significant or somewhat significant source of stress in their lives, and 83% say that work-related stress affects their home life. Occupational Safety and Health Administration

That last number is worth sitting with. Workplace stress doesn’t stay at work. It comes home. It shows up in relationships, in sleep, in the ability to switch off and rest.

Workplace stress has been linked to around 120,000 deaths in the US each year. Occupational Safety and Health Administration This is not a peripheral issue. It sits at the centre of how we think about work, teams, and the people in them.

But Stress Isn’t the Enemy

Here’s something that gets lost in most conversations about stress: not all of it is harmful. In fact, some stress is essential.

Eustress — derived from the Greek word “eu,” meaning good — refers to the kind of stress that arises when we face challenges we feel equipped to handle. Unlike distress, which depletes us, eustress is energising and can support personal growth, job satisfaction, and stronger performance. Leadership IQ

The concept was introduced by endocrinologist Hans Selye in the 1970s, who proposed that stress could be a constructive force — one that leads to motivation, adaptation, and resilience.

The difference between stress that builds us up and stress that wears us down often comes down to one thing: context. When people have clear expectations, good communication, a manageable workload, and a sense of support around them, pressure becomes something they can work with. When those conditions are absent, the same pressure becomes something they endure alone.

Research has shown that employees who thrive under stress are more likely to be engaged, resilient, motivated, and productive. Where one person finds a tight deadline energising, another might find it draining — the difference often lies not in the deadline itself, but in how supported and informed they feel going into it. ADP

This is why the environment matters as much as the individual. A team that’s well-connected, clearly informed, and not constantly chasing updates is better placed to channel pressure in a direction that helps rather than harms.

What You Eat Shapes How You Handle Stress

Managing workplace stress isn’t just about changing how you work — it’s also about taking care of the body that does the work.

Diet plays a meaningful role in how the body responds to stress day to day. The food your team eats affects energy levels, mood, concentration, and the body’s ability to recover. Small, practical changes — made consistently — can make a real difference to how people show up and how they feel.

What Helps at the Team Level

Understanding stress as a physical and systemic experience changes what “support” actually looks like in a team context.

It’s not just about mindfulness resources or a wellbeing poster in the break room. It’s about the day-to-day experience of work. The clarity of a shift. The ease of a message. The confidence that comes from knowing what’s expected.

When schedules are clear, communication is in one place, and people aren’t spending their energy chasing updates or decoding messages from three different platforms, something shifts. The background noise of operational uncertainty goes quiet. And that quietness – that bit of relief – is where people do their best work.

Research consistently shows that empathetic management practices, open communication, and a safe environment for transparency about mental health and stress levels can meaningfully reduce burnout and help teams work better together. American Institute of Stress

Stress awareness isn’t a one-day conversation. But National Stress Awareness Month is a good moment to look honestly at the conditions your team is working in – and ask whether those conditions are making things harder than they need to be.

Work is better when people feel supported. Not just efficient. 

At Tommy, we believe a better workday starts with clarity, connection, and respect for people’s time. Scheduling, team communication, and attendance – all in one place, so your team can stay informed and in sync without the back-and-forth.

References:

• The American Institute of Stress – stress.org
• National Stress Awareness Month – stressawarenessmonth.com
• OSHA Workplace Stress Overview – osha.gov
• CDC/NIOSH: Stress at Work (Publication 99-101)
• Hans Selye, The Stress of Life (1956)