Moderate levels of stress can keep us alert and can help us perform better in challenging situations. Stressful situations can be exhilarating and some people thrive on the excitement. But stress is only healthy as a short­ term response. Excessive or continued stress can lead to illness, and physical and emotional exhaustion. Taken to extremes: stress kills.

When you feel stressed, your body produces hormones to prepare you for ‘fight or flight’. These raise your blood pressure, heart rate, and perspiration. They also reduce blood flow to the skin and reduce stomach activity. The efficiency of your immune system is reduced. All of these make it easier for you to fight or run away – great for our ancestors – but less useful when running a business – you can’t fight, and you can’t easily run away!

Because of this, the chemicals your body has produced are not used up in the way that nature intended. Over time these chemicals and the changes they produce can seriously damage your health.

All of us have suffered stress and can probably recognise some of these symptoms of stress:

• Feeling of being overloaded, confused, and not coping
• Feeling that your staff don’t care
• Continually being ‘on the back foot’ rather than moving the business forward
• Difficulty in winding down at night – despite being tired
• Poor sleep and perhaps waking early with palpitations or a panic attack as you recall your latest crisis
• Difficulty in concentrating or thinking rationally
• Indecisiveness and poor judgement
• Irritability, loss of sense of humour and perspective, arguments, or depression
• Avoiding difficult situations
• Other physical symptoms may include headaches, chest pains, high blood pressure, stomach disorders, tiredness

These symptoms can make you feel so unwell that you may start to worry that you have a serious illness, which is likely to make you feel more stressed. If the stress continues long term you may be putting yourself at risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Do not ignore physical warning signs and seek medical help where appropriate.

You may feel under pressure to work through periods of stress to ensure the continuity of the business. Although employees expect the managing director to know what to do in a given situation, there will be times when you don’t have the answer and would benefit from help yourself.

Often it’s not the things you do that are stressful – it’s that long list of tasks that you know you should be doing!

Maybe you feel your situation is beyond solving – and you’re just going through the motions until the inevitable strikes.

It’s all too easy for things to get out of proportion when you don’t have someone you feel that you can talk honestly with.  As entrepreneurs, there can be pressure on us to present a face to the world that can be a real effort to keep up when things aren’t going well.  Where does this pressure come from, and who is supposed to benefit?  There’s a fine line between acting positively and living in a state of delusion.  Wouldn’t it be good if you could drop this ‘mask’ for an hour to talk through your problems or concerns with a trusted adviser and sense-check your ideas for overcoming the difficulties?

The spectre of the business failing is bound to be stressful, particularly if you face losing your home too.  The strain of managing a business is demanding enough when you’re fortunate to have a supportive partner – but when the comfort, security, and status of your family is threatened and your relationship is tested – it can feel that your whole life is falling apart.

People react differently to stress. A situation that is intolerable to one person can be stimulating to another. Some people are more relaxed and easy going and seem to cope better with pressure.

How stressed you feel is not purely determined by the events you face, but how you perceive these and the response that you choose to make.

There are a number of techniques that you can try to ‘inoculate’ yourself against stress:

• No matter how tough your day – find some positive that you can hold on to
• Remember, victory is usually built from lots of small victories
• Collect quotations that have a positive effect on you and read them when you need extra strength
• Listen to music that you find uplifting
• Write positive affirmations and read them daily Keep physically active, ideally exercise daily
• When feeling stressed breathe into the abdomen (not the chest), and breathe out slowly
• Consider expressing your feelings privately in writing – this can help you to reconcile the situation in your mind
• Make the effort to eat healthily and cut down on caffeine
• Resist becoming dependent on cigarettes, alcohol, or tranquillisers as an automatic response to stress
• In preparing to sleep think about something that you can look forward to and plan – such as a holiday or a hobby that you enjoy
• Where possible, avoid associating with negative people or people who drain your energy

Seek help from a trusted friend or person that you can talk in confidence with, explore your options, and gain renewed clarity for your priorities