Today@Dal

(Repost from CTV News)
It’s been said that the way we’re working isn’t working, and author Dr. David Posen couldn’t agree more.  The former family physician who now specializes in stress and lifestyle management says today’s work environments have become toxic with the pressures of global competition, economic uncertainty, and downsizing.

In his new book, “Is Work Killing You?: A Doctor’s Prescription for Treating Workplace Stress,” Posen (http://www.davidposen.com) looks at the myth of multi-tasking and the lunacy of long hours and calls for a return to a more sensible approach to working that will not only benefit the mental health of workers, it will increase productivity.

For Posen, stress is a double-edged sword. The good kind motivates us, gives us purpose and confers the energy we need to do our work. But it becomes a problem, Posen says, when it’s too much, when it lasts too long, or when it comes too often.  “People can become overwhelmed and exhausted. They’ll start to become distracted, their memory starts to be affected, they don’t make decisions as well or as quickly, and they start to feel anxious, and perhaps event resentful. That’s all counter-productive,” he told CTV’s Canada AM Wednesday.  That kind of stress not only hurts our health; it hurts our organization. When we’re overstressed, we’re inefficient, Posen says. Our productivity drops and instead of feeling excited and motivated, we just feel exhausted.

Read the rest of this post at the Healthy Dal blog.