Extract
Stress can be the spice of life... or the kiss of death. The real
question... "Is it worth dying
for?"1
According to the American Institute of Stress, job stress is triggered by a
wide variety of job
demands2. These
include task-specific demands, role demands, interpersonal demands, and
physical demands. Job demands are inevitable characteristics of work
conditions and are not inherently or necessarily harmful. At the very macro
level, globalization and competitive pressures and/or industrial restructuring
activities within industries are among the leading causes of job strain, which
is the adverse consequence of job stress. Briefly, we define job stress as the
mind-body arousal resulting from the physical and psychological demands of
work. We define strain as the physiological, behavioral, and/or psychological
deviation from healthy functioning. Strain is distress, or bad stress. Job
strain is harmful and may manifest in physical, psychological, or behavioral
problems such as cardiovascular disease, depression, and substance abuse.