Is Work Anxiety Taking Over Your Life?

09/27/2024

Key Takeaways

01. Over 75 percent of people admit that they experienced work anxiety during the previous month.

02. Causes of workplace stress can include excessive workloads, toxic environments, lack of communication, and work-life imbalance.

03. These feelings of anxiety can manifest in various physical, emotional, and behavioral ways and extend outside of the workplace and into your personal life.

04. Using a breathing necklace, like Komuso’s Shift in combination with other practices can be incredibly helpful for calming anxious thoughts and feelings at work.

Using a Breathing Necklace Can Help Navigate Stress in the Workplace

Work anxiety is something many of us experience, whether we recognize it or not. It’s that tightness in your chest when deadlines loom, the constant worry about meeting expectations, or the sense of dread that creeps up when thinking about the day’s workload. In today's fast-paced work environments, it's easy to feel like you're not keeping up, which can seriously affect your mental and physical well-being. If you've ever felt like work stress is taking over, you're not alone.

More and more people are opening up about the challenges of balancing work responsibilities with personal life, and the statistics are startling. With workplace stress and burnout becoming more common, understanding what work anxiety is—and how to manage it—has never been more crucial. Let's dive into what work anxiety looks like, if it’s a problem for you, and how a breathing necklace like Komuso’s Shift can help you to start to overcome it.

How is Work Anxiety, and How Common Is It?

Work anxiety is more than just feeling stressed about a big project or a tight deadline—it’s a persistent worry that follows you from task to task, often spilling over into your personal life. Like a gnat, it never seems to fully go away even after you walk out the door at the end of the work day.

It’s the kind of anxiety that makes your heart race as soon as you sit down at your desk or keeps you awake at night, replaying conversations with your boss. Does that sound all too familiar? You’re not alone– according to the American Psychological Association’s Work and Well-Being study, 79% of employees experienced work-related stress the month before the survey.

But it doesn’t stop there. Workplace stress often affects more than just your job—it seeps into your relationships with coworkers, your quality of work, and even your home life. 56% of workers report that stress impacts their job performance, while 51% say it affects their relationships with peers. For many, this stress doesn’t just stay at work. More than three-quarters of people who say stress interferes with their work also report that it affects their personal lives.

Workplace stress is testing us all, especially as we struggle to balance demanding jobs with our personal lives. Burnout, a more severe form of work anxiety, is becoming increasingly common. Indeed found that 52% of employees feel burnout—a number that’s hard to ignore. In 2020, online searches for “signs of burnout” spiked by 24%, underscoring just how widespread the problem has become.

However, the good news is that burnout and work anxiety don’t have to be inevitable. Establishing practical ways to tackle these issues will require a concentrated and collaborative effort between employers and employees. By implementing self-care practices, fostering a healthier workplace culture, and encouraging open communication, we can start to reduce the pressures that lead to burnout.

Taking care of your mental health isn’t just about surviving the day—it’s about creating a sustainable career where you can thrive personally and professionally and ensure that work anxiety isn’t bleeding over into your everyday life.

What Causes Stress in the Workplace?

Work anxiety can stem from various factors, often related to the demands and pressures of the specific environment you’re in. Let’s be honest–some businesses can be hotbeds for stressing out their staff members and not supporting positive mental health.

With that in mind, here are some common causes of work anxiety:

Excessive Workload: When tasks pile up and deadlines feel overwhelming, it can lead to stress and anxiety about meeting expectations.

Job Insecurity: Concerns about losing a job, especially in these uncertain economic times, can cause constant worry and anxiety about the future.
High Expectations: Whether self-imposed or coming from management, high expectations for performance can create fear of failure or judgment, contributing to work anxiety.
Toxic Work Environment: Negative workplace dynamics, such as bullying, favoritism, or poor communication, can make employees feel unsupported and anxious.
Lack of Control: Feeling powerless in decision-making or having little influence over work processes can increase anxiety, as it creates uncertainty and frustration.
Work-Life Imbalance: Struggling to balance work responsibilities while still having time for your personal life can cause stress, making it difficult to relax and recharge outside of work hours.
Unclear Role or Expectations: When job roles or tasks are not clearly defined, it can create confusion and anxiety about succeeding or meeting expectations.
Fear of Conflict or Criticism: Anticipating negative feedback, conflicts with coworkers, or performance evaluations can heighten work-related anxiety.

This isn’t a comprehensive list, but it showcases just how many ways work stress can creep in and start wreaking havoc. Chances are, you’ve experienced one of the scenarios mentioned above once or twice– maybe you’re dealing with it right now! Those of us at Komuso have had a few jobs that have led to those feelings.

If any of these sound familiar, there’s a high chance that you may be dealing with work anxiety.

Signs of Work Anxiety

The first step toward dealing with work anxiety is realizing if you have it in the first place. Sometimes, those stressed-out feelings come during a certain time of the year, and you can easily see that you’re struggling. Other times, that feeling of overwhelm or burnout slowly creeps up, and before you know it, you’re struggling with an overbearing weight. You may not even realize you’re dealing with work anxiety because you’re used to just putting your head down and chugging along, but that doesn’t mean it’s not impacting your mental and physical health or bleeding into other areas of your life.

Understanding what signs to look out for can help you more quickly realize when you’re struggling. Then, you can take steps to soothe those worries and support your mental wellness.

With that in mind, here are some indicators of work anxiety. Remember that these feelings can manifest in physical, emotional, and behavioral ways.

Constant Worry: A persistent sense of dread or worry about tasks, deadlines, or interactions with coworkers and supervisors.
Difficulty Concentrating: Struggling to focus on work tasks, especially due to intrusive thoughts about potential mistakes or future outcomes.
Physical Symptoms: Headaches, muscle tension, fatigue, or gastrointestinal issues, often stress responses to workplace pressures.
Sleep Disturbances: Experiencing trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or waking up feeling unrested due to constant thoughts about work.
Irritability or Mood Swings: Feeling easily frustrated or emotional about work-related tasks or colleague interactions.
Avoidance Behavior: Avoiding meetings, emails, or certain tasks out of fear of failure or judgment, leading to procrastination or incomplete work.
Overworking: The urge to work excessive hours to compensate for feelings of inadequacy or to avoid perceived future failures.
Impaired Performance: A noticeable decline in work quality or productivity due to overwhelming stress and anxiety.
Increased Absenteeism: Taking more sick days or avoiding going to work altogether to escape stressful situations.
Self-Doubt: Frequently questioning one’s abilities, even when there’s evidence of success, leading to feelings of inadequacy or imposter syndrome.

Do any of these sound familiar to you? If so, you might have a work anxiety situation on your hands. And, if you’re feeling this way at work, there’s a high likelihood that it’s bled over to your personal life as well. Trouble sleeping, irritability with loved ones, and a lack of interest in activities are signs of it permeating your life.

The good news is that there are ways to help support your mental health and ease those feelings.

Using a Breathing Necklace for Work Anxiety

A breathing necklace is a phenomenal tool for battling work anxiety. It is designed to help regulate your breathing by encouraging slow, deep breaths, which are known to activate the body's parasympathetic nervous system—the system responsible for calming you down.

When you’re at work dealing with stressful situations after stressful situations, this is key for giving your mind some support and helping to calm down. That way, those feelings don’t continue to build up and bubble over.

How It Works

The concept behind a breathing necklace is rooted in controlled breathing techniques, particularly by extending the exhale. By exhaling through the pendant, you naturally slow your breathing to a pace that signals your body to chill out. This slow exhalation can help in several ways:

Activates the Vagus Nerve: The vagus nerve is crucial in regulating the parasympathetic nervous system. Using a breathing necklace to slow your breath stimulates the vagus nerve, helping reduce heart rate and cortisol levels and promoting a sense of calm while at work.
Mindfulness and Focus: A breathing necklace can be a mindfulness tool. Focusing on your breath and the physical act of using the necklace helps anchor your thoughts, pulling you out of the anxious mental spikes when you get another work email or have yet another meeting added to your calendar.
Portability and Ease of Use: Unlike other stress-relief tools, a breathing necklace can travel with you anywhere– including to work! You can use it from the moment you wake up and then throughout the day at work for quick anxiety relief whenever you need it. You can also use it for any after-work anxiety jitters! And, with its small size, you can discreetly use it in the office, during meetings, or while working on a project with others.

This easy-to-use tool will help break your mind and body out of the “fight or flight” response that prolonged anxiety creates so that you’re not suffering from those intense feelings perpetually.

How to Use an Anxiety Breathing Necklace

With a few simple tweaks to the timing and mechanics of your breath, you can start breathing properly (and experiencing the benefits) every time you’re at work. That’s the great thing about breathwork!

To feel the full effect of breathing properly, repeat this cycle for 5 minutes.

How to inhale:

Place one hand on your chest and the other on your belly.
Inhale slowly through your nose, directing breath into your belly.
Feel your belly rise, pausing briefly when full.

How to exhale:

Place the anxiety breathing necklace to your lips and exhale slowly through it.
Start gradually, going as slowly as possible, and exhaling completely.
Feel your belly deflate, pausing before the next inhale.

Once you’ve mastered this, the key is to practice as much as possible. This includes while you’re at work, in the car, driving to the office, or sitting at home with the family. The more you do it, the more it helps and the better you feel.

How to practice better breathing daily.

Set a timer for 60 minutes.
Every time the timer goes off, breathe purposefully for 2-5 minutes.
A slow, deep inhale followed by a slow, long exhale.

Do this all day long and see how it affects your level of anxiety and stress.

Practical Example

With a few simple tweaks to the timing and mechanics of your breath, you can start breathing properly (and experiencing the benefits) every time you’re at work. That’s the great thing about breathwork!

To feel the full effect of breathing properly, repeat this cycle for 5 minutes.

How to inhale:

Place one hand on your chest and the other on your belly.
Inhale slowly through your nose, directing breath into your belly.
Feel your belly rise, pausing briefly when full.

How to exhale:

Place the anxiety breathing necklace to your lips and exhale slowly through it.
Start gradually, going as slowly as possible, and exhaling completely.
Feel your belly deflate, pausing before the next inhale.

Once you’ve mastered this, the key is to practice as much as possible. This includes while you’re at work, in the car, driving to the office, or sitting at home with the family. The more you do it, the more it helps and the better you feel.

How to practice better breathing daily.

Set a timer for 60 minutes.
Every time the timer goes off, breathe purposefully for 2-5 minutes.
A slow, deep inhale followed by a slow, long exhale.

Do this all day long and see how it affects your level of anxiety and stress.

The Best Anxiety Breathing Necklace

Remembering to slow your exhale throughout the day at work can be very hard, especially when you’re bombarded with tasks and chats.

Consciously reducing the speed of exhales during spikes of anxiety during the workday can also be difficult to remember and put into practice.

That’s where Komuso’s Shift Anxiety Breathing Necklace comes in! The Shift is always with you and can be used without attracting too much attention. You don’t need wifi, you don’t have to step outside, and you don’t have to make sure it’s charged. You can take a breath break while at work and experience the benefits of better breathing anytime you need to.

Why The Shift Is The Best

Komuso designed and patented the original anxiety breathing necklace concept in 2017. Hundreds of counterfeit knock-offs are documented as scams that ship from China and take months to deliver if they arrive. Most use toxic metals for your mouth, copy Komuso’s story, and infringe on two patents. They do not meet the quality standards we implemented for our product.

The Shift breathing necklace is made with medical-grade 316 stainless steel, which bakes the precious metal colors throughout the piece through a proprietary process to ensure it doesn’t scratch or fade. The chamber is specifically measured to slow your exhale to 8+ seconds, ensuring you get the most out of your breath.

We also include a free breath course called TKM: The Komuso Method to learn how to get the most out of the necklace. Our course provides a daily formula to easily incorporate better breathing practices so that you experience better mental health and wellness by quelling those anxious thoughts while working. By teaching you how best to use your Shift and combining breathwork, emotional granularity, and reticular activation, you’ll learn how to habitually feel more calm and in control, overcoming that work anxiety.

The Shift, so much good in one breath.

SHOP THE SHIFT

Pushing the Relax Button

Work can have moments of stress, but it shouldn’t make you perpetually anxious! A breathing necklace like Komuso’s Shift can help overcome those moments of intense work anxiety, but it should be used in combination with other steps to help improve and support your mental health.

Other actions you can take include:

Establishing boundaries with
Communicating to supervisors and other employees
Taking breaks regularly
Setting realistic goals
Exercising
Leaving work at work
Creating a calm work environment
Working with a mental health professional

If nothing seems to work, it might be time for a new job opportunity! Your mental health and happiness are paramount, so never feel guilty for making them a priority. The goal is to thrive personally and professionally, and you can’t do that when work anxiety is running the show!

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