What is work-life balance?
According to the Cambridge dictionary, work-life balance is the amount of time that you spend doing your job compared with the amount of time you spend with your family and doing things that you enjoy.
How do people find balance? According to Jim Bird, an internationally recognized expert on work-life balance and founder of WorkLifeBalance.com states that work-life balance does not mean an equal balance between the two. The right balance between a single person and a married person will be different as well. Every day is different. There might be more work on one day and more free time the next. The key to determining whether you’ve reached the right balance is whether there is a feeling of achievement and enjoyment in your life every day with work, family, friends, and self.
Why should this be important to you? There are some positive benefits to stress. It can create energy and motivation to reach daily personal or job-related goals. But without balance, ongoing stress can cause chronic health issues can develop. A series of hormones are released as the body reacts to a stressful situation. Unmanaged stress can cause ongoing high levels of the hormone cortisol to remain throughout the body. Stress can be displayed as muscle tension causing headaches, increased appetite, increased fat storage leading to weight gain, heartburn, and poor sleep. Chronic stress can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, increased risk of heart attack or stroke, suppression of your immune system, and mental breakdown. In 2015, it was estimated that 120,000 deaths per year were due to work stress.
The good news is that steps can be taken to reduce theses physical and mental stresses to the body.
References
Publishing, H. (2020). Understanding the stress response – Harvard Health. Harvard Health. Retrieved 8 April 2020, from https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-the-stress-response.
The Relationship Between Workplace Stressors and Mortality and Health Costs in the United States | Management Science. Doi.org. (2020). Retrieved 8 April 2020, from https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.2115.
Work-Life Balance Defined: Learn The Meaning of Work-Life Balance. Worklifebalance.com. (2020). Retrieved 8 April 2020, from https://worklifebalance.com/work-life-balance-defined/.
WORK-LIFE BALANCE | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary. Dictionary.cambridge.org. (2020). Retrieved 8 April 2020, from https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/work-life-balance.