Workplace Wellness - StressLessJoy

Classical Music for Focus: Does it Really Work? (Science)

July 5, 2025 by Alexandra Kingston

Music has a powerful ability to shape our mood and enhance our cognitive abilities. For centuries, people have turned to classical music for focus and concentration.

This guide explores the benefits of listening to classical music while you study or work. We’ll provide specific recommendations and insights to help you choose the right pieces for your individual needs.

We’ll also look at how specific composers, musical elements, and pieces can affect your ability to focus and learn.

Our goal is to give you the information you need to create a productive and personalized listening experience using classical music for focus.

The 4 Stages of Burnout: A Guide to Identifying & Overcoming

July 2, 2025July 1, 2025 by Alexandra Kingston

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by too much stress over a long period of time. Spotting burnout early can help you prevent serious health consequences. Burnout isn’t just feeling tired. It’s a gradual process that usually unfolds in several stages.

This article takes a closer look at the four stages of burnout and how to recognize them in yourself and others. We’ll also discuss the concept of “hormonal burnout.”

Understanding the 4 stages of burnout is the first step toward healing and prevention.

Nurse Burnout Causes: COVID, Staffing & Emotional Toll

May 29, 2025 by Alexandra Kingston

Understanding the Growing Crisis of Nurse Burnout

Nurse burnout is a state of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion caused by prolonged workplace stress. It’s more than just feeling stressed; it’s a chronic condition characterized by:

Emotional exhaustion
Depersonalization (feeling detached from your work and patients)
A sense of reduced personal accomplishment

Nurse burnout is a major problem in the United States and around the world. A 2018 study showed that nearly one-third (31.5%) of nurses who left their jobs cited burnout as a key reason. Since then, the COVID-19 pandemic has made the problem even worse.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the many different causes of nurse burnout, from individual factors to systemic issues within healthcare organizations. We’ll explore how workload, work environment, emotional toll, and lack of support contribute to this growing crisis. Finally, we’ll discuss strategies for addressing and preventing burnout, both for individual nurses and for healthcare organizations as a whole.

Mindfulness & Occupational Therapy: Benefits & Techniques

May 26, 2025 by Alexandra Kingston

Mindfulness is more than just a buzzword. It’s a set of practices that can improve your quality of life, reduce pain, and ease anxiety. At its core, mindfulness is about paying attention to the present moment without judgment.

While mindfulness can be a powerful tool on its own, it can also complement other therapies. Occupational therapy (OT) is one such field. OTs help people of all ages participate in the everyday activities they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of daily activities. They focus on helping their clients develop, recover, or maintain the skills needed for daily living and working.

Mindfulness and occupational therapy can work together to improve patient outcomes and enhance the skills of occupational therapists. By integrating mindfulness into their practice, OTs can provide more holistic and effective care to their clients.

This article explores the integration of mindfulness in OT practice, its benefits, and its practical applications for both therapists and patients. We’ll examine how mindfulness occupational therapy can help people regain independence, manage stress, and improve their overall well-being.

Evidence-Based Practice & Nurse Burnout: A Critical Review

May 26, 2025 by Alexandra Kingston

Understanding Nurse Burnout

Nurses make up a huge part of the hospital workforce—about 60%—and they’re essential to patient care. But too many nurses experience burnout, which has a negative impact on their physical and mental health, their job satisfaction, and, most importantly, patient safety.

Burnout is a syndrome that develops in response to chronic workplace stress. It’s characterized by three main things:

Emotional exhaustion: Feeling drained and depleted.
Depersonalization: Developing a negative and detached attitude toward others.
Reduced personal accomplishment: Feeling like you’re not good at your job anymore.

Burnout is a widespread problem. One analysis found that, globally, about 11% of nurses report symptoms of burnout. However, in some countries, like China, the rates are much higher—around 65%. The COVID-19 pandemic has only made the problem worse.

Given the scope and severity of the problem, it’s important to explore the evidence-based factors that contribute to nurse burnout and to identify effective intervention strategies to reduce its impact. This paper will examine those issues, with the ultimate goal of improving nurse well-being and patient outcomes. Understanding the role of evidence-based practice in addressing nursing burnout is crucial for creating sustainable solutions.

How to Prevent Burnout? 7 Essential Self-Care Tips

May 3, 2025 by Alexandra Kingston

Burnout is emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged or excessive stress. Burnout can leave you feeling drained, cynical about your job, and less productive at work.

Burnout is on the rise, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Increased workloads, lack of support, and other social and economic pressures can all contribute to burnout.

Luckily, there are many ways to prevent burnout. Here are 7 ways to prevent burnout:

Self-care
Boundary setting
Mindfulness
Social support
Time management

Mental Health Games and Activities: A Workplace Guide

May 3, 2025 by Alexandra Kingston

The Importance of Mental Health Games and Activities for the Workplace

Mental health is crucial to both your personal and professional life. A mentally healthy workplace is more productive, has less absenteeism, and has more engaged employees. Mental health issues, even mild ones, including burnout, can have an impact on your life.

Fun and engaging mental health games and activities can promote understanding, empathy, and practical strategies for stress management, resilience, and overall well-being in the workplace. These activities can also improve physical health and morale, reduce stress, encourage people to seek help when they need it, and boost engagement in your work. Consider a 30-day journal challenge to promote mental health and well-being.

This article will explore a variety of mental health games and activities for the workplace, including:

In-person games and activities
Virtual games and activities
Low-budget games and activities

We’ll also discuss the benefits of these initiatives and provide actionable tips for implementing them in your workplace.

Burnout? Understand Freudenberger’s 12 Stages & Heal

May 3, 2025 by Alexandra Kingston

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It’s often characterized by feeling depleted, cynical, and ineffective. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes burnout as a syndrome resulting from chronic workplace stress that hasn’t been successfully managed.

One way to understand how burnout develops is through Herbert Freudenberger’s 12 stages of burnout model. This model describes how burnout progresses through 12 distinct phases, starting with an intense desire to prove oneself and eventually leading to complete burnout.

The following sections explain the Freudenberger 12 stages of burnout in detail, as well as ways to recover from each stage.

Gratitude Challenge at Work: Boost Morale in 30 Days

April 8, 2025 by Alexandra Kingston

Did you know that feeling valued at work can dramatically improve employee engagement and motivation? Workplace culture matters. When employees feel appreciated, they’re more likely to be productive, loyal, and invested in their jobs.

Gratitude is about kindness, thankfulness, and appreciation. When practiced in the workplace, it can foster a more positive and supportive environment.

So, how can you bring more gratitude to your workplace? One effective approach is a structured gratitude challenge at work, designed to boost positivity, employee loyalty, and overall productivity.

This article provides a comprehensive guide to implementing and benefiting from a gratitude challenge at work. We’ll explore how to define gratitude in the workplace, how these challenges can improve employee well-being, and provide practical tips for launching a successful initiative at your company.