Avoiding workplace stress

Besides eating right and being physically active, don’t ignore your vacation, personal or sick days. If you feel sick, don’t come into the office and spread germs to everybody else. If you need to take a personal day, use it. Otherwise you’ll spend all day stressing about why you’re not where you should’ve been. Take vacation days to recharge and come back better and ready to work.  (Marco Garcia/Getty Images)

Are you slumped over your desk? Are you nodding off? Are you starting to get restless and annoyed? It’s time to take a walk. Whether you stroll around your office building, take a walk outside or just jog up a flight of stairs, take a break when needed.  (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune)

Not communicating enough with a spouse? Do you want to see how your kids are doing? Want to tell your friend a funny story? Use your lunch break to refresh. Have a friendly conversation in a private location. Try not to work through your lunch break. And if you’re talking to someone else on his/her lunch break, then you know that that person isn’t working through a lunch break, too.  (Charles Osgood/Chicago Tribune)

Keep a to-do list of all the things you need to accomplish by the end of the day and what can be put off until the next. Trying to remember everything you need to do without writing it down can easily frustrate some people and lead to way too many “Now what was I supposed to do?” moments.  (James F. Quinn/Chicago Tribune)

Overeating, smoking and drinking excessive alcohol when you’re stressed out will only lead to more stress and creep into your personal life. Consider other ways to handle your stress load.  (Julio Cortez/AP File Photo)

If you never turn off your phone or your computer and always check your work e-mail, when do you stop working? If the answer is “never,” you’re helping to contribute to your workplace stress. Tell family, friends and your employer when you will be unavailable and stick to it.  (William Thomas Cain/Getty Images)

Whether you take a nap during your lunch break is up to you, but make sure to get sufficient sleep each night so when you come to work you’re actually ready to work.  (Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Is there something going on that a phone call with a friend, a 15-minute break or lunch date won’t fix? Are you even stressed out when you get home and dealing with personal issues, too? Consider talking to a psychologist to share your thoughts and fix the situation. (In this photo: Psychologist Roni Cohen-Sandler sits in her work session chair where she meets patients at her home office.)  (Douglas Healey/AP File Photo)