Beseda stres izhaja iz angleščine in pomeni obremenitev ali pritisk. Ta izraz je v medicino prvi uvedel Hans Selye leta 1949. V stresu sodelujejo tri pomembne komponente: stresogeni dejavnik, posameznik s svojim pogledom na stresogeni dejavnik in posameznikov odziv na stresogeni dejavnik. Poznamo več dejavnikov, zaradi katerih doživljamo stres. To so dejavniki v delovnem okolju in dejavniki zunaj njega. Dejavniki, ki izvirajo iz delovnega okolja, so: vrsta zaposlitve, razmejitev med delom in nedelom, konflikt vlog zaposlenega v delovnem okolju, negotovost vloge, prevelika ali premajhna obremenjenost, odgovornost za druge zaposlene, pomanjkanje motivacije, organizacijski dejavniki, nadlegovanje na delovnem mestu in delovne razmere. Dejavniki zunaj delovnega okolja pa so: stresni življenjski dogodki in vsakdanji življenjski napori. Stres je vsakdanji pojav, ki mu ne moremo ubežati in s seboj prinaša veliko neželenih posledic. Posledice stresa lahko občuti posameznik, pa tudi organizacija, v kateri je ta zaposlen. Posledice stresa se z vidika posameznika najpogosteje odražajo na fizični in psihični ravni, prav tako na vedenjskih odzivih posameznika. Najpogostejše bolezni in zdravstvene težave, ki se zaradi stresa odražajo na fizični ravni, so: bolezni srca in ožilja, zvišan holesterol, sladkorna bolezen, visok krvni tlak, glavoboli, rakava obolenja, težave s hrbtenico, prekomerna telesna teža in kožne bolezni. Najpogostejše bolezni in zdravstvene težave na psihični ravni so naslednje: depresija, anksioznost, fobije, sindrom izgorelosti, nočne more in nespečnost. Kadar posameznik občuti stres, se bodo najverjetneje spremenili tudi njegovi vedenjski odzivi. Ti vedenjski odzivi se kažejo v prekomernem kajenju in pitju alkohola, uživanju prepovedanih drog in v prehranjevalnih motnjah. Z vidika organizacije se posledice stresa kažejo v izgubi delovnih dni, prav tako številne organizacije plačujejo visoko ceno zaradi predčasnih upokojitev in odstopov sposobnih delavcev z vodilnih položajev. Organizacije lahko uvedejo mnogo sprememb, zaradi katerih bodo zaposleni občutili stres v čim manjši meri. Spremembe se lahko kažejo v preoblikovanju dela, fleksibilnosti delovnega časa, natančni opredelitvi vlog, ustvarjanju organizacijske klime in delovnih razmerah. Takšne spremembe bodo zagotovo veliko pripomogle, da bodo zaposleni občutili večje zadovoljstvo na delovnem mestu, kar bo bistveno pripomoglo k zmanjšanju stresa ali celo k njegovi odpravi. Da bo posameznik stres doživljal v čim manjši meri, lahko veliko stori tudi sam. Če želi biti čim bolj uspešen v premagovanju stresa, mora bistveno spremeniti svoj življenjski slog. To lahko stori s telesnimi aktivnostmi, zdravo prehrano, jogo, meditacijo, zdravstveno hipnozo, masažo, aromaterapijo, kognitivnimi metodami in seveda s pozitivnim mišljenjem. Pozitivno mišljenje lahko razumemo kot posameznikovo dojemanje življenjskih okoliščin na pozitiven način. Vse, kar mislimo, se shrani v našo podzavest. Če bomo nenehno mislili pozitivno, bomo nase zagotovo pritegnili pozitivne stvari. In velja tudi obratno, če bomo nenehno mislili le negativno, bomo nase pritegnili pretežno negativne stvari. Rešitve za pozitivno mišljenje se odražajo v dobrih medsebojnih odnosih, čustvenem in telesnem zdravju in v pozitivni samopodobi. Lastnosti pozitivno in negativno naravnanih ljudi se zelo razlikujejo. Optimisti so večinoma odločni, lažje obvladujejo težave, imajo velik nadzor nad seboj in nad svojim življenjem, imajo veliko samozaupanje in vedno vidijo rešitve za nastale probleme. Tudi pri delu so pozitivno naravnani ljudje v večini primerov ustvarjalni, zanesljivi, samoiniciativni, ambiciozni, organizirani in tekmovalni. Pozitivno mišljenje ima velik vpliv na zdravje. Mnoge raziskave so pokazale, da pozitivno naravnani ljudje živijo dlje kot negativno naravnani ljudje, optimističnim ljudem se hitreje celijo rane in okužbe, imajo pa tudi manj čustvenih in telesnih težav. Pozitivna miselna naravnanost krepi imun A word stress originates from English and means burden or pressure. A term was introduced to medicine by Hans Selye in 1949. Stress involves three major components: factor of stressogen, individual with his own view on factor of stressogen and individual’s reaction to this factor. People feel stress because of several factors. The ones that come from the environment, like type of employment, demarcation between work and not to work, employee conflict of roles in working environment, role uncertainty, overload or lack of work, organizational factors, mobbing and working conditions. Non-environmental factors are stressful life events and daily life efforts. Stress is everyday occurrence that cannot be escaped and brings many adverse effects. Not only individual can experience stress effects, but also organization where an individual is employed. Stress from the individual perspective mostly reflects in physical and psychological level, as well as behavioral reaction of the individual. The most common diseases and medical problems on physical level caused by stress are heart diseases, high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure, headaches, cancer, spine problems, obesity and skin diseases. The most common illnesses and medical problems on psychological level are depression, anxiety, phobias, burnout syndrome, nightmares and insomnia. Behavioral reactions are probably going to change when an individual experiences stress, which normally reflects in too much smoking or alcohol drinking, drug misuse and eating disorders. Stress consequences from the organization perspective reflect in the loss of attendance, many organizations pay high costs for early retirements and resignations of competent employees. Several changes can be introduced by organizations to avoid stress. Changes can be either job restructuring, working time flexibility, task specifications, integration of organizational climate and working conditions. Such intervention would make a significant contribution to greater satisfaction at work, which would help to reduce stress or even remedy it. An individual himself can have a great impact on stress. The one should change a lifestyle in order to overcome stress effectively. This can be done with physical activity, healthy eating, yoga, meditation, medical hypnosis, massage, aromatherapy, cognitive methods and positive attitude. Positive attitude can be understood as positive perception of living circumstances of an individual. All our thoughts reinforce into our subconscious. If we continue to think positive, we will definitely attract positive things and events and vice a versa. Solutions for positive thinking reflect in good relationships, emotional and physical health and positive self-esteem. Characteristics of people with positive and negative attitude differ a lot. Optimistic people are mostly more determined, can handle easier with the problems and have better control over themselves and their lives. Those people have great self-confidence and always see solutions for existing problems. Employees with positive attitude are normally more creative, reliable, self-initiative, ambitious, organized and competitive. Positive attitude has great impact on people’s health. Research has shown that people with positive attitude live longer than those with negative attitude wounds and infections heel faster with optimistic people, they also have less emotional and physical problems. Positive thinking attitude strengthens immune system, which greatly increase ability to overcome illnesses. Positive thinking will not solve all our problems and will not eliminate stress from our lives, but will ease to overcome stress and cope with everyday problems at home and at work.