Learn the benefits of introducing art into your office or home 
as a strategy for helping to reduce your stress levels and your 
employees too.

Simply put stress is defined as a real or interpreted threat to 
our mind or body that makes us take action. It varies with each 
individual person.

Imagine you're in the office, the phone keeps ringing, but you 
are trying to concentrate on a report you should have finished 
yesterday, and every time you check your email there is another 
batch of emails that need replies. So you stay late and a 
colleague assumes this is an invitation to chat to you for 
20 minutes about nothing important. 

Everyone copes differently; perhaps you reach for a coffee & 
cake, or go out for a cigarette break or enjoy a glass of wine at 
the end of the day. Or maybe all three?! How you react and how 
you handle the stresses of everyday living can determine your 
well being both physically and mentally. Stress has been linked 
to all the leading causes of death, including heart disease, 
cancer, accidents and suicide.

Not all stress in life comes from negative events - perhaps you 
have just landed a new better paying job or contract. They key is 
balance - learning how to relax and control your reaction to the 
stressors in life.

Once you learn how to relax you not only reduce you stress 
levels, you strengthen your entire immune system and well being. 
Just avoiding 'boosters' like cigarettes and chocolate and taking 
short 'relaxation' breaks throughout the day gives your body & 
mind a chance to repair. Finding what works for you is just as 
important as figuring out what your triggers are.

How does this link to art in the work place I hear you ask?

Well, we've all experience a moment when we've been out and about 
and visited a place that every time we think about it are senses 
are filled with a warm memory of the time we saw a sunset across 
the water that turned everything a pinky orange or the view from 
the top of a mountain we have just climbed. We can feel the wind 
and sun, as it was that day and smell the air. 

Every time we think of it we are transported back to that moment 
in time. It's one of the reasons we enjoying visiting new places, 
stepping out of our everyday routines to experience something new 
- it makes you feel alive and restores your spirits. 

Now imagine that you have a piece of artwork in your office that 
did just that. It sufficiently holds your attention so that you 
could 'get lost in the piece' releasing your mind and providing a 
sense of privacy in a busy open place office. Often that's when 
the best solutions or ideas are born - when your mind is relaxed.

Surely that's better than working in windowless rooms with bland 
coloured walls, breathing recycled air and lit with harsh 
artificial light?

Add to it the fact you are enhancing the look of your workspace 
and making an important statement about your company, its ethos 
& style and creating a pleasant environment. Surely that’s a 
compelling enough reason to choose the right art for your office? 

About the author: Sue Kennedy, LRPS & LBIPP   

Sue Kennedy is an UK based photographer specialising in outdoor 
photography and works on commission for companies & individuals 
as well as shooting for picture libraries. To purchase one of 
Sue’s Limited edition Fine Art Photographs visit her Website: 
http://www.blueeyesphoto.com. And don't forget to sign up for 
her monthly ezine too!