Ilze Hibbers

Feeling stressed? You’re not alone. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace report for 2023, employee stress is at a record high. In fact, work is the most common cause of stress, with the average working adult feeling stressed for almost a third of their day. “What is stress? How does it work? How does it affect the body?” asks Ilze Hibbers, a former postgraduate student from Nelson Mandela University (NMU). “Existing theories of stress are quite old; the General Adaptation Syndrome Model was developed in 1946. It was quite simple; it said that you get stressed, you stay stressed and then if you don’t overcome it, you burn out.”

Hibbers set out to try to measure stress, but, as it turns out, this is no easy task, and the workplace isn’t the best testing ground. And, actually, a little stress can make a person more productive.