(This is the first of a two-part series on stress at work. In this instalment, columnist Sharon Adams looks at the issue from an employee perspective. Next issue: How employers can cope.)

Personal confession time: I've burned out at work three times during my career.

Each time it was harder to get back to normal. Each time I returned with less physical stamina - not to mention dedication - than the time before.

Twice I changed employers. The last time I was lucky enough to work for a company with an employee assistance program that not only helped me recover from the stress, but understand why I would allow myself to become so overburdened by work and family obligations that I would break down physically and mentally.

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Recognizing stressor signs can help employees avoid snapping from workplace burnout.

Stress is an expensive hobby. It costs you your health. It can sidetrack your career or cost your job. Or your family.

And it's a costly business expense, too. Health Canada pegs the annual cost to business at up to $10 billion - money gobbled up in paying workers out sick or on leave, in overtime to other employees to pick up the slack or in hiring replacements.

In a 2001 Canadian Mental Health survey, 50 per cent of respondents said their workplace is a major source of stress, compared to 39 per cent in the 1997 study.

How can stress have become such a big problem?

It sneaks up on us, at both the personal and corporate level.

We ignore the warning signs. We don't do things that would help us eliminate the stress or cope with its effects. We only pay attention when it becomes such a big problem, things start going wrong.

"Largely it's just about giving yourself permission to take the time," says Jan Chappel, technical specialist with the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety, who leads seminars and workshops on the topic.

We can take time - as individuals and organizations - to figure out how to avoid or minimize stress.

First of all, we need to recognize what happens to our bodies when we get stressed.

There are three stages on the road to burnout.

Stage One is the familiar flight or fight reaction - it kicks in when a tiger attacks (and your body doesn't differentiate between the paper tigers and the man-eaters).

Adrenalin puts your body on alert for quick reaction. Your heart rate and blood pressure increase. You breathe faster, sweat more. Stored sugars and fats are released; your immune and digestive systems are put on hold.

If you don't relieve that stress and go on to experience more, your body moves to Stage Two, where it tries to be ready for that tiger attack all the time.

You begin to feel driven, anxious, pressured, tired. You could have memory problems, find yourself smoking more, drinking more caffeine and alcohol, craving fatty and sugary foods. You seem to catch a lot of colds, have more headaches, have trouble sleeping.

In Stage Three, chronic unrelieved stress, your body requires more energy than you can produce. Organs begin to be taxed. Insomnia, loss of emotional control and personality changes are common. You lose interest in your job and don't want to do things you used to enjoy. Your risk of serious disease, including heart disease, digestive problems and depression, increases.

The amount you have to do to recover from stress increases at each stage.

At Stage One, some deep breathing or relaxation exercises, a brisk walk, a good laugh, can do the trick. By Stage Three, stress leaves, psychotherapy and anti-depressants are often needed to restore health.

Seems straightforward, no? Recognize when you're under Stage One stress, relieve it, and no problem.

But each of us perceives stress differently. A situation one person finds exhilarating, challenging or enjoyable can put someone else into a Stage One stress reaction. And what works to relieve stress also varies from person to person, says Chappel.

"We often can't control situations that lead to stress," she says, "but we can control how we react to it."

Knowing what presses your buttons allows you to prepare for and handle stressful situations better; knowing what relaxes you helps you recover from it better.

The major stressors in the workplace are overwork, lack of control, lack of recognition and lack of information.

Work overload is the No. 1 stressor in the workplace. Downsizing, interruptions, complex tasks, having to work on a team where everyone's agenda is overloaded and an intense pace of work are all common in today's workplace.

So are irregular shifts and longer hours. The average work week has stretched to 45 hours from 42 in the past 10 years - and 40 per cent of employees work more than 50 hours a week (compared to 25 per cent in 1990).

Half of us take work home, and 59 per cent of all employees (and 65 per cent of white-collar workers) check their voicemail after hours, according to research by WarrenShepell, a leading employee-assistance program provider.

On a personal level, some of that time-stress can be relieved by planning and prioritizing. "Everyone has their own method," says Chappel. "Some people like to tackle the most important thing first. Tiny things niggle at me, and I find if I can get those done, I can concentrate on the big things."

Blocking out parts of your day when you can't be interrupted can help. So can saying no or sharing the load by delegating or asking for help.

And if a boss insists you add another thing to your list, ask which other thing he or she chooses to come off.

Remember - just because we can be in contact with the workplace 24 hours a day, doesn't mean we should be. Put reasonable boundaries around electronic availability.

While you can negotiate to change some of the stressors at work, they aren't all going to go away, so you need a handy grab bag of techniques to cope with daily stress and longer-term stress.

The first line of defence is exercise, nutrition and rest.

A daily walk, a daily swim, a half-hour at the gym will work wonders.

Although longer is better, consistency is important, too. You decide: Is a 15-minute daily walk going to help you more than an hour at the gym a couple of times a week?

Pay attention to what you eat. Employees have at least one meal a day away from home and often are so rushed when they do get home that they opt for prepared food from a restaurant or deli.

Eating food from every spectrum in the rainbow every day will ensure you're getting vitamins and minerals. A vitamin supplement will help - look for one high in the stress-busting B vitamins.

Get a good night's sleep. Avoid caffeine from mid-afternoon to bedtime. Go to bed the same time every day.

And take all the breaks to which you are entitled. Unbelievable as it may seem, some employees let their unused holiday time lapse. For about five years, I ate at least two meals a day at my desk. For too many of us, a break is grabbing a coffee and wolfing down a doughnut at our desks.

Make the most of those breaks.

If you're going to have a coffee break, take it in a staff room where some social interaction will distract you, thus relieving stress. Take a walk on your lunch break - the exercise is a stress-buster and the mental break will sharpen your faculties for the rest of your shift.

Get away on your holiday, even if it's just a weekend at a local hotel. You'll relish the break in routine, and having someone else cook for you and clean up after you will make you feel a little pampered.

When things get to be too much, ask for a break - it can prevent a breakdown. Bosses are often unaware of your work burden. They may not be aware you've been working a lot of overtime and are getting rundown. They may not see the extra hours you put in to finish a project on deadline. Asking for a break and telling your boss why you need it not only relieves your stress, but allows some recognition for your contribution and accomplishments.

I'd like to say after burning out three times that I've learned how to stress-proof my life - but it's still a struggle.

I still manage at least once a month to take on one more work project than I can comfortably handle - usually at the same time I've volunteered for something in my personal life. I still get worked up about being late or getting lost. I still get the deadline jitters.

It's part of my personality.

But knowing that, I can sometimes plan around situations I know will be stressful (leave early, plot my trip on a map, let my answering machine take calls when I'm on deadline).

And I can exercise and use other techniques to relieve stress when it's happening.

And I now know bosses don't get burned up when you ask for relief before you burn out. Most of them would rather give you a little time to keep you healthy than a lot of time to get you back to being healthy.

(Sharon Adams can be reached at sharon@businessedge.ca)