Managing Stress on the Farm

A little stress can keep you on your toes, keep motivation levels high and help you get things done, but persistent high-level stress reduces productivity, impairs decision making and is probably doing you damage. Stress is also a contributing factor to many farm injuries.

Farm life is busy and often stressful. Stress can be caused by everyday issues like farm finances, machinery breakdowns, family and relationship pressures, workforce shortages or managing livestock.

Extreme events like bushfires, droughts and floods can be particularly stressful.

Stress can affect many areas of the body including the nervous system, memory, the ability to fight off infection, cardiovascular health, pain and gut problems. Everyone reacts differently to potentially stressful situations. This can depend on your personality, the extent of your support network or other things that are going on in your life.

National Centre for Farmer Health now have a FREE Managing Stress on the Farm booklet available. A hard copy or downloadable version can be obtained by visiting their web site at

https://farmerhealth.org.au/product/managing-stress-on-the-farm-book-hard-copy

For other information resources head to

https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/rural-issues-coping-with-stress#bhc-content