According to studies conducted at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention / CNN reports, the most recent available data on suicide deaths of professionals as lawyers being ranked fourth, when the proportion of suicides in this profession is compared with suicides in all other occupations of the population. Studies classify lawyers as one of the most stressful jobs.

Lawyers, due to high stress, are also prone to depression, according to a study by the American Psychological Association. Lawyers are 3.6 times more at risk of pressure followed by depression than non-lawyers.

In the 21st century, stress is a burden for almost all the luminaries, especially lawyers.

Between work, bills, family, and the pressures of daily life, stress can easily overcome a person’s life. The presence of a lawyer, however, is divided between the everyday personal problems and the clients’ problems. Lawyers are in constant confrontation, and the competition continues, and sometimes stress can create problems.

Yes, a lawyer’s career is not for the faint of heart.

Why is the life of a lawyer much more stressful?

A lawyer must manage a balance between empathy and objective detachment and, at the same time, enjoy confrontation.

But even for the most experienced lawyers, stress at one point becomes a problem that generates health problems.

The stress of lawyers is an intensely studied subject. With a long working schedule, generally, under pressure of issues to be solved but also dense energy of the court, lawyers experience stress and anxiety severely.

It is known that most lawyers live with the conviction that to relax, they may risk losing some opportunities. Stress, if not managed on time, begins to affect the practice, clients, colleagues, and personal life, as well. Chronic stress leads to anger and impatience, anxiety, irritability, fear and resentment.

If a person is overloaded with stress, he is less able to concentrate and make decisions, a vital part of a lawyer’s profession and work.

Managing the stress of a lawyer

To manage stress, the lawyer must first be aware of this.

Due to the fast paced, non-stop working mode, it can go unnoticed so much so that it leads to serious health problems including, but not limited to obesity.

If stress symptoms are recognized early and properly managed through a different rhythm of life, but primarily through proper nutrition, lawyers have the chance to live a healthy, stress-free living and give much higher returns.

Many of the sources of stress are beyond the control of the lawyer, such as the overlap of time, lack of time, demanding clients, confrontation with the opposite side, etc. Because there is no way to avoid stress, lawyers can manage their lives differently, starting with a different diet that balances their lives and increases their chances of being successful.

A stressful lawyer, in general, is generated by the lack of a correct time management strategy.

An overburdened lawyer has difficulties in establishing feasible plans when the expectations do not correspond to his reality. Thus, stress accumulates.

By setting smaller goals and achieving them, the lawyer can feel better related to his achievements and no longer has to feel like a failure to achieve some goals.

Another tool for a stressed-out lawyer should be learning to say no.

Lawyers accumulate stress when they have too many cases to solve and do not have enough time and resources. To reduce feelings of lack of control, lawyers should learn to use, methods of managing feelings, a different diet and reducing excess stimulants, especially processed sugar.

Generally, lawyers being perfectionists and very confident that they can handle more situations, are burdened with tasks which lead to more stress. By identifying these traits, they can be eliminated, and the pressure will disappear.

Another stress factor is the imbalance between personal and professional life. In general, lawyers’ lives revolve around the office/court, an inevitably stressful way of life.

Lawyers are the first one who has to ask the questions, how can I live healthier? How can I balance my life with healthy eating? This, in addition to other methods and practices of meditation, thinking, and sports are mandatory practices that, alongside healthy eating, can help the lawyer to maximize and enjoy life.

At the beginning of the day, with meditation, the lawyers nerves are calm, and the mind eliminates the daily negativity arising from the problems of the clients.

What are the causes of stress?

The human body is configured as a machine for processing perceived threats. The first place where the stress signal is observed is the thalamus, a bundle of matter in the lower part of the brain center that immediately sends a message to the amygdala part of the brain to begin searching for similar experiences in the brain’s archives. The announcement of stress is transmitted throughout the body through the autonomic nervous system, causing physical reactions such as muscle tension, increased heart rate, and facial expressions. At the same time, a message is sent to the prefrontal cortex, the brain’s decision-making center, to begin the process of determining where there is a more significant stress reaction. Also, a takeover of the message is made by the adrenal glands that pump out hormones that increase heart rate and force the liver to deliver a higher amount of sugar to the blood to provide energy to the muscles and brain, mechanisms needed to protect the body from immediate danger.

Messages are generated at a very high speed, thus activating the warning system by inducing unconscious reactions before being aware of what is about to happen.

The ability of the human body to respond to abstract threats and resemble life-threatening reactions gives people the ability to make quick, clear decisions. No wonder that some professionals, athletes and lawyers sometimes feel that they are thriving in stressful situations. The feeling of being at peak performance is enhanced when all the physical reactions to a stressful episode are triggered throughout the body.

But danger pervades those who spend too much time in a state of stress. The physical reactions produced by hormones and messages transmitted in a state of prolonged stress can make you pay an invaluable price, namely life. Increased blood pressure will develop cracks in the walls of the arteries, the immune system can become so modified, and the hippocampus, the memory storage part of the brain, will shrink from the constant flow of stress hormones.

If it works in a constant state of stress, the brain will begin to look for stressful situations even in a period of relative calm.

People may have fewer episodes of stress in their lives if they pursue a balanced diet and a different way of life that incorporates new hobbies or healthy thinking patterns into their lives.