Sometimes the pressure can be too much. You can release some steam at work in several ways without
saying something you’ll regret later.

Step 1: Take breaks
Go for a drive, wander in the park, or browse the local bookstore at lunch.

Step 2: Stretch in the office
If you have your own office, stop everything, lie on the floor, and stretch, relax, or practice deep breathing exercises.

Step 3: Clean up
Clean your desk and reorganize your workspace. Expending energy by standing up and moving around might get your mind off irritating situations, and having a clean, organized workspace will calm you down.

Step 4: Listen to music
Listen to music to soothe your emotions. If your company doesn’t aloud headphones at work, go out to your car and listen to music in the parking lot on your break. Music releases endorphins and recharges you.

Step 5: Joke around
Take a break. Talk to coworkers at the coffee machine or while waiting for a meeting to start. Tell a joke or story to cheer a coworker, which will have the same effect on you. Laughter in the workplace promotes creativity and strengthens relationships.

Step 6: Talk to a loved one
Really burned up? Step outside and give a family member or friend a call to vent your frustrations. Talking to someone who’s not involved in the situation might give you some needed perspective.

Note:
Johnson & Johnson’s workplace preventative health care programs helped reduce employee incidents of high blood pressure from 14 to 6 percent from the late 1990s to 2006.

PHOENIX -- Arizona's medical marijuana law takes effect within days, and employers are figuring out how to deal with workers who are medical pot users.

Modern Industries in Tempe, which manufactures products for the semiconductor and aerospace industries, is looking at its policies.

"The law is very specific in that companies do not have to chance their policy to allow anyone to be under the influence," said Human Resources Director Tony Abraham. "Certainly, in a manufacturing facility, we want to be careful that people are not under the influence while they're doing their job or working any of the machinery back there because they could get hurt."

Abraham said there will be more pressure on supervisors to recognize when their workers might be impaired.

"This is going to put a little more onus on the supervisors to be aware of their employees -- how they're acting, how they're performing, whether there's a chance from one day to the next in their demeanor, in their behavior."

Abraham said workers at Modern Industries deal with acid and other dangerous substances which requires they be alert and focused.

"The bottom line is going to be taking care of the employee, making sure their needs are met, but also keeping them and our other employees safe."

Leathers Milligan & Associates is a human resources consulting firm.

Jack Milligan isn't worried that he'll encounter a medical marijuana problem in his small company, but he is concerned about how his company will advise its larger clients.

"They (clients) have to think about their policies, about their approaches to this," Milligan said. "They have to think through, in a pro-active way, how they're going to train their managers, their executives and their supervisors to respond to situations when they happen."