Today is the most stressful day of the year as across the country millions already beset by mortgage misery, consumer debt, winter vomiting virus and new year hangovers return to the office and sob quietly before their computer screens at the prospect of having to work harder in a possibly vain attempt to reduce the threat of redundancy.

If you weren't already seething by the time you got to work (thanks to the typical British winter travel chaos), you soon will be thanks to your colleagues' annoying personal habits, according to a stress survey for the Royal National Lifeboats Institute. People are most likely to be irritated by the sounds of colleagues eating noisily (28%), sniffing (26%), talking too loudly on the phone (21%) and even singing (5%), found the charity's poll of 2,000 people. My personal bugbear is the Typhoid Mary who insists on coming in despite the fact that they are crawling with more germs than a petri dish at Porton Down.

While once upon a time you may have relied on the British stiff upper lip to see you through such annoyances, it would seem that an endless diet of reality TV talent shows has turned many of us into workplace divas. Apparently more than a third of people (37%) have screaming tantrums to cope with such irritations. Which I would have thought would count as a pretty annoying habit in itself.

Judi James, the resident Big Brother psychologist and "body language expert", thinks it's a good idea for people to throw a strop in the office. "Releasing tension through shouting and screaming is a really beneficial way to expel the negative energies caused by stress," she reckons. "January can be one of the most stressful times of the year between sale shopping and recovering from the excesses of the party season, which can stimulate negative behaviours such as rising tension, stress levels and blood pressure.

"When this threatens to overwhelm you, try a short sustained burst of shouting, or alternatively, go somewhere quiet, close your eyes and take a few deep breaths to help calm you down."

This view is perhaps unsurprising given that Big Brother is one of the few environments where tantrums have a positive economic outcome – by raising viewing figures. Instead I would recommend joining the minority – just over one in 10 (11%) – who sit quietly to combat tension, unless you really want to tip your passive aggressive colleagues over into a homicidal rage.