American scientists have calculated that today's youth work much more than their parents who grew up in the 80s, but at the same time they make fewer serious and large purchases. What's the catch here? The fact is that in our society, workaholics and people who “burn” at work are the heroes of our time, who are praised for their perseverance and desire to live a better life, but at the same time they are silent about the downside of devoting their lives to work - about chronic stress, which leads to the fact that you stop loving not only your weekdays, but also your weekends. How to understand that your burn out, or emotional burnout syndrome at work, is already close?
You begin to involuntarily “mess up” constantly
Chronic fatigue syndrome at work manifests itself in small things: you begin to forget important dates or are chronically late, and tasks that you previously did easily and “automatically” now bring you to a stressful state. For our brain, dealing with stress is a completely normal and simple operation, but if stress becomes chronic, then it is not possible to cope with it so easily, and you begin to concentrate only on the negative aspects of work, which turn an ordinary day into torture.
Working ways to make it to the end of the work day.
If Monday is especially difficult for you after a hectic weekend, know that you are not alone. Losing a couple of hours of sleep can have a negative impact on your well-being, especially if you have been under so-called work stress for the past few weeks. Therefore, keep a few strategies that will help you “survive” this difficult day.
But first, let's make one thing clear: it's not easy at all. When you are really tired, work hard, no matter what you do. However, there are effective ways that make your day easier and help you achieve some results. Of course, you won't feel energetic and cheerful, but you definitely won't turn into a zombie.
Essentially, your goal is to give yourself extra energy and try to avoid activities that will make you feel more tired. With a little effort, you can avoid passing out.
After work you don't feel like doing anything at all
The only desire that comes to you is to quickly get home, sit comfortably on the sofa with a tablet and not have anyone bother you. Unfortunately, an unloved task can turn into a nightmare not only the morning and day, but also the evening and night: when you are exhausted at work, you don’t want to make plans for your free time, and even a vacation doesn’t seem such an attractive idea to you, because it still needs to be organized. In other words, when absolutely nothing tempts you, this is the surest alarm signal.
Three stages of burnout:
#1. Overstrain, fatigue that does not disappear after sleep.
A person may forget words, terms and working facts at the right time. Make mistakes when typing letters on the keyboard or replace some letters with others when writing by hand.
#2. Exhaustion, “inanimateness,” lethargy, nervousness.
A person’s productivity and interest in work decrease, he doesn’t want to communicate with anyone (even outside the office), he is apathetic and dissatisfied. I often have headaches and high blood pressure. The number of respiratory tract diseases is growing, and irritability is manifesting itself.
#3. Psychosomatic illnesses and depression, aversion to everything and complete apathy appear.
The employee does not see prospects in his professional activity, does not enjoy his work, and loses faith in himself.
You involuntarily fall asleep at work or feel unwell
In science, this is called unconscious sleep, and you probably remember this state from your school days: you are trying to concentrate on something, but your body seems to “turn off” itself, and you fall asleep for a few seconds or minutes. This is a sign of accumulating fatigue, which in the following stages turns from such attacks of a minute's sleep into a general disorder of the whole organism. In other words, you feel as if you are sick, you have headaches, weakness and lack of appetite.
Causes of stress
We are overstimulated and bombarded with information every day. Mobile phones, televisions, radio, Internet, print media have forever changed human life. And most importantly, we constantly need to make decisions and choices. And this has a very bad effect on willpower. We don't have enough security because life is completely unpredictable. Recently, such fundamental concepts of society as freedom, work, family, intimate life and even patriotism have changed a lot.
A serious crisis has emerged in the search for the meaning of life. Our ancestors always knew where to find it. For example, religion, party and so on. Now we have too much choice, what to believe in and what rules to live by, but there is no understanding of what strict adherence to these canons will give a person. Our brains and attitudes to the real world have been shaped over millennia, as have our reactions to stressful situations. And while people are still young, they do not notice how such a rhythm affects the psyche and health. But the older we get, the more clearly the side aspects of this haste are expressed and logical questions arise: we don’t have the strength to work, what to do in this situation?
You hate talking about work with others
“Everything is fine with me at work” - and that’s where all the conversations end. Thinking about work in your free time seems to bring you back to your workplace, and you deliberately avoid any conversations on business topics. Or you just complain non-stop when it comes to work and can't come up with a single reason for pride or joy that comes from it.
Principle 2 - No multitasking!
I've noticed that if I don't try to multitask at work, I feel much less tired in the evening. But if I spend the whole day jumping from one task to another: answering emails and comments, then writing a couple of paragraphs of an article, then sending a Skype message to a friend, then by the end of such a day I usually feel quite tired.
The brain gets very tired from multitasking. In addition, if you try to deal with several tasks at once, the effectiveness of completing each of them will be less, the greater the number of these tasks. When I'm constantly distracted, I get much less done on each task than if I were doing them separately from each other.
Therefore, try not to be distracted by extraneous matters whenever possible. Turn off ICQ and Skype, deal with work tasks sequentially, there is no need to strive to satisfy requests from other employees as they arrive (unless, of course, they require urgent attention), finish your current affairs first.
And, of course, take rest breaks.
How to feel better if all of the above is about you?
Start by taking a break: take a few days off or go on vacation, but always in a dynamic that contradicts the work rhythm. In other words, if you have a sedentary job, then you need active rest, but if you are stressed and on the run all day long, then you need “vegetable” rest. After a break, be sure to adjust your daily routine and diet, and include physical activity in your plans for at least 40 minutes a day. Try reconsidering your priorities. How much time do you spend on work, and how much time is left for your own affairs? Is this workload worth the money you receive, and are there prospects in this work that inspire you to continue? If not, then maybe you should try something new and make work fun again.
What to do if your feet hurt?
At the end of an exhausting working day, your legs simply become leaden, which causes a lot of suffering. Let's find out how to relieve tired legs after work. There are several proven methods.
- Massage your feet with stroking movements, from bottom to top, so as not to disturb the blood flow. When you feel that the blood has begun to circulate more intensely, sit on the bed and place your legs on the wall so that they are higher than you. After some time you will feel relief.
- A contrast shower is also an excellent solution to the problem. As soon as you literally direct the shower stream onto your feet, it becomes easier. Increase the water pressure and massage your tired feet.
- Buy foot ointment at the pharmacy.
IMPORTANT! Heparin ointment is usually recommended - cheap and cheerful: it dilates blood vessels and prevents the formation of blood clots.
Tip four
Nothing helps you sort the thoughts in your head into categories and find a solution on how to proceed further than sports or physical labor. Here everyone must choose what he likes best - running in the park or chopping wood in the village and planting potatoes. But if you take your hands and unload your head for a while, it will help get rid of apathy and get out of a state of emotional burnout. After physical exercise and fresh air, few people will say: I don’t want to work, I don’t have the strength, because they will definitely appear.
Balance
Only by balancing his life can a person get rid of the feeling of running in circles and become happy. Unfortunately, modern society has serious problems with this. In the book "From Urgent to Important" by Steve McCletchy, there is a study that states that 88 percent of people are simply unable to make a choice between their personal life and work. At the same time, 64 percent are sure that work takes all their energy, and for 57 percent it is a serious problem that they cannot solve. But how to achieve balance in a modern economy?
After all, no one cares that there is no strength to work, everyone talks about unemployment, the crisis and so on. Anyone is ready to take on more responsibilities just to stay at their job and not lose a position that gives at least the illusion of stability. In the end, people simply do their best to meet other people's expectations, but in reality this is not a balance, but just an attempt to survive. Balance will not help to find the distribution of time between work and personal relationships. The desires of the psyche cannot be experienced according to a schedule, and such separation only leads to even greater stress. So where is the balance? I don’t have the strength to work, what should I do? Set a goal and strive for success. Moreover, this does not mean getting better and more, but the movement itself towards the goal. The most effective way to stop fatigue and burnout is to seek development in all aspects of human life.
Find fuel
Energy is obtained by burning fuel, our fuel is food. If you fill a car with a gasoline engine with diesel fuel, then, of course, it will go, but not far. It’s the same with our body: if we feed it just anything, we won’t be able to get enough energy. We have written about how to eat healthy many times, but fatigue is a trap. To stick to a nutrition plan, regularly buy the right foods, cook them, and not break down, you need a schedule and strength. But they are not there.
Get started with three simple steps:
- Reduce your coffee intakeSelf-help tips to fight fatigue., paradoxical as it may sound. Coffee and other tonic drinks provide energy on loan. You will spend more than you can afford, and you will have to pay with a lack of strength.
- Instead of sweets and fast food, snack on nuts and cottage cheese. Protein foods help cope with lack of strength better than candy and coffee.
- Take snacks based on flax seeds - they are rich in antioxidants. However, more details are needed about them.
