Probably, you have already heard about a burnout more than once. Earlier it was practically not talked about, but recently it’s possible to hear about it more often. And not without reason because over the past few years the world has gone through several upheavals, and it has had a negative impact on each of us.
Today we are going to talk about what emotional burnout is, what causes it, and how to alleviate its symptoms. If you have been suffering from burnout for a long time and if a timely rest doesn’t help improve your health, please, contact a specialist for help.
What Is a Burnout
Emotional burnout is a term coined in 1974 by psychiatrist Herbert Freudenberger. It means a condition of increasing fatigue and emotional exhaustion that occurs due to unprocessed stress from studies, work or social activities.
Previously, this condition was not given proper attention, but since 2019, the WHO and many medical and psychological publications have started to talk about burnout more and more often.
It’s believed that burnout occurs as a result of prolonged stress.
In itself, this condition isn’t considered a disease, but burnout is a factor that can influence the development of various diseases that arise from nerves. Long-term stress isn’t good for anyone, so it’s recommended to avoid this condition or to rest and recover from difficult periods of life and big shocks.
How to Track a Burnout in Time
It’s considered that the modern world because of its overload and the speed of life inevitably creates conditions for the development of emotional burnout. Long working days, constant scrolling of social networks, absence of lively communication, proper sleep and proper rest – all this leads to a stress condition because our psyche cannot adapt to the surroundings and simply cannot cope with such pressure from all sides.
There are a number of external and internal factors that can lead to this condition.
External factors of burnout:
- Unsatisfying wage.
- A stressful work schedule and increased workload.
- Presence of distractions that do not allow one to concentrate on the work or household task.
- Constant deadlines that cannot be met.
- Lack of job satisfaction.
- Unhealthy atmosphere in a team or family: conflicts, pressure or isolation.
Internal factors of burnout:
- Fear of letting down friends, acquaintances or colleagues.
- Pressure of authority from relatives or superiors.
- Hyper-responsibility in front of the whole world.
- Negative beliefs, such as “I have to work overtime, otherwise I will run out of money and I will starve to death”.
- The attitude that work is the most important thing in life, and everything else goes into the background.
If you are constantly in such an environment, there is a high probability that burnout will overtake you. That’s why it’s worth monitoring your well-being on a daily basis to take a break or seek help in time.
It can be difficult to track the first signs of burnout, especially without outside help. This condition comes gradually, and the process is like a slow downward spiral to the “emotional bottom”.
Earlier, burnout was noticed only in those who had to communicate a lot with different people, but modern research has shown that it’s possible to get burned out even from home affairs. For example, this condition often affects young mothers, as well as people who are responsible for the whole household alone.
Here are some signs that help to trace or reveal emotional burnout:
- Constant anxious thoughts that never leave your head.
- Feelings of inner emptiness and detachment.
- Physical fatigue, which leads to frequent illnesses.
- Apathy and irritability.
- Lack of desire to communicate with other people.
- Negative assessment of oneself and one’s activity.
Usually burnout starts with fatigue, but as soon as other signs join it on a permanent basis, it’s worth trying to help yourself. If you begin to realize that you cannot cope on your own, then it is time to get help from a specialist.
Ways to Combat Burnout
Although burnout is an unpleasant condition, you can and should fight it. These ways can help at the first stages of this condition:
- Try to understand the causes of burnout on your own. Sit down and write down your main daily activity, and then evaluate what of these causes you the most discomfort. What causes the most negative reaction – try to eradicate or modify to an acceptable state.
- Distinguish between work and personal life. It’s about those very “personal boundaries” that have become so often talked about lately. If work hours are over, try not to touch work until the next day. Of course, there are always exceptions, but try to ensure that such cases don’t become an everyday occurrence again.
- Try to understand, but whether you are moving accurately to their goals, rather than imposed from the outside. Often we are subjected to a lot of pressure from society, and we begin to structure our lives the way we should rather than the way we want them to be. All this can lead to the trap of burnout, so assess your life from the outside, and if necessary – adjust the life scenario so that it suits you.
- Take more care of yourself and your body, both mentally and physically. Restore your eating and sleeping habits, keep your water balance, get physical activity back into your life, and start communicating with people around you again. Try not to overload your brain with news feeds – if something important really happens, you will know about it anyway.
- Add soothing hobbies to your life, like embroidery, playing at national-casino.com, drawing, reading or modeling. This will diversify your everyday life a bit, and also help your nervous system relieve some of the stress. Who knows, maybe then the hobby will grow into a job that will give you pleasure and bring a stable income.
All of this, although it won’t completely solve the underlying problem, at least help reduce the overall stress level and better perform their daily duties.
Burnout isn’t just another British scientists’ tale. It’s a real problem of the modern world that shouldn’t be ignored.
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