Do you struggle with workplace stress and anxiety? Feel like you hate your job? You just might be experiencing workplace burnout.

Elizabeth Scott, MS, defines burnout as, “...a reaction to prolonged or chronic job stress and is characterized by three main dimensions: exhaustion, cynicism (less identification with the job), and feelings of reduced professional ability”.

In an article on The Muse, Kat Boogaard discusses some telling signs that you might be experiencing burnout. These symptoms include:

• Not getting excited about work anymore
• Reduced effort at work
• Loss of performance
• Total exhaustion
• Dealing with physical ailments like dizziness, fainting, or headaches

Whatever the cause, work burnout can affect your physical and mental health in many ways. If unattended, work burnout can lead to excessive stress (as if the world isn’t already stressful enough), fatigue, sadness, anger, or irritability, alcohol or substance abuse, heart disease, high blood pressure, and the list goes on.

Burnout not only affects your work life and performance at work, it also affects other areas of your life. From relationships with family and friends, to spiritual/religious relationships, to interactions with strangers, and the environment. Anything that you can think of can be affected by burnout.

The good news is that there are various ways to get burnout under control!

Health experts believe that you can work towards reducing burnout by seeking support from co-workers, friends, and family, thereby creating an outlet to share your worries and get reassurance.

Discussing specific concerns with your boss who can assist in creating realistic expectations is also one solution to burnout reduction.

Self-care practices such as getting enough sleep (7 to 9 hours), engaging in at least 30 minutes of exercise daily, trying relaxing activities like yoga and meditation, and being kind to yourself (judging yourself less) also helps you put workplace burnout under control.

As Norman Vincent Peale wisely said, “Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find they don't have half the strength you have.”

To register for some of CEWT’s self-care courses, such as our Basic Beginning Yoga class, visit: https://cetrain.isu.edu/enrollment/course/basic-beginning-yoga/.

Sources:

Boogaard, K. (2019). 5 signs of burnout at work (and what to do about them). The Muse, retrieved from, https://www.themuse.com/advice/5-signs-of-burnout.

Scott, E. (2019). How to watch for signs of burnout in your life. Very well Mind, retrieved from https://www.verywellmind.com/stress-and-burnout-symptoms-and-causes-3144516.