Is Burnout a Lifestyle Issue?

Business is deeply concerned about worker burnout and we have to ask if Burnout is a Lifestyle Issue. It might seem with people working at home during the pandemic that burnout would disappear, but it may have been accelerated.

One of the issues with working at home is that there is no clear cut off point between work and personal life. It may seem to easy to keep on working rather than pack up for the day and go home. Being at home already makes people accessible to emails, phone calls and zooms they may have turned off leaving the office.

Separating Day from Night

Now it takes some discipline to turn off the day without feeling guilt that there is work left undone. How do we approach the idea that there is never enough time to get everything that should be completed at some point to be sectioned off in different days.

Never arriving at a cut off point makes one seem like a workaholic as well as a devoted worker. This is where burn out raises its ugly head. You can only be a workaholic for so long before negative symptoms arise. The body has not evolved to handling stress long term without relief.

Understanding Our Nervous System

Our nervous system is developed to handle stress like the gazelle on the tundra who can return immediately to peacefully grazing once it has survived being chased by a lion. If we continue to live in the running to escape mode, all our glands, hormones, and neurotransmitters will turn against us. Stress produces cortisol and our brain waves exceed the productive beta stage to reside in the anxiety stage.

Stress shuts down our immunity and digestive powers. It will probably affect our sleep quality. It may cause us to adapt with negative behaviors like sugar, overeating, alcohol, drugs, and maybe anger. Stress activates a negative loop of issues each feeding on each other and growing in affect.

The Workaholic and the Passionate Person

How does being a workaholic differ from being passionate? This creates an interesting division. The workaholic may spend uncalculated hours because he is guilty about the necessity of getting work completed.

A passionate person feels their work and their life are one. They don’t feel stress, they become enabled and the brain stimulates happiness hormones and neurotransmitters to support, sustain, and addict the passionate person to their growth.

If the work includes the intention of contributing to the welfare of others, the serotonin and oxytocin hormones contribute to the workers feeling of well being and purpose. This person is working because their work feels like the reason they are here. Their work and their personal lives become intertwined. When they are not working, their subconscious is most likely working on creatively solving problems faced in the challenges of their goals.

It is hard to burnout a passionate person. Therefore it makes sense to find work you love. Maybe easier said then done, but often the worker feeling enslaved won’t invest the time and risk of learning something new or meaningful.

The Willingness to Save Ourselves

When asked in a survey, a large percentage of workers said they might not be willing to learn new technologies necessary to keep the machine age from stealing their job and may not be capable of learning the information. This displays both a lack of interest and a fear of learning something necessary for their survival.

Employers might be able to help workers bridge this gap and many are attempting to train workers and give them opportunities to expand their capabilities. Growth is a self-healing behavior. Our brain and body are designed for growth. Our brain has plasticity and regardless of what we think, our brain can grow until we die. It wants to grow or it atrophies and may lead us to dementia.

When we are not growing mentally and physically and no longer find challenges, it is a signal to our body that we are in the death phase. We gradually start shutting down healthy processes that thrive on growth and can descend into pain and disease. In the book. Younger Next Year, Chris Crowley describes how we remain vital until we are 85. There is no reason to deteriorate after 50.

Burnout is a symptom of a surcease in the growth department and an acceptance of being imprisoned in an unrewarding lifestyle. It is important that workers and employers understand the environment of maintaining health and enthusiasm. The cost of burnout is high for both workers and employers.

There should be discussions about lifestyle, goals, and opportunities for growth. To ignore these three issues creates vulnerability for stagnation, dissatisfaction, ill health, and then of course burn out. The investment in healthy lifestyles benefits everyone.

Lifestyle Posts:

Lifestyle Determines Our Health

How Lifestyle Leads to Happiness

Lifestyle Changes for Productivity

Making Gratitude a Primary Goal

The Work of Dramatic Weight Loss

Fitness Changes Your Life

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