Combating Burnout In The Workplace (infographic)

Burnout is a serious problem that is receiving more attention than ever. When you experience stress, there are two ways to handle it. Either you deal with and release that stress or you hold on to it and it builds up. When a person experiences chronic stress, eventually their stress levels overload and can lead to burnout. In the United States, 51% of workers say they have felt burned out more than once, and 77% of professionals and 84% of Millennials have experienced burnout at some point in their careers. What is burnout and how can we address the burnout epidemic that is sweeping the nation?

Burnout Culture In The U.S. Workplace

64% of American workers say they feel stressed or frustrated at work at least once a week, but this doesn’t mean every one of them is suffering from burnout. In order for normal, day-to-day stress to turn into burnout it would need to build over time. If you experience normal daily stressors like deadlines and failures, chances are you are going to move forward from them relatively easily. But when you start to experience the same frustrations on a regular basis, it becomes harder to move on from them. When stress starts to build it leads to burnout.

During times of stress, your body’s cortisol levels can increase two to five times. When these cortisol levels are sustained for a long period of time it can increase your blood pressure and A1C levels as well as lower your immunity. Over time this can lead to hypertension, type II diabetes, heart disease, depression, and more. There is a real and physical consequence to burnout and prolonged stress, so fighting your stress is crucial for your long-term health and well-being.

Avoiding Chronic Stress And Burnout

In order to effectively deal with stress, it’s important to understand the root of the stress. Identifying stressors can help you put in place ways to deal with it so it doesn’t build up. If you are stressed about too many deadlines, you can ask for accommodations at work to help you better manage them. If you are stressed about interacting with a particular client, you can ask to be reassigned.

If your source of stress is something that is unavoidable in your daily work activities, it is still possible to manage that stress. Start by establishing a routine. Controlling some of the unknowns in your schedule can help you feel better predictability in your day-to-day routine. Prioritize your day so that you are completing the most important tasks first and leaving the least important tasks until last so that if things carry over it’s not something that is going to stress you out.

When you are home from work, ensure you are following a routine, getting enough sleep, exercising, and eating right. Socialize with friends and family, meditate, and know when it’s time to seek out professional help in the form of therapy, yoga, or even medical intervention.

Not getting enough sleep can lead to burnout and burnout can lead to a decreased ability to sleep. Maintaining a routine with good sleep hygiene, including turning off screens at least an hour before bedtime, can go a long way. Physical activity can also help you burn off your excess cortisol levels. After all, they are an artifact from when fight or flight kept humans alive on a daily basis, so it makes sense that exercise can help.

Learn more about burnout and chronic stress as well as how to keep it at bay from the infographic below. Are you ready to learn how to combat burnout in the workplace?



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