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Are you quickly agitated or feel under-valued or bullied at work? Do you have feelings of anxiety that may be work related stress? Or possibly even have the feeling of hopelessness? If you answered yes, you might be experiencing job burnout.
In this blog we will further explore the signs and symptoms of job burnout to help you understand if this is something you are experiencing.
A recent statistic from the Gallup survey in 2018, demonstrated alarming numbers, out of 7,500 employees surveyed, 44% of employees experience job burnout “sometimes” and 23%“always”. That’s alot!
Many of us have experienced the signs and symptoms of burnout, with or without realizing it. The daily hustle and bustle of life tends to prevent us from remembering to check in on ourselves, in order to see how we are handling or dealing with this stress that most of our jobs provide. When was the last time you were in a quiet place, thinking to yourself, how am I doing?
What Is Burnout?
Job burnout is the point at which one feels mentally, physically, and/or emotionally exhausted, often as a result of long term stress from their jobs.
Signs and Symptoms of Job Burnout
Burnout symptoms can hit each person in many different ways. Each person may differ in severity and symptoms they experience. We have split the symptoms into three main categories: 1) cognitive/mental; 2) physical; 3) emotional.
Cognitive/Mental
Cold Hearted Thoughts
It’s no secret that when you are stressed, getting treated unfairly at work, negative thoughts will try to enter your mind. When negative thoughts have entered your mind over and over again, you create a negative reality among the boss(es)/company that you work for. An employee may begin to distrust their boss/company and even have a negative outlook on the world.
Irritable/agitated
You may find yourself frequently irritated or annoyed quickly by your peers, friends, and family members. Have the people you normally talk to noticed a change in how you are acting?
Forgetfulness, Clouded/Foggy Brain
Job burnout leads to your brain feeling foggy or clouded making it tough to concentrate on your tasks at hand. This also causes short term memory loss and forgetfulness. We remember this symptom very clearly, we would forget things after we had been told several times. It was so bad that even after inputting our tasks on a productivity app or on paper we would still forget.
Exhaustion
Job burnout is draining and exhaustion can affect many areas of life. It can affect focus and cause difficulty in thinking clearly. Leisure reading or hobbies can present a challenge to intake the information. Even going to the grocery store or having a conversation with the ones you care most about can seem like a daunting task.
Wired and Tired
Stress will activate your ‘fight or flight’, a response of our sympathetic nervous system.
Chronic activation of this system can leave you feeling wired, ramped up, buzzing but totally exhausted at the same time.
Absenteeism/Presenteeism
When job burnout is in full effect, we can lose the love for the job we are currently doing. When this happens we will first find a way to get out of work projects, tasks, and even work itself. Severe cases are when absenteeism leads into one’s personal life, where the person feels overwhelmed with seeing friends and family.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, we have what is called presenteeism. When an employee is physically ill, mentally not prepared for the day, and/or experiencing any physical or emotional symptoms of job burnout, they still go into work, ignoring their symptoms.
Pessimism and Isolation
After experiencing stressful experiences time and time again, negative thought patterns can enter our minds and take control. Our thoughts can become the driving force of our emotions. Thoughts such as not being happy in your workplace, feeling as though you are not making a difference, or feeling undervalued. Constant exposure to these thoughts can lead to low mood and depression which often is coupled with self isolation.
Physical
Insomnia
Job burnout causes a sympathetic overdrive of the nervous system, this can lead to improper sleep patterns (difficulty falling and/or staying asleep) and feeling constantly tired even after a good 8 hour sleep.
Headaches/Migraines
Reaching for another Aspirin, Tylenol, or Advil tablet? You may start to notice an increased need for one of these tablets in order to get through the stressful work day.
Pain in your stomach/gut
You may have feelings of being backed up, diarrhea, gastrointestinal pain, and an uncomfortable stomach for most of the day. Chronic stress can lead to inflammation in the gut and cause these symptoms.
High Blood Pressure and Type 2 diabetes
Monitoring your health and a yearly visit to the doctor, is something that we can’t stress enough. If you are experiencing these symptoms such as dizziness, extreme thirst, blurred vision, frequent peeing, please do not ignore them. Immediately seek professional help. Chronic stress increases risk for cardiovascular disease.
Getting Sick Often
When you are overly stressed, your body is overworked, this overtime can lower your immune system, making it a much higher possibility for getting sick. Dave, who has a healthy body and a very strong immune system, couldn’t tell you enough, how many times he would get minor-moderate colds due to job burnout.
Not Hungry?
If you notice that you are skipping many meals throughout the day, on a daily basis, it could be a cause of job burnout. Heavy stress can lead to a loss of appetite. The result of this is losing an unhealthy amount of weight.
Emotional
Substance abuse
Drugs, alcohol, and even food, can be used as comforts to help escape reality. They act as coping mechanisms to help “band-aid” the problem. If there is no control over these substances, your mental, emotional, and physical health will plummet. Seeking professional help is highly recommended. Remember, there are people in your life who love and care about you, even when you think they don’t. It’s hard to see light when you are in a place of darkness.
Anger
Anger is a bi-product of irritation and agitation. If you are experiencing these symptoms, think back to just before you had an angry outburst. Were you irritated prior or agitated by someone? Was that someone “pushing your buttons” or were you simply just annoyed that you had to have a conversation? Was your boss or the company treating you unfairly prior to your outburst? Or was your day possibly over stacked with things to do? Anger can put major stress on our nervous system, which can then lower our immunity system, which then can then lead to physical illness.
Feeling Incompitent & Depression
When you experience job burnout and your boss/company stresses you out, you may find that you have feelings of inadequacy. This can very easily lead into a mild stage of depression. If you find that your depression is getting worse, seek immediate help.
Anxiety
Anxiety can lead to feelings of uneasiness, nervousness, restlessness, excess worrying, increase heart rate, dizziness and tightness in your chest. Anxiety can last for weeks and can place you in a paralyzed state. A state where you can not be productive, you can’t get out of bed/off the couch, and you sit there dwelling on thoughts. If you’re going to the job that is creating this symptom 5-6 days a week, your anxiety can increase.
Note: All physical symptoms that were mentioned above are highly recommended to be assessed by a healthcare professional (ie: Doctor, Nurse Practitioner).
Final Thoughts
Now that you are aware of the signs and symptoms of job burnout, this is a good time to stop for a brief moment and check in with yourself. Ask yourself these tough questions- How are you doing? During or after work, do I feel mentally, emotionally, physically drained? Do I feel agitated when people are speaking to me? Do easy tasks seem impossible to complete? Am I experiencing stomach pains or gut issues after a stressful time at work? Has anxiety entered my life and is it increasing? Do I really love what I do?
Be as honest as possible with yourself. It will help identify and narrow down your specific symptoms, as well as, create a guide on how to heal. If you are experiencing some of these symptoms, now is the time to take matters into your own hands and take care of the situation immediately. For some, this may be a tough pill to swallow, but understand that your health is most important. This is your life, the most important gift of all, don’t take it for granted. Instead, take action!
If you know someone who is experiencing some of these symptoms, share this blog post with them.
References
https://www.webmd.com/balance/ss/slideshow-signs-burnout
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/burnout/art-20046642
https://www.who.int/mental_health/evidence/burn-out/en/
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/237059/employee-burnout-part-main-causes.aspx
https://www.gallup.com/workplace/288539/employee-burnout-biggest-myth.aspx