Hello again. In this new article you will learn what exhaustion is, how to recognize it and how to recover. Our approach is strongly linked to the well-being of our team, helping them manage their emotions, manage stress and general vision in their lives. This article will probably inspire you to adopt some of the practices we will mention here.
Stress increases exhaustion
Stress is part of life. No matter how much we want to live a stress-free life, it is a natural, constant and even necessary human reaction. Stress, such as work pressure on a deadline, can improve mental health in modest doses by increasing energy, attention, and productivity.
However, stress can lead to both mental and physical exhaustion if it lasts too long or is more than we can bear. Your mind and body can suffer serious consequences from persistent or sustained stress. Professional life inevitably involves a certain amount of stress, but excessive pressure can have serious consequences for your health. Work environments with low psychological safety are common examples that can lead to a similar result.
What is exhaustion?
One of the things we were able to see is that physical, mental and emotional exhaustion is what makes it difficult to participate in the things you would normally enjoy if you were healthy. You may lose interest in things that are important to you.
One of our research is that doctors and nurses who put others before themselves often become “burned out,” exhausted and unable to function. But, anyone can be affected by burnout, including stressed professionals, celebrities, overworked employees, and stay-at-home moms.
Interestingly, burnout has long been part of cultural jargon, now it can also be documented in a medical record. The world health organization recognizes burnout as an occupational phenomenon. However, it is not classified as a medical condition.
What are the stages of burnout?
At Mederi KOI, we seek to identify the five stages of burnout, evaluate them, and take appropriate steps to improve symptoms as they increasingly deteriorate. We recommend all people and organizations identify them the same.
Stage 1: Honeymoon
It is normal that when you start a new job you feel periods of tension. Leaders must have clear expectations, offer skill development opportunities, provide support, and grant a corresponding amount of autonomy.
Stage 2: The Onset of Stress
The appearance of stress can manifest itself as anxiety, anger, tiredness, or disorganization, among other symptoms. Employees must categorize their decisions as strategic, substantial or quick and dedicate the necessary time to the evolution of each type. During this stage, strategies such as box breathing during meditation can help an employee feel less stressed. Furthermore, the company’s senior executives, upon noticing the appearance of stress in their staff, must adopt a posture of empathetic listening. Leaders can eliminate obstacles and bottlenecks in the workplace, reduce the volume of emails or meetings and invest in seminars and collective well-being spaces.
Stage 3: Chronic Stress
Leaders should prioritize collective well-being, improve project scopes, and repeat relevant risk and safety training before employees reach this stage, rather than asking them to achieve more with less. Companies must use task automation and the use of technology. Employees who suffer from constant and repetitive stress should seek help, medical attention or expert medical advice. Practices such as collective physical exercise, collective meditation, breathing exercise and other similar practices can also help employees manage their stress level.
Stage 4: Exhaustion
Sometimes employees may experience heightened symptoms of burnout, such as cynicism and strong pessimism about their work and tasks, imposter syndrome, unjustified fears, a strong desire to escape and isolate themselves. Employees in this situation present a risk to themselves and others, as well as to the company, so immediate action with empathy is required.
Those experiencing burnouts should ask themselves; “Is the job and company right for me?” The attempt to please everyone, to be superhuman can result in real exhaustion. Burnout can be accelerated, but it can also be reversed depending not only on the actions of the organization but on the behavior of the individual. You would be surprised how effective strategic planning and organizational health resources can help companies reduce burnout. However, no one said it would be an easy task.
Stage 5: Habitual exhaustion
Melancholy, chronic depression, mental fatigue, low self-esteem, low efficiency and, in worse cases, suicidal ideation, are some of the manifestations of this. To help employees, companies must offer inclusive and welcoming work practices that are safe, diverse, and led by competent and compassionate leaders. High levels of routine burnout require reviews of senior management, finances, workflows, technologies and other factors. Employees leave companies where habitual burnout is common. Good planning, staffing and wellness programs earlier in this cycle would be much more successful than reducing common burnout.
How to recover from exhaustion?
There are several steps you can follow independently:
Put self-care first.
Prioritize sleep patterns, nutrition, exercise, social connection, and healthy routines like writing, meditating, and enjoying nature. Try adding some of those activities to your busy schedule. List what you are doing, who you are doing it with, how you feel and how valuable the activity is.
Reduce your exposure to toxic stress at work.
You should focus on any high-value efforts and connections that continue to cause harmful stress. Reset expectations of what you are capable of taking on and establish ground rules for working as a team.
Look for connections.
Seek connections with your colleagues to create lasting relationships and opportunities for personal and professional improvement, this will also help reduce burnout. You must find mentors and coaches who can guide you to recognize and seek advantageous connections and learning opportunities.
At Mederi KOI, we have wellness programs and numerous activities so that employees feel at home in their work activity. Burnout is more than just a word that is becoming more and more fashionable. It is important that companies recognize the 5 stages and work to prevent them.