The psychology of work fatigue goes deeper than just feeling tired after you clock out. While scientists aren’t sure what the cause of work fatigue is, its effects permeate into nearly every area of our life leaving us both mentally and physically exhausted.
Fatigue can be a subtle yet painful experience. Fitting into the symptoms of clinical depression and anxiety, understanding where our fatigue is really coming from is vital. In work settings, we may find ourselves encountering tiredness that goes on for days or weeks in spite of adequate sleep. We may feel difficulty concentrating on tasks, communicating poorly, and lowered levels of organization and prioritizing. These effects may impact our lives at work, and for more many people these experiences also show up in their personal lives as well. In an evolutionary sense, fatigue may have acted as a signal that we should focus on other things for survival. In the modern world, fatigue could serve a similar purpose in alerting us that other areas of our life need some TLC as well.
While being tired and work fatigue are not the same, it is possible for one to lead to the other. Lowered levels of quality sleep is what puts night shift workers and employees with an early start time at particular risk for work fatigue, as both stress and tiredness compound on one another. But even individuals with regular 9-5 office jobs are vulnerable to work fatigue.
Adding mindfulness and gratitude into your daily thoughts can help ease anxiety, especially when paired with meditative practices. Over 70% of studies have shown that meditation results in significant reduction of stress and 10% of yoga practitioners report more mental-clarity than non-practitioners. When we find ourselves in hectic environments at work, consider requesting a regular work-from-home day, as occasional remote work days has been shown to help improve work/life balance. Even simply getting quality nutrition and hydration during the day keeps minds alert and bodies healthy. If all else fails, taking one or two days off work to reset your biological clock and to address any physical and emotional needs away from the workplace can be hugely impactful.
Lasting success in your career shouldn’t come at the expense of your mental health. When faced with work fatigue, tend to the things that matter with enough sleep, good nutrition, and plenty of self-love. Detailed in this infographic is more on work fatigue, how it can affect us, and what it takes to get our energy back.
Source: Psych Degrees
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