Umm Muhammed Umar

In 2019, the World Health Organization lent some serious weight to the once colloquial phrase, ‘professional burnout’, elevating it to an official syndrome. Radio Islam spoke to wellness counsellor, Keshni Mathi about workplace burnout.

Mathi said that workplace burnout is a very specialized type of work-related stress, when one is pulled beyond one’s resilience, physically and emotionally, and the individual becomes so exhausted that there is reduced accomplishments, and reduced ability to be able to perform at work. She said that it impacts the whole family and the world that they live in, and it has a big effect on how we identify with ourselves. Mathi said, “it drops our self-esteem, or personal identity, and to something that was seemingly as simple as just being tired at work, it now has a profound impact on our whole life.”

Symptoms that people should look out for are:

* The inability to relax – one must always be busy.

* The inability to sleep or sleeping too much.

* Neck pain, body pain, any tendency where one does almost not want to wake up and be physical in any way.

* Getting sick more often and feeling worse. Many people experience more pronounced illness.

* Not being able to stop and pause for meals – a meal has to be had around the computer, or at work.

* A complete lack of wanting to do anything, both in work life and at home. Burnt-out people cannot come home and be part of a family setting because they are so tired.

Mathi said that the signs can be overlooked, and mistaken for regular fatigue. She warned that if it was happening consistently, and if it was stopping one from being the person they usually were, there is a chance that it was burnout.

Aside from one’s work, there are other causes that may result in burnout. Mathi said, “it could be family strife – having family dysfunction, or having arguments at home.” She added, “It could be financial constraints – we’ve just come out of COVID-19, where people have been retrenched, or businesses have been impacted.” According to Mathi It could even be “something like a new baby -a happy occasion that could really cause quite a lot of changes in the way that we deal (with things).” Concerning is the fact that a mundane lifestyle, where the joy is missing from a person’s life, and they’re just doing things over and over again, could also result in burnout.

Mathi shared tips to avoid burnout:

• Keep a stress journal, “to be able to check your stress levels, and write down from Monday to Friday……. from one to five, with five being the most stress…….. and then what resulted in that number happening?” In other words, “So, what happened on the day I had a five, what happened on the day I had a one?” Once you’re able to see what’s triggering ones stress, one is able to identify exactly what is causing that stress.
• Habit and routine is extremely important.
• A support network is vital. Speak about what you’re under going to people who will listen and take it seriously enough.
• Going out in the sunshine for vitamin D is tremendously important.
• Get enough sleep.
• Have enough water.
• Mathi said, “it doesn’t need to be strenuous exercise, or going to the gym. It can be something as simple as timing yourself and walking down the road for seven minutes. Turn around and walk back for seven minutes.”
• Diet plays a huge role; “are you getting enough of those leafy greens?”
• Making time to process and to focus on oneself.
• Prayer.

Mathi said that all of the tips were elements of self-care, and practical ways for one to start to notice and relearn what it feels like to be relaxed.