Is Your Job Making You Sick? | Essence

As we mentioned before, a little bit of stress can be good in our lives, especially at our job, as it may be necessary for us to function at our best daily. However, regular exposure to sustained high-stress levels in our jobs can lead to burnout — an overall feeling of mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion. According to wellness and mental health expert Linda Mensah, burnout can manifest in various ways, ranging from subtle signs to obvious indications throughout our workday. Far too often, the early warning signs are often dismissed, missed entirely, or seen as a challenge to push through and overcome. But how do we combat burnout? Unfortunately, many of us may not even know we are experiencing it. “Wanting to push through is a common response. Given the pressure we receive from our jobs and lives, performing well and delivering excellence consistently makes sense. However, if left unacknowledged and untreated, burnout can persist and lead to further mental, emotional, and physical complications,” says Mensah to ESSENCE.

She noted that only when burnout reaches a crisis point do people start to reach out to mental health professionals like herself. “It’s important to recognize any indications that you may be experiencing burnout in your work so it can be addressed as soon as possible before it reaches a critical point,” she suggests. “Everybody, in every walk of life and line of work, can experience burnout. It isn’t reserved for seemingly esteemed or dangerous lines of work, and everyone will likely experience it at least once in their working life — and that’s being modest. Burnout is a subjective experience that depends on your stress thresholds and capacity levels.” 

Those stress thresholds at your job are influenced by other stressors in your day-to-day life that may arise due to your identity, socioeconomic status, or responsibilities outside of work, which is not uncommon for Black women. Mensah believes all of these factors can influence your performance at work because of how much stress it may cause you before, during, or after work hours. 

Therefore, it is important to recognize the subtle and obvious signs that your job might negatively impact your mental health and can make you sick. It’s also important to remember that the signs of workplace burnout don’t just show up at work—they can also show up after hours outside of work or with friends and loved ones.  

Here are some common indications of workplace burnout:

• Fatigue
• Lethargy/reduced motivation
• Low self-esteem or loss of self-confidence
• Loss of sleep or appetite
• Irritability or sadness
• Anxiety, worry, overwhelm
• Anxiety attacks, difficulty breathing or tightness in the chest
• Unexplained gastrointestinal issues
• Nightmares about work
• Consistent sense of dread or fear when thinking about being at work
• Feeling stuck and a desire to escape/ run away or act impulsively
• Feeling fragile, like you are barely hanging on and anything could happen to unravel everything
• Distractedness, mental fog, consistently making “simple” errors or missing important deadlines
• Calling in sick/frequently absent from work
• Feelings of hopelessness and helplessness
• Apathy towards tasks/activities you know are important
• Apathy towards tasks or activities you used to enjoy, including caring less about quality or avoiding things entirely
• Bodily aches and pains, especially headaches or neck, back and shoulder pain
• Social avoidance/isolation/feeling disconnected or unsupported by your networks

According to Mensah, if some or all items on this list resonate with you, you may be experiencing workplace burnout. A jumping-off point for your exploration is to reach out for help rather than go alone. Engaging some or all of the following individuals to share your experiences with people you trust might be helpful. This could be:

• A mental health provider, healer, or community elder
• Friends and family members
• Coworkers and/or supervisors, or peer support groups

Ultimately, the response to workplace burnout should include: 

• A non-judgemental acknowledgment of your stress and the contributing factors
• An exploration of opportunities to mitigate or eliminate these stressful factors over the short and long term
• Gaining a thorough understanding of your workplace stress threshold, including indicators that you are reaching capacity
• The development of a customized, long-term self-care plan to help mitigate the risk of workplace burnout occurring in the future.