The 8 consequences of overwork: physical and mental health problems.
The accumulation of work obligations causes our well-being to wear down rapidly.
Working is necessary both to ensure our livelihood and to develop good self-esteem; by feeling useful, we learn to believe in ourselves. However, like any habit, overwork can damage our physical and mental health with astonishing ease. with astonishing ease.
That is why it is important to always control the amount of work we face on a daily basis, on the one hand, and the way we react to it, on the other. Otherwise, the logic of productivity will drag us to the point of making professional work our reason for living, something that cannot be healthy.
These are the effects of overwork
To prevent problems related to overwork, we must know how to recognize the warnings that the body sends us. Below you can see what they are and how they are expressed in your body.
1. Anxiety
This is the clearest consequence of all. It is a feeling of discomfort and alertness that, in turn, makes it more difficult for us to face the challenges that lie ahead. Anxiety causes us to be always active but, at the same time, we are afraid to think about our responsibilities, so we procrastinate on some of them. This procrastination contributes to the accumulation of obligations.
2. Burnout
Burnout syndrome is a psychological and physical condition typical of demanding work environments with little capacity to respond to the needs of professionals. It consists of a mixture of depersonalization, crisis due to the absence of motivating expectations, and anxiety generated by work stagnation and monotony.
It should be noted that Burnout syndrome is not necessarily caused by overwork, but rather by repetition and lack of time to take a break and get away from the work context. the lack of moments to take a break and get away from the work context.. Thus, giving oneself a time to replenish energies and to clear the mind usually helps, but in other cases it is necessary to change occupation to feel well.
3. Addiction to work
Paradoxically, the excess of work can do that still we enslave us more under the yoke of the future tasks to realize and needs to take care of. Why? Because the fact of having gone through hard and unpleasant situations to reach the goals we have set for ourselves makes us deny less margin to choose if in the future we will be in a similar situation again.
Quite simply, the possibility of having our project or company damaged by our inability to work harder seems an intolerable idea in view of the sacrifices we have had to make so that this initiative does not fail.
On the other hand, we run the risk of normalizing overwork, assuming the belief that always being overloaded is what is to be expected, what is normal. From this point of view, avoiding working more or taking a break is irresponsible.
4. Carpal tunnel syndrome
It is one of the most common physical problems among workers who use computers a lot, such as clerical workers, IT workers or editors. It appears when the fact of having the hand in the same position to use the keyboard causes one of the nerves of the hand to be pressed at the level of the wrist.
5. Lumbar pain
As work piles up, we are much less likely to perform the tasks necessary to work while maintaining standards of well-being, and taking breaks to change posture or stretch our legs is one such option.
Sitting all the time in the two or three positions we think help us produce faster damages both our muscles and the joints in our spine.. Over time, it contributes to us adopting that hunched position when walking or standing.
6. Insomnia
o sleep problems are common when we are overworked. The causes of this are rumination and recurrent thoughts based on one's own obligations, as well as unstructured working hours and excessive use of screens. and the excessive use of screens.
7. Gastric problems
The digestive system is very sensitive to the problems of stress and anxiety, so the excess of work feels like a blow to its functioning. This leads to gas, diarrhea and other complications. Not only are they annoying, but they clearly affect all the other functions that take place in our body. After all, we are what we eat, which includes the way we assimilate food.
8. Cardiovascular problems
This problem is related to poor anxiety management, which becomes chronic, and to poor diet and exercise habits resulting from lack of time to exercise and eat healthy. Hypertension is the alarm signal.
(Updated at Apr 14 / 2024)