The “American Dream” has long been a goal to strive towards those living in North America and many people around the world. A stable, high paying job, a beautiful family, and double vanity sinks represent the ideal life for many people. But, with the cost of living on the rise, many people are overworked in order to afford the lives that they dream of, which results in nothing but burnout.
In 2014 the Glassdoor Employment Confidence Survey discovered that on average employees took only 51% of their allotted time off in the past 12 months. Of those employees, three in five (or 61%) reported working while on their vacation[1].
While this overworking may amount to a lot of work getting done in a short amount of time, it may be at the cost of our health, and in the case of this woman from Japan, death.
Japanese Woman Dies Due to Overwork
Miwa Sado, a 31-year-old journalist for public broadcaster NHK died of congestive heart failure in 2013, which may have been linked to her overtime work. Sado logged 159 hours of overtime in the month leading up to her death with only two days off in all that time.
The labor standards office in Tokyo attributed her death to ‘karoshi’, which translates to ‘overwork death’.
Sado was a political reporter in charge of covering the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. She was working on a major election just three days before her death.
Her death occurred back in 2013, yet her case was only recently released to the public after her family demanded that the facts be known.
In her family’s words: “Even today, four years after, we cannot accept our daughter’s death as a reality.” [2]
Workplace Stress Can Affect Your Heart Health
Congestive heart failure can be caused by a number of different factors, including conditions that overwork the heart. These often include high blood pressure, heart valve disorders, artery disease, or longstanding alcohol abuse [3].
Miwa Sado is not the first case of death from overwork in Japan. There are cases of middle-aged workers in Japan committing suicide due to work-related stress[4]. While the number of these suicides is relatively low, it has a large political and symbolic impact.
This isn’t just an issue affecting Japan, but rather a worldwide epidemic.
Dr. Junko Kitanaka, Ph.D., the Associate Professor in the Department of Human Sciences at Keio University in Tokyo, states: “I’ve noticed increasing similarities rather than differences where workers everywhere face the same increasing uncertainty about their place in the workforce.”[4]
Perhaps it’s time to start looking closer to home to assess our own well-being in the workplace.
Signs That You May Be Overworked & Burning Out
We all get tired from working at times, and often the fatigue creeps up slowly until we hit rock bottom, and burn ourselves out. Knowing the signs leading up to burnout can help you to stop yourself from going down in the flames of fatigue.
Chronic Fatigue
In the early stages of fatigue you may feel a lack of energy, or just feel tired most days. Fatigue becomes chronic when you feel constantly emotionally and physically drained. You may feel a sense of dread for what lies ahead on any given day.
Insomnia
You may have trouble falling asleep or sleeping throughout the night. This may turn into a persistent nightly ordeal, making it impossible to sleep, despite your fatigue.
Forgetfulness/Impaired Concentration
Lack of focus and forgetfulness are typically signs of burnout. It may get to the point where your work begins to pile up, which only adds to the anxiety.
Physical Symptoms Leading to Increased Illness
Symptoms like chest pain, dizziness, fainting, shortness of breath and gastrointestinal pain can lead to more severe medical illnesses which deplete your immune system.
Change of Appetite
Your appetite may change, making you eat more or less than normal. This can affect your body weight and your health.
Anxiety
In the beginning, you may experience moments of tension, worry, and stress, which can later move to full-blown anxiety, serious enough to interrupt your work and personal life.
Depression
Depression can begin with thoughts of sadness and move to a feeling of despair and hopelessness. If the depression becomes severe it’s imperative that you seek medical attention[5].
Ways to Reduce Stress at Work that is Actually Do-Able
It may sometimes feel impossible to rid yourself of the daily stress that you’re experiencing but there are, in fact, ways that you can minimize anxiety in your workplace every day that is actually attainable. Implementing these useful tips into your day can help to greatly reduce stress, and can help make your work experience more pleasant in general.
Take Breaks
Taking breaks is crucial in maintaining a sharp and concentrated mind. Schedule times throughout your day where you can take mini-breaks for yourself. Read a couple of pages in your book, take a walk, or enjoy your lunch outside to get some extra rays of sunlight. Scheduling a little bit of ‘you time’ throughout the day will help you to be able to check in with how you’re doing throughout the day, and ensure that you won’t burn out.
Use Your Vacation Time
Your company is giving you vacation time for a reason. They’re giving you the gift of rejuvenation, and it’s silly not to take advantage of that. Take your time off, and don’t try to bring your laptop on your vacation. Use the time given to you to decompress and focus on yourself and your family, for your own sanity.
Open Discussion
If you’re feeling any negative feelings about your workplace, or suspect that you may be on the verge of burning out, talk to your manager. Your company will not benefit from you being in shambles due to stress. They want you to succeed, so don’t feel discouraged from speaking up about the way that you’re feeling.
Change Jobs
If your work-life balance is being jeopardized, consider switching to another job, whether it be with the same company, or moving to another. At the end of the day, your well-being is what’s most important, and if your employer is unable to see that, then perhaps you may need to consider finding one that does.
Taking care of yourself, and making sure that stress and anxiety aren’t taking over your life, is more important than the job that you have. Many people feel as though their workplace stress is ‘normal’, so there’s no reason to change anything. It’s very easy for that stress to build up to become a full-blown breakdown, so protect yourself every day and your body and mind will thank you in the long run.
