Mind Moves: I'd like to talk about exhaustion - that is, if you feel you're up to it. Of course, if you've been bouncing around with a spring in your step ever since you got back from the Algarve last June, I'm naturally not talking about the likes of you, writes Tony Bates.
But if you've been finding yourself a little harder to kick-start in the mornings since the daylight started to shrink back, then maybe what I have to say may make some sense.
Many friends and colleagues have been mentioning to me recently that they feel tired and exhausted. They seem to be working at a furious pace and to be having difficulties with sleeping, concentrating and keeping on top of their work. They say they find themselves over-reacting to minor setbacks and being more irritable than usual. Some have been visiting their GPs and antidepressants have been discussed, if not prescribed.
In recent weeks, reports have been published of increasing absenteeism and sick leave in the workplace. Perhaps it has something to do with this malignant fatigue. Whereas low back pain was the most commonly recorded complaint for absenteeism in 1998, stress and depression ranked first in 2003.
So what is it about our work, our relationship with work, or our relationships with one another at work that produces such exhaustion or, even more seriously, burn-out and depression?
In 2001, the Dublin-based European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions published results of a survey of 21,000 workers in 15 member-states of the EU. One in four reported the experience of significant fatigue, and felt that their health was at risk because of work. This survey found that the pace of work had intensified, with more being expected within shorter time frames. Whereas employees had previously worked to agreed production quotas, nowadays the pace of work was being driven by customer demands, often with reduced resources.
Various explanations have been proposed to explain work-related stress. What they have in common is the idea that the root of stress-related exhaustion is some fundamental imbalance between our work and our personal needs. Output at work needs to be balanced with activities in our personal lives that replenish our energies. Work has become one of the great seductions of modern life.
It is very important to us because we may feel it holds possibilities for us to make a real impact in the world; but it can easily come to feel like a "higher calling" that takes precedence over simple life-maintaining aspects of our daily lives. If you have a chance to save some portion of the world, why would you take time off for indoor soccer or a yoga class? How could you turn your back on some unfinished initiative that could make a difference to so many, and drive your child to a music lesson?
Psychologist Marie Asberg observed that the road to exhaustion and burn-out begins with a benign neglect for daily routines that nourish us, in favour of completing work projects. The resulting imbalance of energy input and output in our lives leaves us without the emotional strength we need to sustain our work effort.
When we eventually leave work, we resort to relaxation strategies that seem most accessible and least demanding, i.e. TV and alcohol. This, in turn, aggravates our depressed mood, and we gradually spiral downwards into a state of exhaustion. Asberg believes stress ironically leads us to let go those aspects of our personal lives that are most protective of our health.
Effort at work needs to be balanced with time to recover. "Every time I look up, I get a slap," said one health worker, "something else is landed on my lap, which has to be done within a ridiculously short time frame." If people do not have time to recover, their bodies gradually build up hormonal and vascular issues that can lead to serious health problems.
Workload also needs to be balanced with some degree of decision-making control and autonomy. When the tasks we face are complex and "unending" we need to have some latitude in deciding what must take priority and what can be postponed until later. I'm reminded of a study some years ago that identified cleaners in Aer Lingus as the most stressed employees in that company. These workers were at the mercy of the public, their work was never done, and they had very little control over their daily routine.
Employees bring their talent and creativity and their personal sensitivities to work and, unfortunately, they are sometimes allowed to bring them home again unused. Engaging all these elements in achieving work objectives is good management. It is easy to write off stress as a "subjective experience", a problem for the individual employee, resulting from some failure on their part.
Managements are often reluctant to examine the way their organisation negatively impacts on an individual. Simple changes based on inclusive dialogue and joint planning of projects can create an ethos where employees feel respected and stress is reduced. Autonomy in decision-making, time for recovery and encouragement to honour healthy disciplines that nourish and protect us can contribute to a better working environment. And remember, the employees most at risk of stress are often the most valuable in an organisation; but they are also the people who are most easily taken for granted.
Dr Tony Bates is principal psychologist at St James's Hospital, Dublin