Beat Work Fatigue and Burnout

Summary: Getting more sleep is the easiest solution to stress and fatigue but sometimes our schedule require a rigorous agenda that doesn’t allow for just adding more sleep.

No one can escape the occasional job, project, or week where work takes over our life. For many this is during an internship but it still can happen at any time during our careers. What can we do when we spend more time at work than in our own home, let alone our own bed? Trying to survive days or weeks when you arrive to work at 6am to only get home at 11pm makes for a long, exhausting day that can quickly lead to burnout.

By now it would be assumed that you have heard that having a healthy work-life balance is necessary but what can you do when this crazy schedule is somewhat temporary and simply adding more sleep isn’t possible. In order to prevent burnout and damaging stress from happening, follow these tips:

• Make time for friends no matter what

Always schedule one night a week that you take off work to spend time with friends or family. Getting away from work and spending quality time with those that make you happy will give you additional energy that you didn’t know you had.

• Play upbeat music

When the stress builds up, we often turn to calm, relaxing music but this often makes us more tired. By turning up a cardio pumping playlist, the tempo will motivate you to take any project on.

• Avoid office junk food

Someone always brings donuts into the office or something other goodie that is not exactly the best for your waistline. Eating high amounts of sugar will throw your blood sugar level out of whack plus gaining extra weight won’t help with the fatigue and depression from being at work all the time.

• Add some color

Gloomy outfits will make your day gloomy. Add a little color somewhere in your outfit, even if it socks or a tie to promote feelings of happiness and excitement.

• Get outside

On a typical day, it isn’t unusual for us to spend all the time we are at work inside a stuffy office. Make a point to take at least one break outside, perhaps to get a bite to eat or just to eat your lunch outside. Even if it is raining, you can still sit in a covered area and take in the freshness of the rain.

Photo: cbc.ca