Co-founder and managing partner at the Netpeak agency Andrey Chumachenko runs the Sad But True telegram channel. Shares thoughts on marketing, business and teamwork.
We are publishing several of his life hacks on how to deal with burnout.
On the one hand, it’s funny for me, someone who has been working at the same company for over 13 years, to hear about burnout during interviews with 22-year-old applicants. On the other hand, this is a really serious problem.
Between banal fatigue and burnout there is the same gap as between sadness and depression, and it is important to be able to notice it. The seriousness of the topic is also evidenced by the fact that last year WHO included burnout among the factors affecting health.
Therefore, firing an employee because of emotional burnout is the same as firing him because of smoking - there is no reason.
Let’s agree right away: dealing with burnout is the responsibility of not only the employee himself, but also his manager. It is just as normal to support and help him in moments of crisis as during the period of adaptation to a new job.
Courses on the topic:
HR and recruiting
Corporate culture
Olga Tarasevich, HR Director at Work.ua
HR and recruiting
HR analytics
Find out what's wrong with your body
It is normal for a person to be tired after a busy day at work or an intense workout. It’s not normal when fatigue doesn’t go away even on weekends and you’re so tired that you can’t rest. But this also happens. Before you start doing anything, make sure that it is real fatigue and not a symptom of larger troubles.
Fatigue is a symptom of some diseases.
Diabetes, depression, thyroid problems, anxiety, anemia and even snoring are diseases that signal themselves through fatigue. Why am I tired all the time? . It takes no more than a week to get checked by an endocrinologist and do a couple of blood tests, but you will find out what is the reason for your poor health: a disease or lifestyle.
Work while standing
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Everyone knows that spending the whole day in a sitting position is very, very harmful. But standing on your feet is not a good prospect. Most likely, you are used to working while sitting in a chair because it is more convenient. But when you feel terribly tired, discomfort fades into the background: the main goal is not to fall asleep. This is another good reason to work while standing.
Perhaps your office does not have a special table for this. If this is the case, see if there is a way to rearrange your workspace so that you can stand and the monitor is at eye level. Use a stack of books as a stand, or if you're at home, find a shelf or tabletop that's the right height.
Learn to sleep correctly
It’s trite, but a constantly tired person most likely sleeps poorly: he suffers from insomnia, shallow sleep or lack of time to rest. If you think that you have no time to sleep, remember: you need to sleep not 8 hours, but correctly.
Here's what it means: 10 tips to beat insomnia. .
- Go to bed at the same time every day.
- Sleep in the dark.
- Sleep in silence.
- Sleep in a cool bedroom with an open window (at an air temperature of 16–18 °C).
- Sleep on a flat mattress and under a warm blanket.
There are many more ways to improve sleep, but in practice few people even follow the rule of a cool bedroom. So try to start with this.
Tip four
Nothing helps you sort the thoughts in your head into categories and find a solution on how to proceed further than sports or physical labor. Here everyone must choose what he likes best - running in the park or chopping wood in the village and planting potatoes. But if you take your hands and unload your head for a while, it will help get rid of apathy and get out of a state of emotional burnout. After physical exercise and fresh air, few people will say: I don’t want to work, I don’t have the strength, because they will definitely appear.
Find fuel
Energy is obtained by burning fuel, our fuel is food. If you fill a car with a gasoline engine with diesel fuel, then, of course, it will go, but not far. It’s the same with our body: if we feed it just anything, we won’t be able to get enough energy. We have written about how to eat healthy many times, but fatigue is a trap. To stick to a nutrition plan, regularly buy the right foods, cook them, and not break down, you need a schedule and strength. But they are not there.
Get started with three simple steps:
- Reduce your coffee intake Self-help tips to fight fatigue. , no matter how paradoxical it sounds. Coffee and other tonic drinks provide energy on loan. You will spend more than you can afford, and you will have to pay with a lack of strength.
- Instead of sweets and fast food, snack on nuts and cottage cheese. Protein foods help cope with lack of strength better than candy and coffee.
- Take snacks based on flax seeds - they are rich in antioxidants. However, more details are needed about them.
Tip five
It is worth deciding to make changes if the problem has become serious. If your job is too hard and takes all your juice out of you, try to find a more suitable place to serve. Are you depressed by a relationship that has been going nowhere for a long time and has reached a dead end? Think about whether you are on the right track with this person or is it high time to break off these senseless attempts to maintain a non-existent union? But do everything thoughtfully and according to plan.
Each of us sometimes feels like we have no strength to work anymore. And at this point, sometimes it’s time to start a plan to escape from the stressful situation that is taking all our energy. You don’t have to implement it right away, but its very presence will reduce your stress level and give you more strength. But remember: for everything to work, you need to do everything not to depend on the situation. This means that if you decide to change jobs, then do not take out a loan that will tie you to this place and will not give you the opportunity to move forward.
Use antioxidant supplements
One of the reasons we feel tired all the time is due to free radicals. These are unstable molecules, they are usually formed as a result of vital activity, especially after exercise. The body can cope with so many free radicals, but we can get an additional portion from the environment: cigarette smoke, exhaust fumes, ultraviolet radiation. When there are too many free radicals, the body falls into oxidative stress, the consequences of which are disruptions in energy production, cell destruction, the development of diseases and accelerated aging.
Antioxidants are molecules that counteract oxidative stress, neutralize free radicals, protect our cells and restore energy production.
For chronic fatigue, use dietary supplements Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Treatment. which contain antioxidants. Such as the antioxidant complex "Sinergin" - a dietary supplement (not a medicine).
Synergin contains six antioxidants in high dosages: coenzyme Q10, lycopene, rutin, vitamins C and E, beta-carotene. All these substances are found in common foods: meat, vegetables, berries. Another thing is that the amount of antioxidants in food is small, we simply cannot eat enough food to get the required amount of antioxidants. This is what Synergin is fighting against: two capsules contain enough antioxidants to provide the body without exceeding the permissible level of consumption.
While the antioxidants inside us fight free radicals, we feel how fatigue recedes, strength and a desire to do more for ourselves appear.
Causes of stress
We are overstimulated and bombarded with information every day. Mobile phones, televisions, radio, Internet, print media have forever changed human life. And most importantly, we constantly need to make decisions and choices. And this has a very bad effect on willpower. We don't have enough security because life is completely unpredictable. Recently, such fundamental concepts of society as freedom, work, family, intimate life and even patriotism have changed a lot.
A serious crisis has emerged in the search for the meaning of life. Our ancestors always knew where to find it. For example, religion, party and so on. Now we have too much choice, what to believe in and what rules to live by, but there is no understanding of what strict adherence to these canons will give a person. Our brains and attitudes to the real world have been shaped over millennia, as have our reactions to stressful situations. And while people are still young, they do not notice how such a rhythm affects the psyche and health. But the older we get, the more clearly the side aspects of this haste are expressed and logical questions arise: we don’t have the strength to work, what to do in this situation?
Take breaks from work
When there are so many things to do that it is impossible to sort them out, stop! Understand that Bolivar will not endure so much, decide which tasks must be done without fail, and what can wait. On the list of the most important tasks of the day, the first item should be “Rest.”
Do those things that absolutely need to be done, and if after that you have no strength left, rest. The most important things will be completed, and you will be able to switch gears and gather energy without feeling remorse.
Plan your day in the evening, but adjust your plans in the morning. We wake up with different amounts of energy, and if you feel like you’re falling down after barely brushing your teeth, then it’s better to reschedule your plans: leave the most important things in order to devote more time to rest.
How to relieve fatigue after a hard day?
There are stressful periods in our lives when we simply need to exhale and relax, gain energy for new exploits. Especially if you have to work seven days a week.
Sometimes this is not so easy to do: if the body is always under tension, you have to make an effort to come to your senses. How to work hard and not get tired?
For office employees
Many people complain that they are very tired from office work. This also includes fatigue from excess information. What to do in this case? Here are some useful tips.
- The simplest and most effective time-tested method is dream.
ADVICE! If you feel an acute lack of sleep, you don’t want anything, be sure to include an item in your daily schedule with additional time for this wonderful activity.
- Meditations . They are, perhaps, not suitable for everyone: to cope with a course of meditation, you need to have a special character, as connoisseurs say. But it’s still worth a try: relaxing music will be good for you in any case and will help you quickly relieve fatigue after work. It is enough to devote a quarter of an hour a day to this to notice positive changes.
- Review your diet . We are what we eat, and unhealthy chocolates from the machine do not work in your favor. Try to switch to proper nutrition: it is now at the peak of popularity, and this is no coincidence. Well-chosen food can really make a difference in how you feel. To enhance the effect, consult your doctor and find out about the individual needs of your body.
- Surround yourself with pleasant things that please the eye. Let comfort reign in your home. It is very important to be in a comfortable environment after a hard day.
For manual workers
After hard physical work, any person needs peace and rest. Let's find out how to work 12 hours a day and not get tired.
- Again, sleep has never bothered anyone. When you sleep, your body recovers much more efficiently. Therefore, do not torment yourself with lack of sleep - if you have physical activity, you need to sleep a lot. This will keep you from overworking and keep you healthy in the long run.
- Don't forget about massage and do not spare money on the services of a good specialist who will take into account your lifestyle and will be able to select a complex especially for you.
BY THE WAY! Massage perfectly relaxes muscles, restores their vitality, improves blood circulation, which has a beneficial effect on well-being.
- Water procedures. Water can perfectly relax you: take frequent baths with salt and foam, swim in the pool, take a powerful shower to create a massage effect. Even the simple sound of running water calms the nerves and leads to a state of harmony and peace.
- Make sure your clothes are as comfortable as possible, at least during non-working hours. Any elastic bands that tighten the body are not suitable for home wear.
Learn to move
Movement and physical activity are the last things you want to do when you're tired. What kind of gym can we talk about if there is no strength for anything at all? But we are created to be in the Rev Up Your Energy movement. . When we move little, all processes in the body automatically stop: the body slowly processes food, slowly starts working, and slowly adjusts to rest. It turns out to be a vicious circle: we get tired and therefore move little, but as a result, the body reserves less energy for movement and reduces its production.
There is a way out: when tiredness haunts you, you need to start with walks.
And nothing else. Put on something very comfortable, go outside, not somewhere, but just like that, without a purpose. You can’t: sit, wander around the shops, go to the nearest kiosk for fast food. You can: walk.
How to warm up when you need to go outside but don’t want to? Start breathing. Take a deep breath and exhale sharply until you feel you are ready to stretch your neck and do at least 10 squats.
Tip two
Don't give in to impulsive impulses. The main reason why we do not have the strength to work is the desire to suppress difficult to bear experiences. And the simplest method is impulsive behavior, which does not always remain without consequences. But, unfortunately, even the most impulsive actions do not help get rid of stress; moreover, they have no effect on solving the problems that have arisen, and more often they even worsen the situation. We all sometimes want to hide so that people will leave us alone, so we may say too much, buy alcohol or take medicine. But you shouldn’t do this, wait, calm down, and start acting only when you understand that emotions do not interfere with sane thinking.
Get a massage
At home after a hard day, try the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome - Other Treatment massage. stop, hands, stretch your neck and face. Of course, it’s great if someone gives you a massage, but if there is no one willing, buy a gymnastic roller or take a tennis ball to stretch the most tense areas of the body: neck, back, feet.
If you are so tired that you suffer from insomnia, cannot concentrate on work and lose your appetite, sign up for a course of therapeutic or relaxing massage. It becomes easier under the hands of professionals.
You involuntarily fall asleep at work or feel unwell
In science, this is called unconscious sleep, and you probably remember this state from your school days: you are trying to concentrate on something, but your body seems to “turn off” itself, and you fall asleep for a few seconds or minutes. This is a sign of accumulating fatigue, which in the following stages turns from such attacks of a minute's sleep into a general disorder of the whole organism. In other words, you feel as if you are sick, you have headaches, weakness and lack of appetite.
Learn to switch from work to rest
You need to leave your work at work, don’t take it home even in your thoughts. At home, don’t check work email, don’t write to colleagues about unfinished business or questions that can wait until tomorrow (in fact, most questions are just like that), don’t go into the corporate chat if you have one. If an extremely important event is planned at work tomorrow, then worrying about it is appropriate, but such events happen no more than two or three times a year. And the rest of the time - no “overtime” thoughts. Switching things up will also help you relax.
The best way to take your mind off work is to communicate with loved ones. Talk to your family, play with your pets, call your friends, or text someone you haven't seen in years and ask how they're doing. The energy of loved ones will help you feel better.
Rhythm of life
We have evolved and adapted to new conditions over many centuries, but never before has this process taken place so quickly. Many people are completely unsuited to living in the 21st century. Of course, some will say that the person adapted perfectly to the new rules of life, but in fact, the price for this adaptation was high. Not so long ago, people lived in small villages, knew all their neighbors, and any public event like fairs was considered a significant and big event.
Everyone knew from childhood what he would be when he grew up, because many simply inherited the work of their parents. People fell asleep at sunset and woke up at dawn. Every day and year of a person’s life was predictable and understandable. At the moment, fundamental changes are taking place, and all of humanity is in a state of permanent stress.
