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While having a job is a necessity in surviving in this world, sometimes it can affect you in a negative way and become emotionally draining. It is important to address and admit the symptoms of this emotional exhaustion and seek help whenever needed. Most of the time, you won’t even know that you’re going through a deeper level of stress and most often leave it going unnoticed. Mental health in the workplace is not something to be joked about and can lead to more serious health issues later on. If you check off a few items off this list, then we advise you to make a change or take a break to focus on your own mental health before it’s too late.
Physical and mental exhaustion
If you find yourself having aches and sores, muscle fatigues and lack of energy to do even the simplest tasks, then you’re suffering from physical exhaustion. If you feel out of it or lack basic motor skills going through your day at work, then you should take a timeout and take a short break before resuming work. Physical exhaustion can lead to many bad outcomes as you won’t have full control over your body.
Mental exhaustion is slightly harder to detect. Some will just pass it off as stress or fatigue, but being mentally exhausted is so much more than that. When you’re mentally exhausted, your mind thinks of the cons most of the time, you will start to self doubt, self blame, and have significantly slower movement. When you’re mentally tired, you’ll start to have a dysfunctional mind and cause changes in your behaviour and attitude.
Sleep problems
Sleeping patterns can drastically change when you’re exhausted at work. Sleeping less, sleeping more, or having disturbed sleep can affect how you function at work. If you’re not well rested, you’re more prone to make mistakes at work. Lack of sleep causes a disruption in your cognitive abilities to perform normally and will lead to a constant cycle of problems if not treated properly.
Unenthused about work
In a bad mood every time you wake up and drag yourself to work? Sometimes, mental exhaustion can put yourself in a spiteful mood and you will unwillingly lash it out on yourself or others at work. Constant complaints on workloads and work culture is also another sign of exhaustion as you realise that even the smallest things can irritate and annoy you.
Reduced productivity and performance
Being mentally exhausted leads to reduced productivity and performance as you will become slower in processing information, problem-solving, finding resources, and important decision making. Anything to do with information processing such as thinking, focusing, or even remembering or memorising will be at a slower rate and affect your work performance
Excessive worry
Fear of not doing well enough in the workplace can also be caused by exhaustion, especially mentally. Therefore, worrying and showing traits of negativity can lead to high risks of depression. Worrying will lead to fatigue and cause a cycle of continuous problems in the workplace.
Work is always important as you sustain life as a young adult and into your retirement age. But it is also important to keep an eye on your health, both physically and mentally, because at the end of the day no matter how much money you earn, you can’t bring yourself back to life once it’s too late.