Overwork is a condition of the body caused by too hard, long and continuous work. Most often, overwork is associated with prolonged work that goes beyond the limits established by law and hygiene rules, and causes physical and mental disorders.
Fatigue refers to prolonged fatigue, exhaustion and disruption of the functioning of certain body systems. Ultimately, without sufficient rest (for example, when working overtime), this leads to overwork.
Overtime is generally defined as hours worked in excess of forty hours in a week that an employer forces an employee to work under threat of job loss or threat of other reprisal, such as demotion or assignment to unattractive assignments or job changes.
Relevance of the problem
According to some reports, about two tens of millions of people suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome in the world. At the same time, scientists note that approximately the same number are simply not diagnosed with it.
People first started talking about chronic fatigue syndrome in 1988, and it was from that time that it began to be regarded as a disease, which is also fraught with complications.
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“Given the modern pace of life, the problem of overwork is extremely relevant. Irregular working hours, typical for many, require full dedication and lack of free time not only on weekdays, but also on weekends and holidays,” says Evgenia Parshina, head of the department of allergology and immunopathology of the Central Clinical Hospital of the Russian Academy of Sciences, allergist-immunologist, assistant of the department of immunology of the Russian National Research Medical University. . N. I. Pirogova .
The following factors also contribute to the development of overwork:
- recent infectious diseases, including a new coronavirus infection;
- lack of sleep and poor quality of sleep;
- unbalanced nutrition and lack of a structured diet;
- lack of physical activity with daily mental workload and multitasking.
In addition, daily stress at work and at home aggravates the situation, notes Evgenia Parshina.
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Causes of overwork among workers
Some of the causes of overwork are organizational, while others are personal.
Organizational causes are those caused by changes occurring in both the external and internal environment. Personal reasons are psychological problems in the lives of employees.
There are a number of reasons that contribute to the increase in overwork. One of the main reasons is the changing economy, in which it is not uncommon for an organization to depend on one key client.
The globalization of the economy has led to job insecurity. As a result, employees started working longer and longer hours to keep their jobs. The reduction in administrative support is another important reason for the sudden increase in the trend of overwork among workers.
As a result, some employees work overtime to show their loyalty. Most companies provide monetary incentives to their employees for their extra efforts at work. Employees work overtime to earn as much money as possible.
In addition, highly motivated employees want to move up the career ladder, so they spend more hours on their jobs. High ambitions and the desire to fuel a sense of superiority have led to a growing tendency for employees to overwork.
The practice of reducing the number of employees has led to an increase in the workload of employees, who at the same time must maintain their jobs. Additionally, layoff survivors fear losing their jobs and therefore work harder and longer to prove their worth.
Types of overwork and its symptoms
“Fatigue can be both physical and mental. However, the ways to deal with them are different. If you are physically overtired, it is enough to just have a good rest, for example, sleep. But with the mental one, it’s more complicated, because it often develops unnoticed,” says the immunologist.
The specialist also emphasizes that it is worth taking a close look and listening to yourself and your loved ones in order to identify symptoms of mental fatigue. These include:
- irritability and nervousness;
- headaches, which are otherwise called tension pains;
- absence or, conversely, increased appetite;
- disturbance and lack of sleep;
- fatigue and apathy;
- decreased concentration, slowness.
All this leads to decreased performance. “If you have identified such signs in yourself, you need to start correcting them without pushing yourself to the extreme,” emphasizes Evgenia Parshina.
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Overfatigue is extreme fatigue, weakening of the body’s activity due to excessively intense or prolonged work.
This condition occurs frequently in modern society and is a pressing problem. Of the two types of overwork - physical and mental - the latter is the most common. If physical fatigue develops gradually and to eliminate it, it is enough to rest well, get enough sleep, take a bath or get a massage, then fatigue from mental work often occurs unnoticed by a person, and requires more time and effort to eliminate. It is mental fatigue that creates the preconditions for the development of nervous, psychosomatic and other acute and chronic diseases.
There are three stages of overwork. The first stage is characterized by infrequent sleep disturbances, expressed in poor falling asleep and frequent awakenings. Very often there is a lack of feeling of rest after sleep, a decrease in appetite, concentration, and less often - a decrease in performance.
At the second stage, a decrease in physical performance occurs. Apathy, lethargy, drowsiness, increased irritability, and decreased appetite appear. Many people complain of easy fatigue, discomfort and pain in the heart area, and slow involvement in any work.
During the third stage, sleep disorder progresses, the time to fall asleep lengthens, sleep becomes superficial, restless with frequent dreams, often with nightmares. Sleep, as a rule, does not provide the necessary rest and recuperation. Often a person at this stage has a characteristic appearance: a pale complexion, sunken eyes, bluish lips and blue under the eyes, and a decrease in body weight. There is increased sweating. Women experience menstrual irregularities, which negatively affects the reproductive health of the female body and increases the likelihood of developing osteoporosis and breast cancer. Overwork also has a negative impact on men's health.
In addition to the listed signs, those who are overtired experience difficulties in switching attention, fatigue and apathy, redness of the eyes, irritability, nervousness, headache, attacks of nausea, fainting, lack or increase of appetite, increased blood pressure, decreased sensitivity, impaired vision, weakened immunity. Absent-mindedness, sore throat, memory loss, increased body temperature, mood changes, depression, allergic reactions, insomnia followed by increased drowsiness, chest pain, rapid heartbeat, pain in joints and muscles, abdominal pain, soreness in the neck and armpits do not always appear. lymph nodes
There are many reasons for overwork: frequent stress at home and at work, inadequate rest or lack thereof, sleep disturbances, lack of physical activity with regular mental activity, unbalanced nutrition and eating disorders, long-term monotonous and monotonous work.
Of course, every person gets tired, but to avoid overwork it is necessary:
1. Properly organize your working day with a change of activities and always with active rest. You can write down in advance a list of things that need to be done today, the main thing is to calculate your strength and not try to do more than is possible.
2. Manage the flow of information flowing at you. Your brain is not a garbage dump; don’t fill your memory with a large amount of unnecessary information.
3. Get enough sleep. The optimal sleep duration for an adult is 8 hours, for children 8-12 hours (depending on age).
4. Use physical activity adequately, walk more. If you take walks 3-5 times a week for 20-30 minutes no later than 2 hours before bedtime, then within 1-2 weeks the disturbed sleep will be restored and your performance will increase.
5. Find an activity that is interesting and gives only positive emotions.
6. Be in the sun more often. Sun rays enhance the production of the activity mediator – serotonin.
7. Not pushing negative emotions and experiences into the subconscious is a sure way to get depressed. All negative emotions must be “reacted”.
8. Watch your diet. In a life filled with worries and problems, food is often almost the only source of pleasure. If this is your case, then you need to find other pleasures and maintain proper nutrition.
A balanced diet is the key to a healthy body and strong immunity. Lean on fresh fruits and vegetables, fish, seafood, nuts, cheese, and dairy products. Include iron-rich foods in your diet (leafy and green vegetables, lean meat, liver, seafood, peas, oranges, pomegranates, vitamin-mineral complexes with iron). Eat foods and drinks rich in vitamin C (rosehip decoction, currants, citrus fruits and other fruits and vegetables).
Don't overeat, watch your weight. To ensure that performance does not decrease during the day, it is best to choose split meals (little by little, but often) - eating every two hours.
Stay hydrated. To prevent dehydration, you should drink half a glass of clean water or green tea every hour. Green tea is an excellent alternative to energy drinks and coffee; it can speed up your metabolism and provide a surge of strength and energy.
Prevention of fatigue in preschool children consists, first of all, in establishing an optimal daily routine for the child. Both young children and schoolchildren should have adequate sleep and a normal diet, including foods that are healthy for the body.
For a preschool child, classes should not last more than 15-20 minutes, and a junior schoolchild should take a break from active mental stress every half hour. You should not allow your child to spend a lot of time in front of the monitor. Parents need to carefully monitor how adequate the child’s load is. You should not make excessive demands on your child. No matter how much he studies, if your “program” does not interest him, it will be difficult for the student to master it. Don’t reproach him for the lack of phenomenal success, because the psycho-emotional load will only increase from this. Offer your child a choice of several ways of self-realization: sports, creativity, hobbies.
To avoid visual and muscle fatigue, it is important for a student to alternate types of activities and periodically take a break from classes. In addition, it is important for schoolchildren to properly organize their workplace.
Why is this condition dangerous?
Doctors note that the development of such fatigue and the progression of its symptoms can seriously harm health. So, some people escape from overexertion and stress by engaging in bad habits, and this is the cause of alcoholism, etc., relationships with loved ones may collapse due to emotional instability. There are also problems in the digestive system against the background of constant stress and nervous experiences. Then problems with the heart and blood vessels develop, a person begins to experience pressure surges and metabolic disorders.
People with overwork often have characteristic external defects - bruises under the eyes, pale skin, bluish lips, deterioration in the quality of hair and nails, etc.
At the same time, it is worth understanding that overwork is deadly. Thus, in Japan there is already a special term “karoshi”, which means death due to overwork, which usually leads to strokes and heart attacks. This definition was derived after studying a large number of deaths among workers. Then the researchers came to the conclusion that the reason for their premature death was that people overloaded themselves at work and were constantly overtired, worked to exhaustion and did not pay attention to health disorders. Rough calculations have shown that 10 thousand people a year are susceptible to this phenomenon.
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What is overwork?
Overwork occurs when overtime hours worked, week after week or year after year, begin to have a detrimental effect on a person's health, family, community and economy. What happens is that fatigue and stress accumulate, leading to a greater risk of errors, accidents, injuries, health problems, reduced product quality, and decreased productivity.
Working hard is to some extent a competitive advantage for both employees and management. However, the resulting fatigue also leads to poor health in the long term.
Overwork is a self-destructive condition. A situation where there is too much work, not enough time to complete the required tasks and not enough resources will certainly not lead to anything good.
The body's response to overwork varies from person to person, but ensuring industrial safety in such conditions is difficult. Ideas about overwork of an individual are of great importance, since each working person reacts differently to overwork.
Endurance and the ability to cope with stress are individual for each working employee and depend on his needs, grievances, ambitions, lifestyle and expectations.
How to deal with the situation?
If there are symptoms of fatigue, both physical and mental, you need to act. In the first case, as the doctor said earlier, you need to give yourself a good rest. The only thing you should understand is that, for example, you won’t be able to get enough sleep - you must definitely adjust your regime and always rest normally.
If we are talking about mental overstrain, we need to act more comprehensively. “First, you need to try to organize your day so that you have time for quality sleep of at least 8 hours. Naturally, you should take care of your diet and make it more balanced. You should also not forget about physical activity - various walks and physical exercises,” notes Evgenia Parshina.
In addition, the immunologist advises, in order to normalize the condition and overcome chronic fatigue syndrome, to devote time to those activities that you have wanted to get interested in for a long time, but did not have enough time and energy. For example, this could be embroidery, knitting, watching movies, as well as other hobbies. “The most important thing in this matter is to have fun and positive emotions,” the specialist concludes.
