The reasons why exhaustion and burnout are so common

These feelings will be familiar to countless others, from Pope Benedict XVI to Mariah Carey, who have been diagnosed with exhaustion.

 If the media are to be believed, it is a purely modern ailment; almost every time Schaffner turned on the TV, she would see a debate on the trials we face in our 24/7 culture. “All the commentators represented our age as the most terrible one out there – that it’s the absolute apocalypse for our energy reserves,” she says.

But can that really be true? Or are periods of lethargy and detachment as inevitable a part of human life as head colds and broken limbs?

A literary critic and medical historian at the University of Kent in the UK, Schaffner decided to investigate further. The result is her new book Exhaustion: A History, a fascinating study of the ways in which doctors and philosophers have understood the limits of the human mind, body – and energy.

 

There is no doubt that exhaustion is a pressing concern today, with some particularly startling figures emerging from emotionally draining sectors such as healthcare.

 A study of German doctors found that nearly 50% of physicians appeared to be suffering ‘burnout’, reporting, for instance, that they feel tired during every single hour of the day and that the mere thought of work in the morning left them feeling exhausted. Interestingly, men and women seem to deal with burnout in different ways: one recent Finnish survey found that male employees reporting exhaustion were far more likely to take extended sick leave than burned out women, for instance.

Given that depression also tends to involve lethargy and detachment, some have argued that burnout is just a stigma-free label for the same condition. In her book, Schaffner quotes one German newspaper article that claimed burnout is just a “luxury version” of depression for high-flying professionals. “Only losers become depressive,” the article continued. “Burnout is a diagnosis for winners, or, more specifically, for former winners.”

In general, however, the two conditions are generally considered to be distinct.

“Theorists generally agree that depression entails a loss of self-confidence, or even self-hatred or self-contempt, which is not the case for burnout, where the image of the self often remains intact,” Schaffner says.

 “Anger in burnout is generally not turned against the self but rather against the organisation for which one works, or the clients with whom one works, or the wider socio-political or economic system.

” Nor should burnout be confused with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), which involves prolonged periods of excruciating physical and mental exhaustion for at least six months, with many patients reporting physical pain at the slightest activity.

The modern argument usually holds that, thanks to our obsession with productivity, we are in a perpetual ‘fight or flight’ mode that leads to exhaustion (Credit: Alamy)

According to one argument, our brains are simply ill evolved to deal with the modern working environment.

The increasing emphasis on productivity – and the emotional need to prove one’s worth through one’s job – leaves workers in a permanent state of ‘fight or flight’.

This state originally evolved to deal with acute danger. But if we face that kind of pressure day in, day out, we endure a steady surge of stress hormones – an onslaught that our bodies struggle to continually fight

For many, moreover, the pressure does not end with work. Cities (and technological devices) are always buzzing with life, and this ‘24/7’ culture can make it difficult to rest at any hour of the day or night. With no chance to recharge our minds and bodies, our batteries are constantly running dangerously low.


In reality, we still don’t really understand what gives us that feeling of ‘energy’ and how it can dissipate so rapidly without physical exertion. We don’t know whether the symptoms originate in the body or the mind, whether they are the result of society or created by our own behaviour.

Perhaps the truth is a little of all of these: a growing understanding of the mind-body connection has shown that our feelings and beliefs can have a profound influence over our physiology. We know that emotional distress can increase inflammation and exacerbate pain, for instance – and in some cases it can even bring about seizures and blindness.

“It’s really hard to say that an illness is purely physical, or purely mental, because often it is both at the same time,” Schaffner says. In this light, it’s not surprising that our circumstances could cloud our minds and nearly paralyse the body with lethargy. And this fact should in no way suggest the symptoms are imaginary or made up – they may be just as ‘real’ as the fever that comes with flu.

Schaffner doesn’t deny the stresses of modern life. She thinks that it comes, in part, from our greater autonomy, since more and more jobs have given us the freedom to manage our own activities. Without clearly defined boundaries, many people over-stretch themselves. “It mainly manifests in the anxiety of underperformance and a sense of not being good enough – of not living up to these expectations,” she says.

She also agrees that email and social media can drain our reserves. “In a lot of ways the technologies that were meant to save energy have become stress factors in their own right,” she says. Today, it is harder than ever to leave work in the office.

 

 

“The cures for exhaustion are subject specific. You have to know yourself what costs you energy and what restores your energy,” Schaffner says. Some people might need stimulation from extreme sports, while others may prefer reading a book. “What’s important is to draw boundaries between work and leisure,” she says. “These are certainly under threat.”

Schaffner herself found that her greater knowledge has helped her ride the peaks and troughs in her own energy levels. “Researching and writing about exhaustion was, paradoxically, quite energising,” she says. “I felt very passionate about the subject, and I also found it soothing to read that so many people during different historical periods had lived through very similar experiences.

There is something very reassuring to learn that one is not alone in the way one feels, that others have felt the same – although in different circumstances.”