Mental Health
Protection from burnout… what you need isn’t time off work, it’s THIS (psychological detachment)
It’s the end of your workday, and that’s when they stop.
You leave your desk feeling relaxed, totally satisfied with the work day you put in, and feeling accomplished because you got it all done. Then you go home and have total presence with your family, your workout, or whatever else it is that you’re doing and you have a great sleep, completely free of work thoughts.
You do this with ease because at the end of your work day, that’s when they stopped. Right?
If your workplace is anything like the workplaces we’re talking about all day, this is far from the truth for most employees. When asked, one of the most consistent work-life balance challenges we hear from employees is “I can’t seem to stop thinking about work” and many, many variations of that.
At work, we accumulate stress. This is normal and healthy as long as we have time to recover. Normally that time is when we are away from work – but there is a problem. This time away from work isn’t leading to recovery the way we would expect.
What’s Going on?
What research in the field of burnout has found is that it’s the time you’re not thinking about work that predicts meaningful recovery (not just being physically away from work).
Research on burnout has coined a term called “Psychological Detachment” which they have determined to be “central” to stress recovery. Psychological detachment is defined as refraining from work activities and work thoughts (1).
Many, despite knowing that they are taking on too much, not recovering, and need more recovery, can’t seem to get away from their work thoughts.
“I know I need to rest, but is it resting if my brain is still thinking about work?”
“My brain won’t turn off!”
“Even when I try to sleep, it’s like as soon as my head hits the pillow, bam! A flood of thoughts about all the things I need to get done and stress about tomorrow and the next day”
Here are some common solutions they’ve tried:
“I keep a pen and paper by my bed so I can write down any thoughts”
“We try to think positively”
“I try to ignore the work thoughts”
“When I remember something I need to do, I try to just do it right away to get it off my mind”
Despite trying these solutions, most admit they still spend far more time thinking about work than they like.
Read Also: Symptoms of Workplace Anxiety and How to Address Them?
How to Protect Yourself from Burnout: What Should We Do?
According to this research, to best recover (and protect against burnout), it’s not enough to physically step away from work or take time off. We need to be mentally away from work (psychologically detached) as well to maximize recovery (1).
The good news is that if we can find a way to psychologically detach, things could get a lot better. (I.e. we can significantly improve our quality of life and our performance.)
Many people are already trying to stop their work thoughts though, as we already saw above—so how is this different?
It’s different when you apply the solutions below (none of which involve “thinking positive” or “keeping a pen and paper beside your pillow”).
3 Effective Solutions for Preventing Burnout and Achieving Psychological Detachment
Implementing these burnout protection strategies, such as completing the stress cycle and practicing detachment, can significantly enhance your work-life balance and recovery from work-related stress.
1. Mental Fitness
Re-training neural pathways to favour detachment and building up the mental muscles required to psychologically detach.
2. Detachment Strategy
There are three different types of activities that facilitate psychological detachment. Helping people understand which work-life balance activities work best for them and creating a plan.
3. Completing the Stress Cycle
If the underlying physiology is not dealt with, stressful work thoughts will be almost impossible to get rid of. This is where addressing physical stress and mental recovery after work is crucial to breaking the cycle.
Bonus: Strategies for Leaders
There are a few more strategies specific to leaders to help their teams achieve better workplace wellness and stress management.
Where Could You Go from Here?
Option 1: You can wait for our next blogs to learn more about what you can do to help with psychological detachment. You might even be able to let go of a little stress knowing that there is a reason your team is struggling to recover, and it’s not their (or your) fault.
Option 2: You can do some of your research on ‘psychological detachment’ now that you know what to look for.
Option 3: You can reach out to us with any questions by contacting us directly via email or filling out our form. Our team is ready to support you with expert advice on improving workplace wellness and protecting against burnout.
Ready to take control of your work stress and prevent burnout? Contact our team to help you perform at your workplace with our burnout workshop.
Thanks for reading, and have a great day and a great (psychologically detached) evening, or whenever you choose to recover!
References:
- Sonnentag S. Recovery From Fatigue: The Role of Psychological Detachment. In: Ackerman P.L., editor. Cognitive Fatigue: Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Current Research and Future Applications. American Psychological Association; Washington, DC, USA: 2010. pp. 253–272.