How to know when you are suffering from work-related stress from overwork

These are the warning signs associated with overwork stress.

Many people suffer from excessive work-related stress in modern Western societies. It is a condition that can be caused in part by high demands at work, a mismatch between the amount of work to be done and the person's own resources. Moreover, in many cases, the person suffering from it is not fully aware that he or she is overwhelmed by his or her responsibilities, which perpetuates the problem.

The manifestations of work-related stress generated by work overload are varied, and all of them can affect the person emotionally, cognitively or physically. Knowing them first hand can help us detect this phenomenon in our daily lives and remedy it as soon as possible.

Know the 10 signs of work stress due to excess of tasks

The certain thing is that the excess of labor stress constitutes an alteration that, If left untreated, it can become a real cause of discomfort and suffering for the in the worker, and that increases the risk of developing severe psychopathologies.

If you are interested in knowing the warning signs linked to an excess of work responsibilities capable of generating stress problems, read on. However, keep in mind that each one of them alone is not a sufficient reason to assume that this is the type of problem you are suffering from, and that a definitive diagnosis can only be made by mental health professionals; however, having a global vision of these elements will help you understand what is happening to you.

1. Lack of concentration

Lack of concentration is one of the most one of the most common cognitive indicators of stress and anxiety.. Intrusive thoughts related to what worries us constantly "pull our attention", which hinders the performance of any moderately complex task.

This is one of the most defining and influential signs of stress in the person, since a decline in cognitive or intellectual abilities will also negatively affect the emotional, psychological or social level.

Other experiences related to inattention are reduced efficiency in problem solving, decreased field of perception, frequent forgetfulness and less effective decision-making processes.

Psychosomatic reactions

A high level of work stress is also often responsible for the appearance of a series of very noticeable organic alterations in the body, with psychological causes. very noticeable organic alterations in the person's body, with psychological causes, which, in turn, prevent thewhich in turn prevent the performance of work in optimal conditions.

Some of these psychosomatic signs are: headache, muscle tension, increased heart rate, superficial and accelerated breathing, chronic fatigue, increased Blood Pressure or alterations in sleep patterns.

If these psychosomatic phenomena have arisen soon after you have taken on more tasks, it is very likely that your problem is an excess of stress caused by an unreasonable amount of work objectives.

3. Emotional manifestations

In addition to the physical and cognitive performance consequences, stress is the cause of a series of diverse emotional manifestations linked to psychological rumination: the predisposition to "think over" an idea over and over again, without being able to escape from it..

There are many emotional signs that indicate the presence of work stress in a person, among the most important are: increased irritability, greater sensitivity to stimuli and distractions, sudden mood swings, a very common feeling of anguish and a tendency to actively seek distractions that allow us to stop thinking about what is worrying us.

The signs of work-related stress that we have seen so far usually appear together and feed back on each other.. That is, a deficit in cognitive skills can cause difficulties at the emotional level due to the accumulation of tasks, which in turn leads to physical symptoms due to the constant state of activation of the nervous system.

4. Lack of a clear reference on how much is 'too much work'.

Another of the possible warning signs that can cause work stress occurs when the employee begins to feel that the work is overflowing and that he/she cannot do anything to stop it, partly because he/she does not have a clear notion of what is the line of tasks to be performed that should not be crossed (or, if he/she had one, he/she is constantly moving it without basing it on a consistent reasoning).

This often happens when the person uses his moments of rest to continue advancing the accumulated work, which is not always possible. over time, he/she ends up perceiving it as never-ending but at the same time unavoidable..

In this phase, the person interprets that he/she has lost control of the situation at work and sees him/herself as helpless and incapable of successfully performing his/her duties, another of the classic and most identifying indicators of work-related stress.

5. Inability to delegate tasks

Most employees who are unable to delegate tasks at work because they do not want to expose themselves to the risk of something going wrong that they do not control, end up taking care of everything themselves, both new and old tasks, a fact that generates an emotional overflow linked to stress.

The possibility of delegating tasks to other people is one of the organizational mechanisms of any company or work group, and thanks to it, employees are often able to delegate tasks to other people.Thanks to it, employees are usually able to be more productive and to work in better conditions, ordering their priorities.

6. Constantly thinking about work

People who are constantly and only thinking about work, even in their free time, usually present a case of work stress, so it is advisable to consult a specialist.

Normally, this obsession with work tasks and obligations is caused by the state of discomfort that they generate in the person during their working day, and not by how exciting the work is. And often, this suffering is transferred to all areas of their life, including their personal relationships at home.even to their personal relationships at home and with friends.

7. Sacrificing sleep

Some employees choose to sacrifice too many hours of sleep in order to get ahead of the backlog, as these sleep periods are mistakenly those periods dedicated to sleep are wrongly perceived as lost time.. This mechanism is usually counterproductive, since lack of sleep always has a negative influence on the quality of work and time management.

At the time when this practice becomes very common and directly affects the welfare or health of the person, is when we can be talking about a case of work stress due to overwork.

8. Self-deception

The self-deception is another of the classic symptoms that usually appear in the people with problems of labor stress and that at the same time they mix their professional facet with the personal one.

Many people who suffer from this affectation tend to console themselves thinking that in the future they will have less work and that the saturation of the tasks that they have to perform will not be enough. and that the saturation of tasks that they are currently experiencing is transitory.

This phenomenon usually generates states of frustration or emotional alterations of all kinds when the person realizes that this self-deceptive thinking about improvement at work was nothing more than an illusion.

9. Consideration of work-related stimulant use

The consumption of stimulating substances such as coffee or tea at work is a totally normalized and very popular practice carried out daily by millions of people in their work environments.

However, when the person begins to consider the use of psychostimulants, which fall into the category of drugs, in order to work at a faster pace and to be able to work at a faster pace. to work at a faster pace and to be able to perform all the tasks, we are surely facing a case of work stress due to overwork.

10. Social problems

The emotional, cognitive or physical manifestations caused by work-related stress often also affect social relationships, both inside and outside the workplace.

People suffering from work-related stress become more irritable in their daily lives as well, which negatively affects their social or emotional relationships.This has a negative effect on their social and emotional relationships, and may even end them.

The solution is psychotherapy

Psychotherapy is one of the most effective solutions to help people overcome work stress and mental health experts.

In case of work stress, a psychotherapist can help you manage both your emotions and your habits related to work management, as well as identifying the specific causes of the problem, providing organizational guidelines, healthy habits and tools for structuring tasks and setting limits adapted to the capabilities of each person.

If you are interested in having psychotherapy services, please contact me; my name is Javier Ares and I offer the possibility of face-to-face or online sessions by video call.