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Solution for Easing Fatigue & Burnout

Recognizing Fatigue and Burnout

Generally, the term fatigue refers to physical exhaustion: It can result from a hard day's work at the construction site or the office, or a strenuous physical workout at school or the gym. Other types such as chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome require medical attention.

Another form of fatigue that is alarmingly commonplace today is the ongoing fatigue and exhaustion resulting from the wear and tear of everyday life. Millions of people in many of today's societies have become adapted to the rapid pace of their lives and the weariness that comes from juggling multiple and demanding lifestyles. Knowingly or not, they suffer from a fatigue that won't subside.

Closely related is burnout, which also is marked by long-term exhaustion and is further defined by Webster's New World Dictionary as "a state of emotional exhaustion caused by the stresses of one's work or responsibilities."

"Twenty-six percent of workers said they were often or very often burned out or stressed by their work."

—Families and Work Institute

Though certain categories of workers – teachers, police officers, doctors and nurses, among them – seem to turn up frequently on those occasional listings of high-stress jobs that can lead to fatigue or burnout, many researchers today instead place greater emphasis on the individual, regardless of the line of work. The most important factor is how each individual responds physically, mentally and emotionally to the unique pressures and working conditions of his or her job.

Our National Stress Malaise

Institute of HeartMath researchers who've conducted extensive studies over many years say stress is a key contributor to many debilitating conditions, including fatigue and burnout.

Regardless of the various social, occupational and medical nuances used to define extended fatigue and burnout, it is certain one truth applies: these are very modern maladies.

• Nearly 38% of U.S. workers complained of "low levels of energy, poor sleep or a feeling of fatigue" in a survey published in January 2007.
• Almost 66% of those reported health-related LPT – lost productive work time – costing employers $136.4 billion annually.
• Of workers who did not have fatigue, 26.4% reported lost productive work time, for an annual LPT cost of about $100 billion less than the fatigue group.
  — Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• A total of 52% of employees say people in their workplace need help managing stress.
  — 2004 poll conducted by Harris Interactive for The Marlin Company

HeartMath founder Doc Childre and others recognized the debilitating effects of stress on our lives many years ago, around the time a national stress alarm began ringing in earnest. Since then, IHM researchers have been conducting scientific studies at the institute's facilities in Boulder Creek, Calif., elsewhere in the United States and overseas to reveal the causes of our stresses and the antidotes to manage them. They've made some important discoveries along the way.

HeartMath Studies State Government Workers

Researchers investigated the impact of HeartMath's Inner Quality Management program on managers and staff within the California Personnel Retirement System's Information Technology Services Division, which had recently initiated profound changes to meet new realities in the information services marketplace. Learning new technology skills proved quite challenging.

The results suggested that by facilitating increased self-management of the participants' mental and emotional turmoil, the HeartMath intervention enhanced employees' capacity to defuse personal and organizational stress. The division's qualitative reports to researchers indicated these improvements were sustained over time and enabled a more efficient and harmonious change implementation process.

Benefits of Reducing Fatigue and Burnout

• Improved health and well-being
• More resiliency and adaptability in life
• Increased vitality and energy, less tiredness
• Clear thinking and decisiveness
• More get-up-and-go, liveliness

Tools For Easing Fatigue and Burnout

HeartMath tools have had profound and sustained success for many people suffering from or at risk of fatigue and burnout:

emWave®: Regular use of this scientifically validated, stress-relief technology has proven to be a vital tool in reducing anxiety, stress, anger, emotional chaos and boosting energy and vitality. The emWave technology is easy to use and noninvasive. It will help you achieve heart coherence – synchronization between the heart and brain – and reach your optimal physical, mental and emotional balance. When your emotions are in balance, you stop the energy drain and start the energy gain. Then, by practicing the easy-to-learn techniques you'll receive with your emWave only minutes a day will help you revitalize and re-energize your mind, body and spirit anytime, anywhere.
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emWave® Desktop: emWave Desktop turns your computer into a self-contained heart-rhythm-coherence monitor and manager. It lets you see how thoughts and emotions affect your heart rhythms – negative ones pulling you down and draining your energy, positive ones lifting you up and allowing your body to perform its normal function of replenishing your energy. Discover how easily you can reduce your stress level and replace those negative emotions with positive ones that, with a little practice, can give you instant energy boosts and gradually help build a more invigorated you. Relying on decades of scientific research, the emWave Desktop, in tandem with key HeartMath techniques that you'll receive and easily learn, will help you increase your energy and start living life more fully.
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Transforming Anxiety: The HeartMath Solution for Overcoming Fear and Worry and Creating Serenity: by Doc Childre and Deborah Rozman. When you consider that most people have some anxiety about themselves, family, future and for other reasons, it helps explain why overweight and obesity are so prevalent. That's because anxiety is a leading contributor to these conditions: Millions of people try to escape their anxieties through overeating, binge-eating and consumption of comfort foods. Transforming Anxiety provides proven solutions to help you overcome your fears and worries and create more serenity and a sense of well-being in your life. Based on IHM's 16 years of research into the physiology of emotions, the book includes the scientifically proven Attitude Breathing® tool and Cut-thru® and Heart Lock-In® techniques to help you release your anxieties and replace them with new, positive feelings.

Transforming Stress: The HeartMath Solution for Relieving Worry, Fatigue and Tension – Childre, Rozman, 2004. Learn more about the warning signs of chronic stress and what you should know about your "intelligent heart" and how it can help you immediately begin reducing the stress in your life. You'll learn several key HeartMath tools and techniques, including the complete details of the Attitude Breathing® tool and step-by-step instructions on how and when to use it.
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Impact of the Power to Change Performance Program on Stress and Health Risks in Correctional Officers: Read how a group of correctional peace officers, one of the most stressful occupations, responded to interventions in a study investigating the impact of HeartMath's Power to Change Performance program on physiological and psychological stress and health risk factors.

Hospitals Are Being Revitalized with HeartMath: HeartMath LLC designed this stress-intervention program to improve staff retention and patient satisfaction at a San Jose, Calif., hospital. Read the surprising results.