Latest news with #burnout
The National
15 hours ago
- Health
- The National
Ons Jabeur's tennis timeout shows growing need to address problem of player burnout
In a poignant message shared on social media by Ons Jabeur earlier this week, in which she announced she would be taking a break from professional tennis, one particular sentence stood out to me. 'Right now, I feel it's time to take a step back and finally put myself first: to breathe, to heal, and to rediscover the joy of simply living,' wrote the Tunisian tennis star. The joy of simply living – a fundamental need we often struggle to fulfil, or, even worse, forget to pursue. For professional athletes, especially tennis players, being on tour 11 months a year, chasing points, prize money, titles, and success, while constantly switching time zones and being away from loved ones, can make it increasingly difficult to find the joy of simply living. From the countless conversations I've had with players over the years, I've realised burn out hasn't just become a common occurrence in the world of professional tennis, it's become pretty much inevitable. While physical burnout can be easy to identify because it typically involves an injury or a specific pain felt in a specific part of the body, mental burnout is far trickier to detect. Players often attach their happiness – or lack thereof – to wins and losses on the court, and they find their identity too intertwined with tennis. That can be very dangerous in a sport where a competitor can lose every single week because only one champion is crowned at the end of each tournament. Everyone else walks away feeling like a loser. Those feelings a player attaches to every result can mask the true underlying struggles he or she is grappling with internally. The easy 'fix' for most tennis players is to just power through, and look ahead to the new week in order to chase a better result. But sometimes powering through is not the answer and that's what Jabeur, and a few others, have come to realise. The former world No 2 has been battling injuries and illness for the majority of the last two years. She took four months off at the end of 2024 to deal with a shoulder issue but she still didn't look or feel like herself when she returned in 2025. 'Deep down, I haven't truly felt happy on the court for some time now,' confessed Jabeur, who is famously dubbed the 'Minister of Happiness' back home in Tunisia. Her husband and fitness trainer Karim Kamoun posted a message on social media expressing his full support of Jabeur's decision. 'True strength isn't always found in pushing through. Sometimes, it's in knowing when to pause, breathe, and heal. Ons Jabeur's decision to step back isn't a setback, it's the foundation of a powerful comeback,' wrote Kamoun. 'Champions don't just fight; they know when to recover. And when she returns, it won't be as the same player … it'll be as something stronger.' The more I speak to unhappy players on the tennis circuit, the more I understand the complexity of their situation. From the outside, it seems like taking the occasional break from competing and travelling is an obvious way to preserve one's mental health and avoid potential burnout. But taking time off is one of the hardest decisions a player can make. A couple of months ago at Roland Garros, Jabeur said her decision to stop competing last August because of her shoulder should have been taken much earlier but she felt the pressure to keep going. 'We have a lot of guilt inside us, saying we're not doing enough or it's not enough,' said the three-time major finalist. 'The pressure from sponsors, the pressure from the ranking, the pressure of providing, I don't know, some players provide for their families as well. It is a very tough sport, unfortunately. I'm learning. I'm 30 years old, but I'm still learning in that.' Whether it's the 52-week ranking system that could see you drop points every week you don't perform well, or the bonus pool formula that penalises players for missing events by docking percentages from their end-of-season bonuses, or the mandatory tournaments scheme that could slap you with a zero-pointer for skipping one – it's essentially like having an F count towards your GPA. There are many reasons tennis players feel like they can't walk away from the tour for a short while. Which is why players like Jabeur – and many before her such as Amanda Anisimova, Naomi Osaka, Bianca Andreescu, and Emil Ruusuvuori to name a few – choosing to take a break is considered a bold and inspiring move. In an ideal world, players would treat potential mental burnout the same way they would deal with possible physical issues. Just like athletes pay a great deal of attention to injury prevention via work with their strength and conditioning coaches, why aren't more players looking ahead and thinking about their career longevity by preserving their mental health and keeping an eye out for early signs of mental burnout? Several young players have told me they never think about taking time off or pacing themselves on tour because they want to 'maximise' on their current opportunities as much as possible because there is no guarantee how long they'll be able to compete at this level. Grigor Dimitrov, who at 34, has navigated lots of highs and lows in tennis, believes many young players are surrounded by large teams that can insulate them from reality. 'They feel so protected. I always say that artificial surroundings that everyone has created around them, it does not allow things to go in,' the Bulgarian told The National recently at Wimbledon. 'So they're more or less a little bit bulletproof but also they haven't really seen disappointments, they haven't really seen failures, they haven't really seen bad things in their lives. 'So that already itself puts you in that cloud nine thing and you keep on rolling with it. Of course you want to capitalise the best you can. 'The younger you are, the more you do, the more money you get, the more everything has increased, the more popular you get, the more of the Instagrams and all the Twitters and the likes and all that, you get a lot more of it and I get it.' The flip side of that is that you can also ignore how you really feel. Players such as Madison Keys and Andrey Rublev have found great value in working with psychologists rather than solely relying on mental coaches. While a mental coach can give you tools to deal with stressful situations on court and other issues related to your tennis, psychologists will talk to you like a human being first. 'I can only speak for myself. It's been incredibly helpful to me,' said Keys of her decision to speak to a therapist. 'I've tried sports psychologists in the past, and I think for me just everything being so focused on just the sport and just tennis was not as helpful as I needed it to be. 'Really going to someone and looking at my overall life and how that was influencing how I felt on the court probably made the biggest difference for me. 'I feel like as tennis players, from a pretty young age, it just happens where our identity becomes very wrapped up in being a tennis player. 'That's great, but when you have the tough kind of weeks, months, years on tour, that can really take a toll on how you think about yourself as a person. 'So being able to dive into that and figure out how to separate the two and know that you're not just a tennis player, you're a full person that has all of these other really great attributes and other interests and just different things in your life. 'That was really a really important piece for me, and I think that kind of made the tennis a little bit easier.' Keys clinched a maiden Grand Slam title in January this year at the Australian Open and has credited the work she has done with her psychologist for her breakthrough just a couple of weeks shy of her 30th birthday. Rublev, who has openly discussed his battle with depression, was asked to give advice to his peers on tour who may be struggling with mental health issues. At Wimbledon, Alexander Zverev spoke about feeling 'empty' and 'lonely' away from the court and how he is generally 'lacking joy'. Casper Ruud told reporters in Madrid the tennis tour felt like a 'rat race' and that he was 'running in a hamster wheel that never got anywhere'. Rublev's advice for his fellow players is to look inward. 'To be honest, it's nothing to do with tennis. It's just you can find excuses, how exhausted or mentally tired from playing non-stop, non-stop, but it's nothing to do with tennis,' said the Russian world No 10. 'In the end, tennis is just the trigger point. It's something inside of you that you need to face. It happens to everyone, because Sascha [Zverev], he really loves tennis, and Casper, and many players, they do love tennis. The ones who don't love, who don't like tennis, they are more relaxed. 'They don't really care because maybe they have different priorities, but the ones who love tennis, the tennis triggers you. 'You tell them to, tell Sascha or someone to take a break. It will get tough for him to take a break. He would love to play. For sure, Casper, maybe, for him it's not also easy. 'So, yeah, like I said, it's nothing to do with tennis. Tennis is just the trigger moment.' Karen Khachanov echoed those sentiments and said he chose to take three weeks off post-US Open last year because he 'wasn't in the best state of mind' during the summer. 'At the end of the day it's not only about having this time off, it's about really being fair, honest and satisfied with yourself. So what is really bothering you, why you are not enjoying it?' asked Khachanov. Anisimova is a prime example of how taking time off to address burnout and mental health concerns can really be beneficial for one's career in the future. The American spent eight months away from the sport before returning in 2024 and has now reached a maiden Grand Slam final at Wimbledon. Jabeur is just the latest in a string of players speaking up and choosing to put themselves first. Here's hoping others will take notice and opt to prioritise their mental well-being, because the way I see it, burnout may seem truly inevitable but it can also be avoidable with the right approach.
Independent Singapore
2 days ago
- Business
- Independent Singapore
‘His whole body clock is gone': Man shares his brother's company makes him work from 10 pm to 6 am once or twice a week, and it's destroying his health
SINGAPORE: A man took to Reddit to share that his brother is being worked to the bone under a gruelling new shift system that is taking a toll on his health and sleep. Posting on r/askSingapore on Thursday (July 17), the man explained that his brother was already working long hours from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Recently, however, his company introduced a new shift system that now forces him to return for additional late-night work. According to him, his brother is now required to return to work on certain nights from 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., and sometimes even as late as 6 a.m. Despite the overnight hours, the company reportedly expects employees to return to the office later that same day. If the night shift ends before 3 a.m., they must report back by 10:30 a.m. If it ends after 3 a.m., the return time is 1 p.m. The company allegedly tries to compensate by allowing staff to leave at 3 p.m. the day before their night shift. However, the man claimed that this does not provide adequate rest, as most workers still have to go home, settle down, and prepare for the overnight session. 'He [my brother] reaches home maybe at 4+ p.m., eats, showers, tries to sleep, then has to wake up for night work, and then, the next day, still goes back to the office. It's not real rest; it's just delaying the burnout,' the man said. 'His whole body clock is gone, sia. Even his eating is weird already. Skips dinner, eats breakfast after shift, and wakes up feeling like crap. He doesn't even know when to eat or sleep properly anymore.' The man also highlighted that the company has a 'loophole' to make it seem that their employees are not exceeding daily work hour limits. 'They split the night work over two days in the system: 10 p.m.– 12 a.m. = 'yesterday', 12 a.m. onwards ='next day'' he explained 'So, technically, they did no more than eight hours a day, but the guy is getting like three to four hours of sleep max between shifts. How is that normal? And they only give 1:1 time off. No matter what time you worked or how long you stayed up, it's just one hour for one hour, even if your entire day and night are ruined.' Although the company claimed that these night duties would only happen once or twice a week, the man argued that even a single overnight shift is enough to mess up someone's sleep and leave them drained for days. He also shared that his brother, who used to be energetic and sociable after work, has completely changed. 'He used to always hang out and chill after work. Now he cancels last minute, is always tired, and his mood is different. He's not even himself anymore. It feels like he's burning out and nobody cares. Worried about the long-term impact on his brother's health, the man ended the post by questioning whether such working conditions are acceptable or sustainable in Singapore. 'HRs of SG, is this normal meh???' he asked. 'Just posting because maybe others out there are going through this also. This kind of setup is not right and damn rubbish, leh. It's slowly destroying people.' 'Update resume and find another job with normal working hours, bah.' Many were shocked by the post, with several Reddit users calling the company's shift system outright abusive and totally 'unsustainable.' 'I hope this is a joke. If not, it's abuse,' one user said. 'What in the world is this. Which company is this???!!!' another wrote. Some also urged the man or his brother to report the situation to the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), saying no employee should be forced to work under such exhausting and unreasonable conditions. One user said, 'I do wish he would inform the authorities. This shift work is not sustainable. If it's not your brother, it will be his colleagues who will report this eventually, the earlier, the better.' See also M17 Entertainment raises US$25M for R&D and more Another added, 'Classic SME skirting written law with grey areas. Just complain to MOM only.' Meanwhile, a third user suggested quitting altogether. 'I remember seeing some studies about how nocturnal shift work ruins your health, and night shift workers have more health issues. Although I don't think you need to see the data, your bro is already experiencing it himself.' 'Update resume and find another job with normal working hours, bah. Even if he can mentally tolerate it, he's gonna end up with more physical health issues if this continues. It sounds like the company just wants to justify their arrangement without giving any F about the well-being of their staff.' In other news, a frustrated tenant has taken to an online forum after her landlord withheld about 30% of her security deposit at the end of a long-term lease. In a post on the r/askSingapore Reddit forum on Tuesday (July 15), the woman shared that she had only received roughly 70% of her deposit back, with the rest allegedly retained for 'repairs.' Read more: 'We haven't received proper receipts for the deductions': Tenant says landlord kept 30% of deposit without clear justification Featured image by Depositphotos (for illustration purposes only)
Forbes
2 days ago
- Health
- Forbes
A Disaster Expert's Guide To Preventing Employee Burnout
Trevor Riggen is the president of humanitarian services at the American Red Cross . getty Employee burnout is at a record high. A recent survey showed that 66% of U.S. employees are feeling some degree of burnout this year. As a leader of an organization that responds to 65,000 disasters each year, I understand the high stakes of burnout. Today, the American Red Cross is launching nearly twice as many relief operations for major disasters —about every two weeks versus once a month—as it did a decade ago. Each disaster takes a physical and mental toll on the people who help with recovery efforts, and both the pace and frequency of disasters are contributing to higher burnout. The work we do is so personal to our employees and volunteers. It's not just a job; it's part of our lives. We care deeply about helping others, but we also need to be careful of the adage that the helpers are usually the last people to seek help. Extreme stress levels can have a serious impact on our team members' health, career and home life. It can also be an obstacle to achieving our mission. If our responders aren't well cared for, they can't care for the people we serve. We may miss someone in crisis because we ourselves are in crisis—and we want everyone to receive the compassion and care they deserve. Signs Of Burnout You can experience burnout no matter what field you're in. There's no medical diagnosis for burnout, but there are common red flags you can look out for. Get a gauge of each person's baseline reactions to everyday situations. When are they acting out of character? Are they showing signs such as increased impatience or decreased energy? On my team, one of the signs of burnout is an unwillingness to take a break. If someone is holding on too tightly and feeling as if they are the only one who can solve a crisis, it's a clear warning that they need some time off. I recommend the following five leadership strategies to build and sustain your team's resilience. 1. Be Authentic Set the tone that burnout isn't the norm. Show your employees that it's okay to be human, and help them set realistic priorities and goals. No one can work 20 hours a day, day after day, and expect to sustain that schedule. Encourage people to take breaks as a necessity for caring for themselves and doing their best work. 2. Be Transparent It's a natural instinct to want to protect your team from the stress you're dealing with as a leader. But transparency builds trust and is ultimately protective against burnout. Your employees want to know what's going on, even if you don't have all the answers. A lesson that I learned during the Covid pandemic was that when there is a heightened level of stress, leaders need to overcommunicate. Holding regular video calls with hundreds, if not thousands, of volunteers allowed us to share whatever information we knew that day. We shared our current priorities, made sure everyone had a clear idea of our direction and let people ask questions. We couldn't eliminate the uncertainty of a stressful time, but we could help each other manage the powerlessness that can lead to burnout. In addition to big team meetings, make sure to do one-on-one check-ins with the employees you manage. Ask questions that show you care about them as people, not just their metrics and goals. How are you doing? How's your family? What's going on in your life today or in the near future? And my favorite question: When are you taking vacation? 3. Be Present As I was developing as a leader, servant leadership was the model. The idea was: If you care for your workers, they'll care for your mission. I still believe this is true, but there are times—especially during moments of crisis or high stress—when being present and leading from the front matters. Show up on the ground. Let your team see you do the little things, not just the big speeches. When I was a regional executive covering Northern California, one way I'd show up for my team was by helping out with the important manual tasks: setting up cots in a shelter or unloading a truck. It was important to show my team that these small tasks mattered just as much as the large ones—because if they don't happen, nothing happens. People will remember the few minutes you invest in taking the time to walk through a warehouse or work site and thanking the people who are stacking boxes or cleaning offices. Show your appreciation. This visible leadership is meaningful, not just for the people you're thanking but also for the people who see you thanking them. 4. Be Growth-Oriented In the middle of a stressful situation, you can sometimes lose sight of the important leadership question: How is this helping my employee's career? But it's critical to remember that every one of your team members, especially those who are just getting started, are concerned about the next steps in their professional development. Look for tangible ways to help employees grow their skills and offer mentorship opportunities. In my check-ins with employees, I weave in ways to talk about how experiences will feed into their desired career path. I also look for chances to coach them on topics such as work-life balance and mental health. 5. Be Empathetic Empathy comes naturally to most people in my field. The challenge is that we're very empathetic toward the people we serve—but we also need to have the same empathy for each other as we deliver that service. Ensure that your employees know how to access support resources, including employee assistance program services, counseling and wellness programs. Model healthy behaviors, and be the first to take a day off so others have permission to do the same. I often hear from people in other fields, 'Well, I don't work in a disaster ...' as a way to minimize their own experience with stress. But almost any job has moments that feel like disasters. Stress is extremely personal, and you can't compare your stressful environment to someone else's. Addressing worker burnout requires a proactive approach, and the payoff is creating a more resilient and motivated workforce capable of meeting incredible challenges head on. These strategies can be applied to almost any workplace. The most important takeaway is simply remembering to ask your colleague, friend or neighbor how they're doing. Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?
Forbes
3 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Forbes
Has The Backlash To Hustle Culture Gone Too Far?
Burnout used to be a status symbol. Now the anti-hustle movement is railing against it. There was a time, not too long ago, when burnout was a status symbol. The busier you were, the better. Success meant staying late, rising early, doing more, and doing it faster. Hustle culture was idolized. For many women, the so-called "girlboss" era promised empowerment through overachievement. But after years of glorifying the grind, burnout hit hard. The backlash was inevitable, and a counter movement began to take shape. 'Quiet quitting,' 'lazy girl jobs' and the 'soft girl era' climbed to the top of TikTok's algorithm. The rise of the 'trad wife' aesthetic began to reframe passivity as empowerment. As the recent New York Times article 'From Girlboss to No Boss' points out, the hustle era has quietly faded. This counter movement began as pushback against a toxic work culture that left little room for rest, balance, or authenticity. But some wonder if the pendulum has swung too far in the opposite direction. The anti-hustle movement was an overdue reminder that ambition shouldn't come at the cost of mental health. That work-life integration was possible, even if balance wasn't. But as "softness" becomes more of a virtue and disengagement is rebranded as empowerment, it raises an important question for leaders, workers, and entrepreneurs alike. In 2017, Amanda Goetz was living in New York City leading a marketing team at a public company. A normal workday among for her included 6 a.m. Soul Cycle classes, going into an office from 9-6, then happy hours and dinners with friends. She says the problem wasn't necessarily the hustle itself, it was the hustle without rest or intention. "This binary of ambition versus contentment is leaving us all somewhere in the messy middle, holding everything and yet feeling like we are failing at it all." That's what led her to write her forthcoming book, Toxic Grit, which draws on the principles of character theory to guide people toward finding a middle ground where they don't have to choose between ambition and disengagement. Jo Piazza, host of the Under the Influence podcast, has studied influencer culture for decades. She believes the cultural shift we're going through stems from the realization that all the effort and ambition didn't give women what the Lean In movement promised them - equality in the workplace. "It was born from burnout, from women realizing that no matter how hard we hustled, the system wasn't going to reward us with balance or sustainability," says Piazza. "Some women did what humans do when they hit a wall. They pivoted in the opposite direction. Enter 'soft girl,' 'tradwife,' and 'romanticize your life' culture." Piazza's new novel, Everyone Is Lying to You, is a satire of the trad wife lifestyle. The story follows two college friends: a journalist and an internet-famous trad wife who reunite to solve a possible murder. Their contrasting perspectives reveal the darker side behind social media's domestic bliss aesthetic. Have we reverted to the days of "The Donna Reed Show?" "My goal is to puncture the fantasy that trad wives perpetuate, that life is easier, more beautiful and more fulfilling if women just drop out of the workforce and depend on a man," Piazza says. "Because the fact is those women are working as content creators, often making more money than their husbands and putting in a ton more labor." Is trad wife culture really just hustle culture, with the pantsuit traded in for a raw milkmaid dress? Piazza wants the anti-hustle movement to rally around meaningful structural change, like protecting mental health and demanding protections like universal childcare and paid leave. 'Instead of pushing for better systems, some corners of the movement are encouraging women to check out of the workforce entirely, to opt out and rely on a man instead,' she says. Former HR executive Mita Mallick points out that, "This always on, hustle culture is killing us. Individuals are waking up to the realization that it's not normal." Her book, The Devil Emails at Midnight, explores how toxic hustle culture traumatized a generation of leaders, and how the next wave must unlearn those habits. Coach and founder Sofie Ragir sees the anti-hustle trend not as laziness, but as grief. "The hustle model doesn't work the way it promised. You can work your whole life and still not afford a home," she says. Her clients still want "big, bold lives," but they're no longer willing to sacrifice themselves to get there. "It's not about rejecting ambition," Ragir says. "It's about rejecting the idea that our worth is measured by constant output." But she warns against flattening this nuance with labels like "soft girl" or "tradwife." 'I don't think stillness or softness is inherently a problem,' says Ragir. 'For some, it's the beautiful ability to rest and recover. I don't think moralizing how people cope is helpful.' Specifically, preying on the guilt of women feeling like they're not enough, be it not leaning in hard enough, not hustling enough, or not being 'soft' enough. "If the current trend is to break glass ceilings yet you are in a season of cleanup and rest, you feel guilty,' she says. 'If you're pushing toward a big career goal, yet the current trend is about enjoying slowness, once again, you are left feeling guilty." "The pendulum will continue to swing back and forth," says Goetz. "We have to embrace the nuance and personalization of life and stop letting macro trends create micro guilt." Rachel Janfaza, founder of The Up and Up, a media and strategy firm focused on Gen Z research, says that despite the perception, this generation is not rejecting ambition. "Many Gen Z women are building careers as self-starters and entrepreneurs while actively setting boundaries and protecting their wellbeing," she says. 'What's different now is that holding both, grinding and also appreciating grounding, is not only normalized, it's expected.' But at its core, this moment seems to be about agency. 'Gen Z women know they have opportunities previous generations didn't,' says Janfaza. 'Many relish those opportunities. And yet, some are choosing a different path: not because they have to, but because they can. In rejecting the girlboss grind embraced by older millennials, they're reframing what empowerment looks like.' The experts agree that what's missing from this conversation is nuance, agency and the recognition that women do, in fact, still have choices. But when the loudest voices in our feeds scream, "Choose my way of life! It is the best way!" it can feel like that choice has already been made for us. "I want us to move toward a world where women have actual choices, not just rebranded versions of oppression in pretty packaging,' says Piazza. 'You want to work in an office? Great. You want to stay home with your kids? Also amazing. But let's not pretend that either one is easy or free of labor. Caregiving is work. Influencing is work. None of it should be erased or glamorized into something effortless." The real progress isn't in choosing hustle or softness, corporate work or domestic life. It's in protecting the agency to choose either, both, or something in between.
Medscape
3 days ago
- Health
- Medscape
Workplace Burnout: Lessons From Professional Cycling
With the world's most grueling and prestigious cycling race — the Tour de France — in full swing, Medscape Medical News turned its focus to athlete burnout to ask: What can healthcare professionals learn from professional athletes? In 2019, the World Health Organization's (WHO's) International Disease Classification, 11th Revision added burnout to its official compendium of diseases, categorizing it as a 'syndrome' that results from 'chronic workplace stress that has not successfully been managed.' The definition came into effect in 2022. Burnout, according to the WHO, is characterized by 'feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one's job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job; and reduced professional efficacy.' But professor of occupational health psychology at Birkbeck, University of London, London, England, Gail Kinman, PhD, said that to tackle burnout, it is crucial to distinguish and recognize it as a response to chronic workplace stress that hasn't been managed, rather than as a disease. 'In healthcare, burnout has traditionally been seen as an inevitable cost of caring or, even worse, a badge of honor,' she told Medscape Medical News . 'Framing burnout as a disease can unintentionally pathologize normal human responses to excessive and sustained pressure. This risks reinforcing the idea that the individual is somehow deficient or needs fixing…Burnout [impacts] not only individual workers but also patients and teams and undermines the effectiveness of the healthcare system as a whole.' Optimizing the Fatigue-Recovery Balance As healthcare workers continue to push their physical and mental limits, professional athletes are trained to do so. But many go past the point of overtraining and overreaching to experience full burnout, just like healthcare workers who go past the point of emotional and physical exhaustion. 'Stage races like the Tour de France are among the most demanding competitions and are extremely stressful, physically and mentally, for athletes. Good performance in these competitions is the result of teams' ability to optimize the fatigue-recovery balance of cyclists, including both leaders and other teammates,' Franco Impellizzeri, PhD, a former cycling coach and former head of research at the MAPEI Sport Research Centre, Varese, Italy, and current professor of sport and exercise science and medicine at the University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, Australia, told Medscape Medical News . Franco Impellizzeri, PhD It is a complex process, he said, where the one who makes the fewest mistakes comes out on top. Professor of sport and health psychology at York St John University, York, England, Daniel Madigan, PhD, told Medscape Medical News that, despite increased awareness of burnout, it continues to rise among athletes. Daniel Madigan, PhD 'It is definitely something that takes second place over the emphasis on physiology, training, and overtraining,' he said. 'It leads to loss of motivation, reduced performance, worse physical and mental health, and can ultimately lead to dropout from sport. But athletes may not want to share their perceptions for fear of stigma associated with mental health.' Burnout as a Symptom of Systemic Issues Burnout, he said, manifests the same way in healthcare professionals: It affects their health, well-being, and performance, and can ultimately lead them to abandon their careers. 'I think being able to have more control over what you do and when is likely the most important factor — and for healthcare professionals, this is likely a function of their line managers and environment,' he said. 'It is [also important] to increase autonomy, enhance communication, and build psychologically safe environments, where mistakes can be made and opinions are valid.' Kinman agreed, stressing it was not the responsibility of the individual to cope with challenging working conditions but rather to address systemic issues. 'Poor work-life balance is a key driver of burnout, as long shifts, being on call, and the inability to mentally disconnect from professional responsibilities can breed unhealthy rumination and impair physical and emotional recovery processes,' she said, adding that doctors particularly also struggle with perfectionism, something which is reinforced throughout their training. 'The real solution lies in addressing the systemic causes of stress, such as work overload, intensity, lack of autonomy, poor leadership, moral distress, inadequate support, and unhealthy organizational cultures that fail to prioritize psychological safety, which cause burnout to develop in the first place.' 'We have learned that burnout is best considered a gradual, dynamic process that unfolds over time…This is important because it highlights opportunities for early recognition and intervention when individuals are showing early signs of emotional exhaustion, detachment, and cynicism,' Kinman said. It Takes a Team Impellizzeri said greater awareness of burnout among sporting professionals has led to athletes and teams now employing a range of specialists to look after various aspects of well-being, including nutritionists, psychologists, and fitness coaches. 'Addressing the mental aspects and the factors that influence psychological responses are now integral parts of athlete management,' he said. 'Also, wearables and new technologies now allow the collection of more biometric data to monitor health status. From a scientific point of view, we definitely know more now, especially about the physiological effects.' For former American professional cyclist turned coach for Empirical Cycling, which trains world tour teams and regional competitors, Kolie Moore, some of the most powerful interventions to manage workplace stress and prevent burnout are the simplest. 'Each profession has a different method of coping with or avoiding burnout that would be instructive for others. With our clients who are healthcare professionals, proper nutrition and hydration at work are not only keys to a good afternoon workout and quality sleep, but they seem to improve focus and alertness during the shift too,' he told Medscape Medical News . 'Monitoring step count and subjective stress levels per day can also give insights into energy expenditure and mental load. Tracking these over time…could give healthcare workers an idea about how much acute and chronic stress their jobs have, as long as the limitation of the choices going into the model are understood.' But unlike professional cyclists who 'often have agents and coaches to advocate for their best interests,' he stressed that such representation is missing for healthcare professionals, raising the question: Who is looking out for those who care for the sickest? Pedro Manonelles, MBBS, international chair of sports medicine at Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia, Murcia, Spain, and former president of the governing board of the Spanish Society of Sports Medicine, said the pressure athletes and healthcare workers face to perform is similar, highlighting the importance of proper rest. Pedro Manonelles, MBBS 'Efforts should be made to develop realistic, yet positive, perceptions of competition in athletes. Reducing training loads and, in severe cases, complete rest from sports for weeks is often necessary — and same with psychological support,' he told Medscape Medical News . Such advice is applicable to the healthcare world, where hospitals could work with staff to develop realistic workplans, better understand the impact of intense workloads, and provide more breaks throughout the day. A Fading Flame Professor of sports science at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway, and one of the world's leading minds in the science of endurance sports, Kerry Stephen Seiler, PhD, said a race like the Tour de France continues to highlight just how far athletes are willing to push, something that won't be coming to an end anytime soon. 'The training loads are huge, the travel and camp schedule is extreme, the physical risks are to the point of life and death,' he said. A few months ago, he was brought in to work with Australian Cycling, and at an event, he sat next to a recently retired South African cyclist. Their conversation inevitably led to one on risk and injury. 'I asked him what made him decide to retire. He told me that when his young son was pushing him around in a wheelchair, he decided it was no longer worth it. He was finished, and he did not want his children to have to do that anymore. Is that burnout? Well, the flame of competition fire fades out because a keen sense of mortality and perspective sets in.'
