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What exactly is burnout, and what factors contribute to it? How can you prevent burnout, effectively support yourself, improve your health, and boost your productivity? All of this is possible—even during a prolonged war. How? Let’s dive in.
BURNOUT: CAUSES AND SYMPTOMS
Burnout is a concept that only recently (in the last 6-7 years) entered public discourse, and it has rapidly gained attention. Some researchers call it the "disease of the 21st century," a time characterized by the intensity and speed of information and our oversaturation with it. In 2019, the WHO included burnout in the International Classification of Diseases as a symptom arising from unmanaged workplace stress.
Symptoms of Burnout and Declining Productivity:
Emotional exhaustion: Fatigue, lack of energy, unwillingness to work, pessimism, irritability, insomnia, headaches, and physical tension.
Depersonalization: Indifference, detachment from others’ problems, arrogance, cynicism, lack of attachment to relationships with others.
Devaluation: Dissatisfaction with work achievements, feelings of incompetence, disbelief in one’s abilities, conflicts, verbal aggression, feelings of misunderstanding from management and colleagues, absenteeism.
Burnout, which only worsens over time, should be distinguished from simple fatigue—all symptoms of which go away after sufficient rest.
Pre-Burnout Conditions:
Prolonged stress and excessive worries.
Neglecting rest and work-life balance.
Lack of physical exercise (when doing mental work), and vice versa.
A toxic psychological environment.
Lack of comfortable living and working conditions.
A bit of statistics: 48% of employees feel exhausted after work, 41% believe they are either burnt out or on the verge of burnout, and 79% notice a drop in productivity due to stress—according to data from the U.S.
What about us in Ukraine, where we work every day toward Victory, all while under the intense, prolonged stress of war? Burnout from even a single employee negatively impacts team productivity.
BURNOUT PREVENTION AND EFFECTIVE STRATEGIES
For a company to be successful in the long term, besides having skilled workers and effective teamwork, it’s crucial to provide comfortable conditions, a supportive psychological atmosphere, and opportunities to care for physical health. This became especially challenging during the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Yet many companies rose to the challenge.
Ukrainian businesses relocated to safer regions, provided employees with virtual desktops accessible from any device, set up comfortable workstations at home or in the office, installed additional heaters, EcoFlow units, power banks, and generators during blackouts, maintained corporate spirit, and donated to the Armed Forces. Some even employed in-house psychologists to help manage anxiety, which is invaluable.
So why, despite all these efforts, does productivity still fall? Enthusiasm and energy are at zero, and a generally gloomy mood has become the norm. What’s the cause?
Every system, in this case a company, has four aspects:
Internal objective — physical health and well-being (physiological state).
Internal subjective — feelings, emotions, reactions, and the inner world.
External objective — infrastructure and environment.
External subjective — culture, politics, and traditions.
The stronger these aspects are, the more resilient the system (or company). But when one of these pillars weakens, the system falters, like a table with only three legs—it may stand, but it’s unstable and unreliable.
So, how much attention does your company pay to the physical health of its employees? How often do you personally go for health check-ups? A healthy adult under the age of 30 should undergo a health screening once a year, and after 30, it should be twice a year—assuming there are no chronic conditions.
Since the war began, 49% of Ukrainians have stopped paying attention to their health altogether. This is a serious concern because war is an extremely stressful and unnatural state for humans. Our bodies are not built to endure a constant, prolonged threat to life for months on end. War depletes our resources and disrupts our hormonal systems, leading to imbalances that affect our well-being and, consequently, our productivity.
Now, more than ever, during the war, it is vital to take care of your health and well-being. Every individual must understand their responsibility for their own health today—at the individual, collective, governmental, and corporate levels. The health of the nation, the continuation of our people, and the economic future of our country depend on it.
HOW TO RESTORE HEALTH AND HIGH PRODUCTIVITY
We’ve developed effective solutions specifically for corporate clients to boost productivity and energy levels — the Corporate Energy Boost program. It includes personalized recommendations based on diagnostic data from an age manager, covering nutrition, physical activity, rest, dosage, and necessary supplements. The program also provides the actual supplements: vitamins, minerals, and BHRT (Bioidentical Hormone Replacement Therapy).
After one to two months on the program, employees will experience:
23% increase in productivity.
32% increase in energy levels.
29% improvement in stress resilience.
What does this mean for the company?
Restored team productivity.
Significant savings on sick leave costs.
Fewer work errors.
Increased competitiveness in the economic sector.
Greater team loyalty and gratitude.
Achievement of business goals.
Still unsure whether your team’s health needs support? Just check.
To help the body restore its resources and balance the hormones that affect overall health, well-being, and stress resilience, you first need to determine which hormone levels need balancing and which vitamin and mineral deficiencies should be addressed.
You can find out for free by answering 70 questions in the Brussels Medical Protocol questionnaire, which is an effective diagnostic tool on par with lab tests. After completing the survey, you’ll receive an email with information about your hormone levels, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and general recommendations for improving your well-being.
Don’t ignore the symptoms of burnout — take care of your own health, and that of your loved ones and colleagues. Increase both your individual and team’s productivity.
Let’s preserve our quality of life and strengthen the nation’s health together today to build a strong and successful country tomorrow!
Author: Yevhen Shagov, kmn. the first age manager of Ukraine
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