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Recognizing and Addressing Burnout in Men
How men experience burnout differently than women.
By Elena Swan
Burnout is common in the modern workforce. Although most employees recognize that work-life balance is important, 77% of workers report feeling burnt out at their jobs. Even though burnout is a typical experience for both genders, women are more likely to report feeling this way than men. Women also experience burnout differently, most experiencing emotional exhaustion while men feel more detached from their emotions. But what is burnout and how do you know if you are experiencing it as a man? Here are the signs of burnout along with some ways of finding relief.
What is burnout?
Burnout is the weariness or fatigue resulting from an excessive demand on one’s personal energy or resources. According to Audrey Nelson, Ph.D., burnout has three main factors: exhaustion, cynicism, and a sense of ineffectiveness.
How do men experience burnout differently than women?
Women are more likely to report feeling burnout from work than men. One possible reason for this is that they are often expected to perform their duties as both an employee at work and a caregiver at home.
In 1975, more than half of US households contained a working father and a stay-at-home mother. That statistic has fallen to less than a third of US households by 2016. However, the gender roles in unpaid domestic work remain the same. Men still spend more time in paid work while women spend time with caregiving and chores.
Despite increasing flexibility in gender roles, however, men are still held to a high standard. In traditional homes, they are the sole breadwinner. Boys and men in general are expected to be more stoic and show vulnerability less often than girls and women.
Those who work over 40 hours a week are six times more likely to experience burnout. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, longer work hours have become the norm, leading to a profound impact on working men.
Signs of burnout in men
- Chronic fatigue: A clear sign of burnout is feeling physically exhausted often. As a result, you have a lack of motivation to do most things.
