So what’s to be done? Fortunately, workaholics are not alone in this. Companies like Google, realizing the adverse effect workaholism may have on productivity, encourage their workers to take off at least 20% of any workweek to relax, have fun, or learn a new hobby.
It is during leisure that creativity is enhanced, ensuring better performance when the employee returns to the office. Many organizations, like the prominent research institution Johns Hopkins University, offer tips on how to ignore work when on vacation: switch off the phone, ignore your email, and focus on relaxation and your loved ones.
Chronic stress can disrupt signaling of the hypothalamicpituitary-adrenal axis, which is involved in the production of stress hormones known as glucocorticoids. Such signaling disruption can result in concentration problems, while also negatively impacting memory, mood, and metabolism (leaving you either too thin or obese).
Dr. Barbara Killinger suggests that workaholics tend to be loners. They are often disruptive when assigned to teams — often thinking that they produce more and better, and are poor at delegating or getting along with their colleagues. They tend to experience sleep problems, which make them prone to irritability, poor concentration, and errors. The workaholics’ rigid adherence to rules and structures manifests in the way they walk and carry themselves.
They talk too fast, eat too quickly, and develop rigid facial and physical poses, which can lead to chronic back pain and body pain. They are the ones in the office chewing Tums as they struggle with acid reflux or ulcers. They may be prone to panic attacks, heart trouble, and a lack of vitality.
Sexually, they swing between promiscuity and a need to prove themselves in the bedroom as well as the boardroom, or they may have low libidos and a high reliance on Viagra or Cialis.
Research conducted by Drs. Oksana Kaidanovich-Beilin, Danielle Cha, and Roger McIntyre, published in F1000 Biology Reports, shows the impact of stress on the brain. They found that neurons and glial cells exist in a tight, mutual structure-function relationship that is highly dependent on the peripheral supply of glucose — the cell’s primary energy source.
Converging evidence indicates that insulin serves several critical roles in the central nervous system under normal and abnormal conditions. Insulin receptors are expressed in the brain, affecting a wide range of normal brain functions, such as reward, motivation, cognition, attention, and memory formation — and dysregulation of insulin signaling leads to characteristic signs of neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases.
The evidence collected by Kaidanovich-Beilin, Cha, and McIntyre’s research suggests that metabolic and neuropsychiatric disorders may share a common pathophysiological nexus. Critical effectors of this association include alterations in whole-body energy metabolism, oxidative stress, inflammation, insulin resistance, and corticosteroid signaling, as well as imbalances in cytokines and adipokines. Inflammation is a key marker for cancers and Alzheimer’s disease.
Andreassen’s team in Norway developed the following criteria to measure work addiction. How do you measure up?
• You think of how you can free up more time to work.
• You spend much more time working than initially intended.
• You work to reduce feelings of guilt, anxiety, helplessness, or depression.
• You have been told by others to cut down on work — advice you ignore.
• You become stressed if you are prohibited from working.
• You deprioritize hobbies, leisure activities, and exercise because of your work.
• You work so much that it has negatively influenced your health.
“If you reply ‘often’ or ‘always’ to at least four of these, there is an indication that you may be a workaholic,” says Andreassen. “This is the first scale to use core symptoms of addiction found in other more traditional addictions.”
It’s a job, just a job. This is your only life — take the time to make it a happy one.
This article is updated from its initial publication in Brain World Magazine’s print edition.
