如下内容来自纽约时报的文章，作者KENNETH R. ROSEN，翻译：陈亦婷、王相宜 贝小鱼整理，文章版权归属原作者。
Emma Seppala was working as an intern at The International Herald Tribune (the past iteration of The International New York Times) one summer in college in Paris, shuttling between the newsroom writers and editors on the second floor and the workers at the printing presses in the basement.文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/workplace-burnout-symptoms.html
一年夏天，还在上大学的埃玛·塞帕拉(Emma Seppala)在巴黎的《国际先驱论坛报》(The International Herald Tribune)（《国际纽约时报》[The International New York Times]的前身）实习，在二楼编辑部里的写手与编辑，和地下室里守着印刷机的工人之间往返奔波。文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/workplace-burnout-symptoms.html
Ms. Seppala, the science director at the Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education, mulls the difference between the two starkly different atmospheres in her 2016 book “The Happiness Track”: One floor was raucous and full of laughter, the other floor was solemn and quiet. Can you guess which one she enjoyed being in more?文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/workplace-burnout-symptoms.html
在2016年的著作《幸福小道》(The Happiness Track)中，现为斯坦福大学同情与利他研究教育中心(Stanford Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education)科学主任的塞帕拉思考了这两种截然不同的工作环境之间的差异：一个充满欢声笑语，另一个严肃安静。你能猜到她更喜欢呆在哪个环境里吗？文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/workplace-burnout-symptoms.html
It was the press workers who had a sideboard covered with wine, cheeses and bread. They were vibrant, Ms. Seppala writes. “I believe most of us want to be like the French press workers: we want to do a good job no matter what that job might be — and we also want to be happy doing it.”文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/workplace-burnout-symptoms.html
印刷工人有一个摆满葡萄酒、奶酪和面包的餐具柜。他们很有活力，塞帕拉写道。“我相信，我们大部分人都希望像法国的印刷工人一样：我们希望有一份好工作，不管这份工作可能是什么，我们还希望工作时心情愉快。”文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/workplace-burnout-symptoms.html
She later notes, “We have simply accepted overextension as a way of life.”文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/workplace-burnout-symptoms.html
她后来写道，“我们完全接受了压力过大是一种生活方式。”文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/workplace-burnout-symptoms.html
In today’s era of workplace burnout, achieving a simpatico work-life relationship seems practically out of reach. Being tired, ambivalent, stressed, cynical and overextended has become a normal part of a working professional life. The General Social Survey of 2016, a nationwide survey that since 1972 has tracked the attitudes and behaviors of American society, found that 50 percent of respondents are consistently exhausted because of work, compared with 18 percent two decades ago.文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/workplace-burnout-symptoms.html
在如今职场过劳的时代，实现工作和生活之间的和谐看上去几乎是不可能的。疲惫、矛盾、焦虑、愤世嫉俗和工作太多已经成了正常的职场生活的一部分。2016年的《综合社会调查》(General Social Survey)发现，50%的受访者因为工作而一直处于精疲力尽的状态，而10年前，这个比例是18%。这个全国性的调查始于1972年，它跟踪记录美国社会的态度和行为。
文章源自西贝博客-https://qinghe.me/workplace-burnout-symptoms.html
Where once the term burnout was applied exclusively to health care workers, police officers, firefighters, paramedics or social workers who deal with trauma and human services — think Graham Greene’s novel “A Burnt-Out Case,” about a doctor in the Belgian Congo, a book that gave rise to the term colloquially — the term has since expanded to workers who are now part of a more connected, hyperactive and overcompensating work force.
曾经，劳累过度这个词仅适用于医护人员、警察、消防员、急救护理人员或负责精神创伤和社会服务的社会福利工作者，比如格雷厄姆·格林(Graham Greene)讲述一名医生在比属刚果（刚果的旧称——译注）的经历的小说《一个自行发完病毒的病例》(A Burnt-Out Case)。这本书让劳累过度这个词在口头交流中流行了起来。后来，它扩大到了其他劳动者——他们现在已经是相关性更强、超级活跃和过度代偿的劳动力大军中的一部分了。
But occupational burnout goes beyond needing a simple vacation or a family retreat, and many experts, psychologists and institutions, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, highlight long-term and unresolvable burnout as not a symptom but rather a major health concern. (Though it does not appear in the Diagnostic Statistic Manual, the benchmark for psychological ailments, it does appear in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, a classification used by the World Health Organization.)
但职场劳累过度需要的不仅仅是简单的度假或回归家庭，很多专家、心理学家和机构，包括美国疾病控制和预防中心(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)强调，无法解决的长期劳累过度不是一种征候，而是一个重要的健康问题（尽管没有出现在衡量心理疾病的《诊断和数据手册》[Diagnostic Statistic Manual]中，但世界卫生组织[World Health Organization]使用的《疾病和有关健康问题的国际统计分类》[International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems]中的确有它的影子）。
“We’re shooting ourselves in the foot,” Ms. Seppala told me. “Biologically we are not meant to be in that high-stress mode all the time. We got lost in this idea that the only way to be productive is to be on the go-go-go mode.”
“我们搬起石头砸了自己的脚，”塞帕拉对我说。“在生理上，我们不宜始终处在那种高压状态下。我们在‘想要做到高效，唯一的办法就是保持冲冲冲的状态’这种想法中迷失。”
It is difficult to identify burnout, which often feels like surrender or failure rather than what it really is: a chronic disease.
劳累过度很难发现。它给人的感觉常常是屈服或失败，而不是它的真实面目：一种慢性疾病。
Common Work Stressors
常见的工作压力源
- Overcoming challenges associated with new software, changing atmospheres or different processes
- 克服新软件、不断变换的环境或不同的流程带来的挑战
- Unrealistic deadlines
- 不切实际的最后期限
- Frequent scheduling conflicts or interruptions
- 日程安排频频出现冲突或被打断
- Unpredictable schedules
- 不可预测的行程安排
- Physical demands like exposure to weather or heavy lifting
- 露天或扛举重物等体力需求
- Added responsibility beyond the initial scope of one’s role while not being compensated for the supervision
- 超出最初个人职责范围的额外职责，却没有因为进行了监督指导而得到补偿
- Interpersonal demands such as interactions with colleagues or customers
- 与同事或客户互动等人际交往要求
These stressors can manifest in outbursts against co-workers, violence or anger toward loved ones at home, loss of appetite and passion for things once loved, or being unable to find motivation for things that you were able to accomplish with ease.
这些压力因素都可能体现在对同事的情绪爆发、在家里对亲人的暴力或愤怒、对曾经喜欢的东西失去兴趣和热情，或是面对曾经能够轻松完成的事情现在却失去了干劲。
The pioneering researcher behind the study of burnout since the 1970s, Christina Maslach, professor emerita of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, conducted a study that concluded there are three major signs of workplace burnout.
自70年代以来，加州大学伯克利分校(University of California, Berkeley)的心理学荣休教授克里斯蒂娜·马斯拉克(Christina Maslach)一直是研究劳累过度的先驱。她进行了一项研究，推断出了职场劳累过度有三大征兆。
Signs of Burnout to Watch For
劳累过度的征兆
According to Dr. Maslach’s study, common signs of burnout include:
根据马斯拉克的研究，劳累过度的常见表现包括：
- Feeling emotionally drained and mentally unwell. Nausea. Being unable to sleep or constantly fighting sicknesses like head colds.
- 感觉没精打采。恶心。失眠或者经常出现感冒等小毛病。
- Feeling alienated by your colleagues and bosses, feeling constantly underappreciated, or feeling ostracized by them.
- 感觉被同事和上司疏远，经常感觉不受赏识或遭到排挤。
- Feeling you are not personally achieving your best, or regularly “phoning it in.”
- 感觉自己没有做到最好，或者经常“打电话请假”。
“There are a lot of things that can happen when people begin to have this problem at work,” Dr. Maslach said. “There are things like absenteeism, turnover, but also things in terms of errors, not being careful about the work they’re doing. We see a lot of difficulty with people getting along with each other — angry, aggressive.”
“人们在工作中出现这种问题时，经常会发生很多情况，”马斯拉克说，“比如，缺勤、失误，也有些是过错，对自己的工作不认真。我们发现相关人们很难与其他人和谐相处，显得愤怒，并具有攻击性。”
In 1981, Dr. Maslach and her colleagues devised the “Maslach Burnout Inventory.” It is still used today to determine whether an employee is experiencing burnout that may be causing performance or personal issues.
1981年，马斯拉克和同事们设计了“马斯拉克劳累过度清单”。如今，它依然被用来确定一名员工是否正经历可能影响工作表现或导致个人问题的劳累过度状况。
“Stress phenomenon can take a toll in terms of physical health, which can then get tied into absenteeism. There are a number of ways in which the quality of the work goes down as a result of burnout,” she said.
“压力可能影响身体健康，那又可能导致缺勤。有很多情况会导致因劳累过度而影响工作质量，”她说。
If anyone complains about it, she said, they’re automatically labeled a wimp.
她说，如果有人抱怨的话，他们会被自动贴上“无能”的标签。
“Quite honestly in America we glorify stress,” Dr. Maslach said. “And that’s another thing that leads people to be quiet and shut up about some of the stressors they’re facing because they don’t want to be viewed about not doing their best.”
“坦白地说，美国赞美压力，”马斯拉克说。“人们面临一些压力因素时保持沉默、不再发声的另一个原因是，他们不想被认为没有竭尽全力。”
Ways to Combat Burnout at Work
在工作中打击劳累过度的方法
If you’re suffering from burnout at work, or if any of those symptoms sound familiar to you, there are a few things you can do now, before you get some time off to recover. (Although you should definitely consider some time off to recover, if you can.)
如果你在工作中感觉劳累过度或者具有上述某种症状，那么在你休假复元之前，可以先用几个方法缓解一下（不过，如果可以的话，你当然应该考虑休假一段时间，恢复精力）。
- Focused breathing, which can tap into your parasympathetic nervous system to help you reduce or manage stress.
- 有节奏地呼吸，它能唤醒你的副交感神经系统，帮你减轻或控制压力。
- Frequent breaks, preferably five-minute breaks for every 20 minutes spent on a single task, or sitting at your desk.
- 频繁休息，最好是在一项任务上工作20分钟或在办公桌前坐20分钟后，就休息5分钟。
- Ergonomic chairs and desks, like a sit-stand arrangement, or even a small plant in your office space.
- 选择符合人体工程学的椅子和办公桌，比如既能坐也能站的那种，哪怕是在你的办公空间里放一个小小的绿植也好。
- A trusted mentor at work with whom you can discuss and strategize other ways to deal with work-related issues.
- 在工作中寻找一名可以信任的导师，可以与这个人讨论并制订应对工作问题的其他策略。
A hobby outside of work through which you can decompress, de-stress and dissociate from work. It doesn’t have to be anything specific, but regular exercise or another fitness activity works wonders here, and has benefits beyond stress relief.
在工作之外寻找一个爱好，帮助缓解工作压力或者让你从工作中脱离出来。它不一定是具体的事情，不过经常锻炼或进行其他健身活动也能产生很好的效果，并带来缓解压力之外的其他益处。
If you have the ability to work remotely, that’s another great way to add stress-reducers to your life. Periodically working out of the office enables you to try working from a quiet and contemplative space in which creativity may grow. It could also allow for more time outdoors. But broadly speaking, Dr. Maslach said, it is the human connection that’s most effective at combating burnout.
如果你能远程工作，那也是缓解压力的一个好方法。经常在办公室之外工作能让你尝试在一个安静的、适合思考的空间里工作，也许能增强你的创造力。它也能让你拥有更多的户外活动时间。不过马斯拉克表示，总体来讲，与人交流在对抗劳累过度方面效果最好。
“What we found is that people’s health, well-being, everything in life, is way better if you’re connected with other people,” she said. “That social network, that each of you have each other’s back, that they’re there for you and you’re there for them, that’s like money in the bank. That’s a precious, precious resource.”
“我们发现，如果你跟其他人交往，那么你的健康状况、幸福程度，以及生活中的一切都会好得多，”她说。“社交圈子、相互支持、相互陪伴——这些就像银行里的钱，是非常珍贵的资源。”
Jason Lang is the team leader of Workplace Health Programs within the C.D.C. He says that aside from good diet, exercise and sleep, there’s one surefire way to combat general malaise, job dissatisfaction, low morale and burnout.
贾森·朗(Jason Lang)是疾病控制和预防中心的工作场所健康计划(Workplace Health Programs)的团队领导。他说，除了健康饮食、锻炼和睡眠，还有一个绝对有用的方法，可以对抗常见的小问题、对工作的不满、士气不振和劳累过度。
“Laughter,” he said. “Find some humor in daily life.”
“大笑，”他说。“寻找日常生活中的笑点。”
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