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Franco Impellizzeri, PhD<\/p>\nWith the world\u2019s most grueling and prestigious cycling race \u2014 the Tour de France \u2014 in full swing, Medscape Medical News turned its focus to athlete burnout to ask: What can healthcare professionals learn from professional athletes?<\/p>\n
In 2019, the World Health Organization\u2019s (WHO\u2019s) International Disease Classification, 11th Revision added burnout to its official compendium of diseases, categorizing it as a \u201csyndrome\u201d that results from \u201cchronic workplace stress that has not successfully been managed.\u201d The definition came into effect in 2022. Burnout, according to the WHO, is characterized by \u201cfeelings of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one\u2019s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one\u2019s job; and reduced professional efficacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019t been managed, rather than as a disease.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn healthcare, burnout has traditionally been seen as an inevitable cost of caring or, even worse, a badge of honor,\u201d she told Medscape Medical News.<\/p>\n
\u201cFraming 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\u2026Burnout [impacts] not only individual workers but also patients and teams and undermines the effectiveness of the healthcare system as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n
Optimizing the Fatigue-Recovery Balance<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cStage 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\u2019 ability to optimize the fatigue-recovery balance of cyclists, including both leaders and other teammates,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
Franco Impellizzeri, PhD<\/p>\n
It is a complex process, he said, where the one who makes the fewest mistakes comes out on top.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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Daniel Madigan, PhD<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is definitely something that takes second place over the emphasis on physiology, training, and overtraining,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Burnout as a Symptom of Systemic Issues<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think being able to have more control over what you do and when is likely the most important factor \u2014 and for healthcare professionals, this is likely a function of their line managers and environment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is [also important] to increase autonomy, enhance communication, and build psychologically safe environments, where mistakes can be made and opinions are valid.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kinman agreed, stressing it was not the responsibility of the individual to cope with challenging working conditions but rather to address systemic issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cPoor 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,\u201d she said, adding that doctors particularly also struggle with perfectionism, something which is reinforced throughout their training.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have learned that burnout is best considered a gradual, dynamic process that unfolds over time\u2026This is important because it highlights opportunities for early recognition and intervention when individuals are showing early signs of emotional exhaustion, detachment, and cynicism,\u201d Kinman said.<\/p>\n
It Takes a Team<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cAddressing the mental aspects and the factors that influence psychological responses are now integral parts of athlete management,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach 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,\u201d he told Medscape Medical News.<\/p>\n
\u201cMonitoring step count and subjective stress levels per day can also give insights into energy expenditure and mental load. Tracking these over time\u2026could 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
But unlike professional cyclists who \u201coften have agents and coaches to advocate for their best interests,\u201d he stressed that such representation is missing for healthcare professionals, raising the question: Who is looking out for those who care for the sickest?<\/p>\n
Pedro Manonelles, MBBS, international chair of sports medicine at Universidad Cat\u00f3lica 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.<\/p>\n
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Pedro Manonelles, MBBS<\/p>\n
\u201cEfforts 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 \u2014 and same with psychological support,\u201d he told Medscape Medical News.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
A Fading Flame<\/p>\n
Professor of sports science at the University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway, and one of the world\u2019s 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\u2019t be coming to an end anytime soon.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe training loads are huge, the travel and camp schedule is extreme, the physical risks are to the point of life and death,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kinman, Impellizzeri, Madigan, Moore, Manonelles, and Seiler reported having no relevant financial relationships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the world\u2019s most grueling and prestigious cycling race \u2014 the Tour de France \u2014 in full swing,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2566,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[445],"tags":[3443,3444,3445,49,48,3441,635,3455,3456,3454,3446,3448,3451,3452,3447,3449,3453,82,3171,3450,3442],"class_list":["post-2565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-balancing-career-and-personal-life","tag-balancing-personal-and-professional-life","tag-burnout","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-clinician-health-and-well-being","tag-cycling","tag-doctor-happiness","tag-europe","tag-physician-happiness","tag-physician-health","tag-physician-mental-health","tag-physician-relationships","tag-physician-resilience","tag-physician-well-being","tag-physician-wellness","tag-resilience-for-medical-professionals","tag-sports","tag-sports-medicine","tag-well-being-for-physicians","tag-work-life-balance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2565"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2565\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}