The reasons whyexhaustion and burnout are so common(3.30)
为什么疲惫不堪这样的现象如此常见
[1] A few years ago, Anna Katharina Schaffner became the latest victim of the exhaustion ‘epidemic’. It began with a kind of mentaland physicalinertia– as she put it, a “sense of heaviness”in all that she did.Even the most mundane tasks would sap her of all her energy, and concentratingon her work became increasingly difficult.
Epidemic / ˌepəˈdemɪk, ˌepɪˈdemɪk / 传染病
Inertia / ɪˈnɜːʃə $ -ɜːr- / 惯性，惰性
Sap / sæp / 消磨，削弱
Burnout 烧尽了（筋疲力尽）
[2] Yet when she tried to relax, she would find herself obsessively checking her emails
at all hours, as if relief for her ennui would suddenly ping into her inbox.
Alongside the weariness came feelings of emotional despondency:“Iwas disenchanted, disillusioned and hopeless.”
Weary / ˈwɪəri $ ˈwɪr- / 是疲惫
Despondency / dɪˈspɒndənsi $ dɪˈspɑːn- / 沮丧
Disenchanted / ˌdɪsənˈtʃɑːntəd, ˌdɪsɪnˈtʃɑːntəd $ -ˈtʃænt- / 失望的
[3] These feelings will be familiar to countless others, from Pope Benedict XVI to Mariah Carey, who have been diagnosed with exhaustion. If the media are to be
believed, it is a purely modern ailment; almost every time Schaffner turned on
the TV, she would see a debate on the trials we face in our 24/7 culture. “All the commentators represented our age as the most terrible one out there – that it’s the absolute apocalypse for our energy reserves,”she says.
Ailment / ˈeɪlmənt / 小病，微恙
Apocalypse / əˈpɒkəlɪps $ əˈpɑː- / 大灾难
[4] Butcan that really be true? Or are periods of lethargy and detachment asinevitable a part of human life as head colds and broken limbs?
Lethargy / ˈleθədʒi $ -ər- / 昏睡的，困倦的
Detachment / dɪˈtætʃmənt / 没有感情的， 冷漠的
[5] A literary critic and medical historian at the University of Kent in the UK, Schaffner decided to investigate further. The result is her new book Exhaustion: A History, a fascinating study of the ways in which doctors and philosophers have understood the limits of the human mind, body –andenergy.
[6] Thereis no doubt that exhaustion is a pressing concerntoday, with some particularly startling figuresemerging from emotionally drainingsectors such as healthcare. A study of German doctors found that nearly 50% ofphysicians appeared to be suffering‘burnout’, reporting,for instance, that they feel tired duringevery single hour of the dayand thatthe mere thought ofwork in the morning left them feelingexhausted. Interestingly, men and women seem to deal with burnout in differentways: one recent Finnish survey found that male employees reporting exhaustionwere far more likely to take extended sick leave than burned out women, forinstance.
Startling / ˈstɑːtlɪŋ $ ˈstɑːrt- / 令人惊讶的
[7] Given that depression also tends to involve lethargy and detachment, some have argued that burnout is just a stigma-free label for the same condition. In her book,
Schaffner quotes one German newspaper article that claimed burnout is just a “luxury
version” of depression for high-flying professionals. “Only losers become depressive,” the article。continued. “Burnout is a diagnosis for winners, or, more specifically, for former winners.”
Stigma / ˈstɪɡmə / 污名
High-flying 非常成功的
[8] In general, however, the two conditions are generally considered to be distinct. “Theoristsgenerally agreethat depression entails a loss of self-confidence, oreven self-hatred or self-contempt, which is not the case for burnout, where theimage of the self often remains intact,” Schaffner says. “Anger in burnout is generally not turned against the self but rather against the organisation for which one works, or the
clients with whom one works, or the wider socio-political or economic system.”Nor should burnout be confused with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS),which involves prolonged periods of excruciating physical and mental exhaustionfor at least six months, with many patients reporting physical pain at theslightest activity.
Hatred / ˈheɪtrəd, ˈheɪtrɪd / 仇恨
Contempt / kənˈtempt / 轻蔑，蔑视
Intact / ɪnˈtækt / 完整的，整体的
Chronic / ˈkrɒnɪk $ ˈkrɑː- / 慢性的
Excruciating / ɪkˈskruːʃieɪtɪŋ / 极痛苦的，折磨人的
[9] According to one argument, our brains are simply ill evolved to deal with the modern
working environment. The increasing emphasis on productivity – and the emotional need to prove one’s worth through one’s job – leaves workers in a permanent state of ‘fight or flight’. This
state originally evolved to deal with acute danger. But if we face that kind of pressure day in, day out, we endure a steady surge of stress hormones –an onslaught that our bodies struggle to continually fight
[10] For many, moreover, the pressure does not end with work. Cities (and technological
devices) are always buzzing with life, and this ‘24/7’culture can make it difficult to rest at any hour of the day ornight. With no chance to recharge our minds and bodies, our batteries areconstantly running dangerously low.
Buzz with 充满了
[11] That,at least, is the theory.
[12] When Schaffner explored the historic literature, however, she found that people
suffered from extreme fatigue long before the rise of the modern workplace. One
of the earliest discussions of exhaustion was written by the Roman physician Galen. Like Hippocrates, he believed that all physical and mental ailments could be traced to the relative balance of the four humours – blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm. A build-up of black bile, he said, slowed
the body’s circulation and clogged up the brain’s pathways, bringing about lethargy, torpor, weariness, sluggishnessand melancholy. Although we now know it has no scientific basis, the idea thatour brains are filled with a tar-like liquid certainly captures the foggy,clouded thinking that many people with exhaustion report today.
Humours / ˈhjuːmə $ ˈhjuːmər, ˈjuː- / 体液
Bile / baɪl / 胆汁
Phlegm / flem / 痰液，镇定
Torpor / ˈtɔːpə $ ˈtɔːrpər / 不活泼，麻木
Melancholy / ˈmelənk ə li $ -kɑːli / 非常难过的
[13] By the time Christianity had taken hold of Western culture, exhaustion was seen as
a sign of spiritual weakness. Schaffner points to the writing of Evagrius Ponticus in the 4th Century, which described the ‘noonday demon’, for instance, that leads the monk to stare listlessly out of the window. “It was very much seen as a lack of faith and a
lack of willpower – the spirit versus the flesh,” says Schaffner. She points out that one monk reported compulsively and restlessly seeking out his brethren for idle chit-chat rather than engaging in useful employment –in much the same way that21st-century sufferers may find themselves compulsively checking social media.
Listless / ˈlɪstləs / 无精打采的
Restless / ˈrestləs / 不安的
Brethren / ˈbreðrən / 同党，同胞
Chit-chat 闲聊
[14] Religious and astrological explanations continued to abound until the birth of modern medicine, when doctors began diagnosing symptoms of fatigue as ‘neurasthenia’. Physicians now understood nerves transmitted electrical signals,
and they believed that someone with weak nerves may therefore dissipate energy
like a badly insulated wire. Intellectual figures from Oscar Wilde to Charles Darwin, Thomas Mann and Virginia Woolf were all diagnosed with neurasthenia.
Doctors blamed it on the social changes of the industrial revolution, although delicate nerves were also seen as a sign of refinement and intelligence –some patients languished with pride in their condition.
Neurasthenia [ˌnjʊərəs'θiːniə] 神经衰弱症
[15] Although few countries tend to diagnosis neurasthenia today, the term is often used by doctors in China and Japan –again, with theoccasional accusationthat it is an alternative, stigma-free way of labelling depression.
[16] Clearly, many people throughout history have felt just as tired as we do, suggesting
that fatigue and exhaustion may just be part of the human condition. “Exhaustion has always been with us,” Schaffner says. “What changes through history are the causes and effects that are aligned with exhaustion.” Back in the Middle Ages it was the noonday demon; in the 19th Century it was the education of women, and in the ’70s it was the rise of rampant capitalismruthlessly exploiting its employees.
[17] In reality, we still don’t really understand what gives us that feeling of ‘energy’ and how it can dissipate so rapidly without physical exertion. We don’tknow whether the symptoms originate in the body or the mind, whether they arethe result of society or created by our own behaviour.
[18] Perhaps the truth is a little of all of these: a growing understanding of the mind-body connection has shown that our feelings and beliefs can have a profound influence over our physiology. We know that emotional distress can increase
inflammation and exacerbate pain, for instance – and in some cases it can
even bring about seizures and blindness. “It’s really hard to say that an illness is purely physical, or purely mental, because often it is both at the same time,”Schaffner says.In this light, it’s not surprising that our circumstances could cloud our minds and nearly paralyse the body with lethargy. And this fact should in no way suggest the symptoms are imaginary or made up – they may be just as ‘real’as the fever that comes with flu.
Inflammation / ˌɪnfləˈmeɪʃ ə n / 发炎
Exacerbate / ɪɡˈzæsəbeɪt $ -sər- / 加剧
Seizure / ˈsiːʒə $ -ər / 病情的发作
[19] Schaffner doesn’t deny the stresses of modern life. She thinks that it comes, in
part, from our greater autonomy, since more and more jobs have given us the freedom to manage our own activities. Without clearly defined boundaries, many people over-stretch themselves. “It mainly manifests in
the anxiety of underperformance and a sense of not being good enough – of not living up to these expectations,”she says.
[20] Shealso agrees that email and social media candrain our reserves. “In alot of ways the technologies that were meant to save energy have become stressfactors in their own right,”she says. Today, itis harder than ever to leave work in the office.
[21] If history has taught us anything, it is that there is no easy cure for this malaise. In the past, patients with neurasthenia might have been prescribed prolonged bed rest –but the boredom often only exacerbated thedistress. Today, people suffering from burnout can receive cognitivebehavioural therapy to help them manage their emotional exhaustion and identifyways of recharging.
malaise / məˈleɪz, mæ- /莫名的不安，身体的不适
[22] “Thecures for exhaustion aresubject specific. You have to know yourselfwhat costs you energy and what restores your energy,”Schaffner says. Some people might need stimulation from extreme sports, while
others may prefer reading a book. “What’s important is to draw boundaries between work and leisure,” she says. “These are certainly under threat.”
[23] Schaffnerherself found that her greater knowledge has helped herride the peaks and troughsin her own energy levels.“Researching and writing about exhaustion was, paradoxically, quite energising,” she says. “I felt very passionate about the subject, and I also found itsoothing to read that so many people during different historical periods hadlived through very similar experiences. There is something veryreassuringto learn that one is not alone in the way one feels, that others have felt thesame– although in different circumstances.”
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