While stress can result from having so much to do that you feel overloaded, the opposite – having so little to do that you spend your day staring into space – can be equally draining (but less interesting). If our self-worth is tied up in the idea of busyness, having too little to do may also harm our self perception.
Boredom creates a sense of apathy that may make you hesitate to take action to solve the problem. Extreme stress makes you feel overwhelmed, which makes pausing to address the condition seem like one more thing to do. But taking initiative to make changes is important to break the cycle.
Those who find their work boring are four times more likely to leave than those who are stressed. And while 61% of stressed workers still feel productive, just 29% of bored workers can say the same. ' So, boredom is bad.
That's because boredom is typically the result of a failed effort to engage with one's surroundings. The resulting irritation leads itself to mental strain and anxiety. As stressful as it is to be pushed in multiple directions, it's just as bad to have no direction at all.
Boredom is a universal experience. However, prolonged stretches of boredom can lead to higher stress levels, with severe consequences for mental and physical health.
“Interestingly enough, boredom is actually rooted in the emotion of anger, not sadness or depression,” she says. “It's anger that you're in this situation, anger that you can't leave the room, anger that you're doing something repetitive, and so on. Unhappiness is more about being disappointed, let down, or sad.
In most cases, burnout is work-related and doesn't affect your day-to-day life. Depression, on the other hand, impacts every aspect of your life with persistent feelings of hopelessness, worthlessness or helplessness.
Here's Why Boredom Is The Worst Emotion
But research suggests that boredom should rank right up there with the worst of them, because it's both unpleasant and unhealthy.
Boredom is a feeling people with ADHD know all too well. Writing emails seems like an impossible task and looking at (someone else's) spreadsheet feels mind-numbing. An ADHD brain wants immediate relief from boredom and will chase it at the expense of your priorities.
Alternatively, having nothing to focus your attention on to can induce almost a 'fugue' state when the brain, again having nothing to focus its attention on, goes into 'idle' mode – just ticking over – aimless and listless. Either of these states could be associated with anxiety or depression. Boredom is not trivial.
Boredom and anxiety are curious bedfellows. On the surface, they have little in common. The former suggests disengagement, a lack of arousal. Anxiety, on the other hand, is denoted by alertness, our antennae up and monitoring for potential threat or danger.
Burnout is when you are overstimulated, and boreout when you are understimulated. In both cases, the way we are stimulated is wrong and doesn't result in a sense of purpose. We're less productive and less creative.
If you feel bored, complacent towards your work or that your skills are wasted in your current role, it might be time to look for new opportunities. But that doesn't always mean quitting. Delve deeper within yourself, to work out exactly what you want to do in your career.
While Millennials (ages 18 to 33) and Gen Xers (ages 34 to 47) report the highest average stress levels, Boomers (48 to 66) and Matures (67 years and older) join them in reporting levels that are higher than they consider healthy. Stress has also increased for a considerable number of Americans, regardless of age.
Gallup Results and Corroborating Research
Respondents age 50 and above were the least stressed (44%), the least worried (38%) and the least angry (16%).
Depression is more serious and long-lasting than stress, and requires a different kind of help. In a 2010 survey by the American College Health Association, 28% of college students reported feeling so depressed at some point they had trouble functioning, and 8% sought treatment for depression.
Boredom isn't a symptom of ADHD. It's a common result, though. Kids and adults with ADHD need more stimulation than most people. Not having it can lead to behavior that's confusing and challenging.
If you have ADHD, you might have greater “postural sway,” meaning your body sways more to stay balanced. Whether you're standing or sitting, your body is always seeking balance. Even without your conscious effort, your muscles and sensory system constantly work to keep you from falling over.
If, on the other hand, an individual with ADHD loses interest in an activity, his nervous system disengages, in search of something more interesting. Sometimes this disengagement is so abrupt as to induce sudden extreme drowsiness, even to the point of falling asleep.
Boredom is a psychological condition that reflects a real-life situation in which we are not engaged by the activity we are performing or by the environment that surrounds us. When we feel bored, the time usually passes slowly and we have a hard time staying focused.
We want to feel useful. Failing to satisfy that desire to act can make us feel ineffective. It is this feeling of inadequacy that makes boredom so uncomfortable. If we didn't care about being bored, we'd be feeling something more akin to apathy.
However, chronic boredom can lead to depression, as you might withdraw from meaningful connections or experience helplessness related to feeling “you have nothing to do.” People who are bored might also turn to unhealthy habits, hoping to fill the void — which can spur depression as well.
Two types of people, however, are at a greater risk of burning out than everyone else: women and workers under 30. Nearly half (48%) of 18-to-29-year-olds said they feel drained compared with 40% of their peers aged 30 and up, while women (46%) reported higher levels of burnout than men (37%).
When stress and feelings of worry or anxiety are there all the time and build up to a level that has an impact on a person's daily life, they may be described as having a nervous breakdown. A nervous breakdown, also known as a mental health crisis or mental breakdown, describes a period of intense mental distress.
Technically, it shouldn't be difficult to tell the difference between burnout and being lazy. Generally, burnout refers to a reaction to prolonged or chronic job-related stress and is typically accompanied by a few defining characteristics, such as exhaustion, cynicism, and feelings of reduced professional ability.