Female burnout syndrome: what does it consist of?

Female exhaustion syndrome, or exhausted woman syndrome, It encompasses a series of symptoms, among which vital fatigue stands out. This vital fatigue would cause physical and mental exhaustion and chronic bad mood.

But what exactly are we talking about? This is a syndrome currently accentuated by a series of factors, such as the difficulties and extra exhaustion that have forced many women to combine family tasks with their work day. What else do we know about this syndrome? Why does it arise and how does it manifest?

What is female burnout syndrome?

It is important, first of all, to clarify that female burnout syndrome is not a disease. In fact, in Spain there is no such official diagnosis, but in England, for example, the National Health Service already uses the term TATT to describe it (which means ‘Tired all the time‘tired all the time’).

Thus, it is a set of signs and symptoms that usually appear together. Generally, this syndrome is not caused by something in the woman’s body, but rather by factors external to it. Among them, a cultural model that causes many women to become exhausted by having to dedicate a large part of their leisure time to other taskslike housework.

In this way, in a way, the female burnout syndrome It arises largely from the way in which women relate to their environment.with their responsibilities and with their “assigned” social role (in addition to the people who live in said environment).

Symptoms of female burnout syndrome

in every woman The manifestation of this syndrome variesalthough we can talk about some more essential or general symptoms: tiredness and exhaustion (physical and mental), irritability and a low mood.

The overload of everyday life

A study carried out by the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology of the University of Valencia suggests that Women with children, who also telework, bore most of the stress of confinement.

According to the authors of the study, they would be the ones who would have to implement more strategies to coordinate and dedicate time to the areas of their life. And this means, on many occasions, give up quality time for themselves, for their own enjoyment or to enjoy leisure time.

They are women who try to save time by getting up early and connecting to their professional emails continuously, all while educating, caring for and taking care of domestic tasks. This pressure causes female exhaustion syndrome to appear.

Causes: why does it occur?

As we have seen, one of the main causes of this syndrome is the cultural model – sexist – in which we are immersed, which defends the segregation of gender roles and which assigns women the role of mother, housewife. , as a caregiver, and so many other “expected” roles that overload women and that they do not fall on man.

This cultural burden facilitates the appearance of the syndrome. In this sense, and to be more specific, household chores, for example They are activities socially assigned to women. That is, they are part of their gender role (let’s not forget that gender is a psychosocial construction), of what is expected of them just for the mere fact of being a woman. Thus, the excess of responsibilities assigned to women would be the origin of this syndrome.

The importance of self-care for prevention

Faced with a syndrome of these characteristics, it is important to carry out small behaviors focused on its prevention. Self-care is the main one, through behaviors such as:

Take the necessary breaks every day. Eat properly. Delegate tasks and responsibilities. Perform good time management. Distribute household chores with a life partner if you have one. Ask for help (both at the family level and for help from professionals) .Find time for yourself.Prioritize yourself.

Consequences of female burnout syndrome

We know that chronic stress has effects on our body, and this syndrome is no exception. Thus, female exhaustion syndrome can cause problems in the future (especially if it persists over time), such as: skin diseases, muscle tension problems or weakness of the immune system.

That is why it is so important that we implement some of the measures that we have outlined in the previous point. Furthermore, it should be noted that these measures apply to both female and male exhaustion syndrome.

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