When you work a 24/7 roster which encompasses some pretty ruthless hours, shift work burnout is going to be inevitable.

Considering sleep deprivation is often unavoidable and many employees have to work harder in today’s economic environment – burnout is becoming increasingly common amongst employees around the world.

But can you reduce the effects of shift work burnout?

You bet. And it all begins by watching out for the symptoms.

These may include things like headaches, stomach aches, high blood pressure, back and neck pain and even skin rashes. They are basically warning signs that your body is not at its optimum. In fact when you suffer from shift work burnout you can become more susceptible to viruses and other infections.

You may even begin to feel disillusioned at work and loose enthusiasm to do things. These are all warning signs. Some people may even develop a negative attitude and become quite cynical which can lead to varying degrees of depression.

Basically you begin to question what you are doing and why – which can lead to feelings of helplessness and hopelessness.

You may even feel so frustrated and dissatisfied in your job that you begin to take more days off than usual and begin looking for a new job so that you can resign.

And you know when things are getting particularly bad when it begins to affect your personal life. This may be a change in personality which at its worst, leads to aggressive behaviour towards your friends and family.

Not a good sign.

So there is no denying that shift workers are prone to burnout as sleep deprivation can be one of the major contributing factors.

There are however some things which you can do to help reduce the effects of this burnout:

Ten Tips to Help Reduce Shift Work Burnout:

1. Use an imaginary bubble to help separate yourself from what’s going on around you. Try to detach yourself and become less emotionally involved with things that are happening in the workplace.

2. Find ways to relax and recharge. Listen to some music, meditate or practice yoga to help clear out the mental clutter.

3. Don’t try and be a martyr – you are not a machine. Despite what society seems to dictate these days, you don’t always have to appear strong.

4. Have realistic expectations. Shift work is tough – it really is, so you have to accept that feelings of burnout is actually normal. In fact it’s inevitable, so it’s important that you start taking care of yourself.

5. Try not to become too involved and take work problems home with you. Once you leave work turn off that imaginary switch in your head.

6. Seek help – talk to family and friends. Just admitting that you are experiencing burnout can make you feel better.

7. Cut out the overtime. Working exceedingly long hours in the fastest way to accelerate shift work burnout.

8. Allow yourself time to enjoy yourself and have a good laugh – guilt free. Treat yourself to some nice things for a change.

9. Be less intense at work – don’t take it seriously. Be carefree and have some fun.

10. Book yourself in for a check up. Just like your car needs servicing regularly – so does your body.

So it’s important to realise that you can never eliminate shift work burnout. It will come and go throughout your career for as long as you continue to work irregular hours.

However in order to reduce the debilitating effects, you must learn to recognize the symptoms (and don’t ignore them) so that you can begin to apply some simple strategies to help manage these feelings the best way you can.

Besides the physically draining aspects of having to get up at 3am to go into work or to soldier on through the middle of the night when you’re on night shift, there is something else which can deplete your energy levels even further and it’s called Your Inner Critic.

Your Inner Critic is simply a voice inside your head saying negative things about you with the intention of making you feel bad. This negative self-talk can be mentally and physically exhausting.

Your inner critic or inner voice can rob you of precious energy by bombarding your mind with negative and sometimes hurtful comments. In some instances this can make you question your ability and unravel your self-esteem.

In essence your Inner Critic can destroy your self-confidence and make you feel awful.

You may even have days when you feel like there is a little man sitting on your shoulder whispering into your ear reminding you of a time in the past when you did something wrong, which can be mentally and emotionally draining.

So not only do we often struggle with the physical demands of having to work irregular hours whilst working shift work, many of us underestimate what’s going on inside our brain and how it can unconsciously sap our energy levels.

In most cases this negative self-talk is completely irrational and self-defeating yet many of us actually believe them to be true.

Your inner critic can also put limitations on you by comparing yourself with other people, and even brush off a compliment given to you in good faith.

Do you remember the last time someone said something hurtful to you? How did it make you feel? Possibly quite deflated and unappreciated.

If fact unrelenting self-criticism can even lead to depression and anxiety as it harnesses feelings of hopelessness and helplessness.

So how do you stop this inner critic or inner voice?

By silencing your Inner Critic and dragging out your Inner Coach to help energize and support you. Your Inner Coach is the calming, encouraging and nurturing voice inside of you.

It provides you with positive self talk.

Your Inner coach will help focus on your strengths rather than on your weaknesses which will help uplift and energize your physically exhausted body and make you feel mentally stronger.

If however, you feel at war with your Inner Critic and just can’t seem to find a way to stop the negative chatter inside your head, then you may like to enlist in some professional help and visit a Cognitive Behavioural Therapist.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or CBT focuses on your thoughts (both good and bad) and how your thoughts create feelings which in turn lead to certain behaviours.

When your thoughts are positive and encouraging, you automatically feel energized and have more of a spring in your step when you go into work each day.

As opposed to irrational, self-defeating thoughts which can leave you feeling fatigued and unmotivated – both at home and in the workplace.

So if you want to improve your energy whilst working shift work, enlist the help of your Inner Coach and at the same time – fire your Inner Critic. It doesn’t mean that it’s going to be easy as it will require some work, particularly if you’ve had this negative chatter in your ears for quite a few years. But when positive self-talk outweighs the negative it can be one of the most uplifting and euphoric feelings you will ever have.