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.

Undeniably sleep deprivation rates as one of the largest causes of shift worker fatigue when you work outside normal working hours. It also explains why so many of us wander around in a delirious state of mind, at times unsure exactly what day of the week it is.

And considering we are living in a world where we are subjected to constant information and interruptions, have you ever thought how your mobile phone may be adding to this fatigue?

Well if you are like me, probably not because we all love our mobile phones – well outside of work anyway.

However spending a lot of time on your mobile phone when you work shift work may not be particularly good for you because it can sap your energy.

Quite literally information overload causes fatigue.

In most workplaces today we are inundated with emails, mobile phones, alarms, pagers an array of other things, all vying to grab our attention.

In fact some studies have found emissions from mobile phones can even cause sleep disturbances and depression. Not a particularly good mix when you work shift work.

So given its 2012 and we’re living in such a high tech environment, it can be a bit tricky to eradicate all of this unwanted “noise” and constant interruptions. But there are things that you can do which can make a huge difference in your mental fatigue, like taking some time out to silence the mind . By this I mean shutting out all of the noise and chatter, and just relaxing – both mentally and physically.

When you silence the mind you block out incoming messages from entering both your physical and mental space.

It’s a bit like turning a switch to the ‘off’ position. Or putting it on pause, at the very least.

Now when I first started shift work nearly 20 years ago, I desperately needed help with my fatigue. So much so I decided to spend an entire week at a Health Retreat in the beautiful hinterland region of the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.

At the time I was 23, but felt almost 50.

Now as a part of the ‘terms and conditions’ for staying at this health retreat – all phones, newspapers, radios, TV’s and computers of any kind were contraband. Not only were we going to improve our physical health by exercising and eating well, but we were also going to clear out all of the mental clutter (be it for just one week) – to help rejuvenate our mind to where it should have been.

Fast forward 7 days – I left that health retreat a completely different person.

As I sat back in my car and began the long drive back along the highway I felt like I had been away for a month. The time away from phones, TV’s and computers had worked wonders on my mental and physical health.

Of course we can’t all go and book ourselves into a health retreat every week. A pity really because I must admit, I got quite used to having someone cook breakfast, lunch and dinner for me every single day! But even though it’s not easy to eliminate all of the mental ‘noise’ completely, you can reduce it to one which is less noisy and distracting.

Try doing the following for just one day and notice how much better you feel both physically and mentally.

1. Turn off the TV. Engage in conversation instead of watching others in conversation on the telly. It’s much more restful when you don’t have to be subjected to the blaring ad breaks every 5 minutes.

2. Avoid Social Media. In today’s world so many of us have become glued to things like Facebook, Bing, Twitter and YouTube – it has quite literally taken over our life. Have a ‘No Social Media Day’ and get outside in the fresh air instead. Go for a walk, a swim or catch up with a friend and have a real conversation instead of one via a computer or hand held gadget.

3. Turn off your mobile phone. Believe it or not – you can survive without your mobile phone. If people want to contact you, they will find a way. Having your phone with you 24/7 is only adding to your mental clutter which in turn adds to your fatigue.

So if you really want to reduce your shift worker fatigue turn off your mobile phone, telly and computer – even if it is just for one day. Mankind has managed to survive without all of these things for hundreds of years so I’m sure you will be fine without them for just 24 hours .