Nursing is a career that requires tons of hard work and patience. This demanding job can be quite emotionally exhausting. After all, nursing is often a literal matter of life and death.
This guide aims to explore why nursing is an emotionally exhausting career.
To help nurses, we’ve also covered some of the strategies that nurses can use to overcome these intense feelings.
This includes mindfulness techniques, which are guaranteed to minimize stress.
What Is Emotional Exhaustion?
Before we get started, let’s explore what emotional exhaustion means. This term is often thrown about, but the truth is that it is quite a serious issue.
Emotional exhaustion refers to the feeling of being emotionally drained. This is often caused by stress, which can either occur in a person’s work life or private life.
People experience emotional exhaustion differently, though these symptoms tend to be the most prevalent:
- Fatigue
- Headaches
- Lack of concentration
- Unmotivated
- Depression
- A changed appetite, which can lead to weight loss and gain
- Confusion and forgetfulness
It’s important to keep an eye out for these symptoms. You may notice them not only in yourself but also in colleagues.
Is Nursing An Emotionally Exhausting Career?
Yes, many nurses find this industry to be exceptionally emotionally exhausting. Research has found that over 90% of nurses have experienced medium levels of emotional exhaustion.
This whopping statistic highlights that the majority of nurses have experienced some of the aforementioned symptoms.
Therefore, if you want to be a nurse, it’s important to bear this in mind. After all, this could negatively impact your mental health.
It is recommended that you take precautions so that you can better handle this exhaustion.
Why Is Nursing So Emotionally Exhausting?
There are lots of reasons why nursing is such an exhausting profession. Here are some of the main causes of this stress:
- There are often time pressures. Nurses have to work both quickly and effectively on long shifts to ensure that patients receive the care that they deserve.
- Nurses are often overloaded with work. There is very little time to relax during a shift.
- People who work on shift can become sleep deprived.
- Nurses have to care for patients and family members who are often in a heightened emotional state; therefore, they may not be the nicest.
- Nursing is a matter of life and death. As a result, this is a career in which people must be prepared to deal with seriously ill or dead patients. This can be incredibly traumatic.
- There is often an absence of social support.
- Sometimes it can feel like a thankless job.
How To Deal With This Emotional Exhaustion
By making some simple changes to your lifestyle, you can better handle the emotional exhaustion that you experience at work. These are some of our favorite handling techniques:
Use Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a technique that’s used to reduce anxiety and stress. It’s all about being present and focusing on the present. This will help nurses to take a break from these negative emotions. Some examples of mindfulness are meditation, yoga, or a calming walk.
So if you’re a nurse who’s had an emotionally exhausting shift, consider using one of these techniques to lessen these unpleasant feelings.
Take Some Time Off
All employees need to occasionally take breaks. This is especially true if they work in stressful environments, such as nursing.
If you have been feeling stressed at work lately, try to take a few days off in a row so that you have the opportunity to recover.
You go on a vacation, spend time with family or friends, find some hobbies you enjoy, or just simply relax away from work.
Ensure That Your Work And Life Balance Is Healthy
Having a healthy work-life balance means that you don’t let your work life interfere with your personal life. When you don’t take the time to do this, you risk feeling burnt out.
This can be easier said than done, but trying to separate your personal and professional lives is essential.
One way of doing this is by completely removing yourself from the outside world for a few hours.
This can involve turning off your phone. Alternatively, you should take time to focus on the things that matter to you, such as your family and friends.
Seek Professional Help
When you feel continually emotionally exhausted as a nurse, you may wish to turn to therapy or counseling.
This is because these professionals can guide you through this problem and help you to overcome it.
Professional counselors will use different techniques to help nurses overcome this emotional exhaustion.
Talk To People
Is there someone in your life that you love talking to? This could be a partner, friend, or family member.
If so, talking to someone that you trust implicitly can help to relieve the stress and exhaustion that has built up.
This person probably won’t be able to solve all of your work problems, but they can provide a shoulder to cry on.
Simply talking about your problems can make them appear less significant. Moreover, talking about your problems is exceedingly cathartic.
Get Enough Sleep
It’s vital that everyone gets sufficient sleep. It is recommended that adults receive between 7 and 9 hours of sleep every night.
This is because sleep is vital for your brain functions. Plus, it allows your body to recharge.
If you don’t get enough sleep, you will only feel even more emotionally exhausted.
Having a healthy sleep schedule as a nurse can be difficult. After all, many nurses work in shifts, which may change according to a schedule.
Yet, there are still some techniques that nurses can use to receive enough sleep. This includes avoiding caffeine and turning off devices before you go to bed.
How Stressful Is It To Be A Doctor?
Yes, doctoring is a stressful career. In fact, doctors tend to be among the careers that are most vulnerable to mental health problems, including depression.
Like nurses, doctors have to care for sick patients, which will expose them to a variety of stressful situations.
They also have to work lots of hours, during which doctors are often overworked. Plus, many doctors find it difficult to take time off.
To handle this stress, doctors should use some of the previously mentioned techniques.
Final Thoughts
Though nursing is a stressful and exhausting job, it is nonetheless extremely worthwhile.
This is because nurses have the important duty of caring for sick and vulnerable people.
If you are a nurse, use the aforementioned techniques to reduce your emotional exhaustion rewarding occupation!