When your 9 to 5 becomes more like an 8 to 7.

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The American workplace is just plain stressful; that is a black and white, definitive statement. But it is thoroughly nuanced on many different levels; your workplace mood changes by the hour (thanks to a certain section of your brain) by the day, and by the year. This may seem like a blanket statement no matter where you go on the globe, but the American workplace is sui generis when it comes to overwork.

According to Business Insider, the numbers are pretty straightforward when it comes to the onus that the American worker must bear. Citing Brad Stulberg’s Peak Performance: Elevate your Game, Avoid Burnout and Thrive with the New Science of Success the American workplace is described in pretty intense strokes. American workers put in more hours, work more weekends, and work into the evenings more than most countries in the world, according to the book.

And when it comes to job burnout, Americans across the board experience it “between 40 and 50 percent.” As defined by the Mayo Clinic, job burnout is “special type of job stress—a state of physical, emotional, or mental exhaustion combined with doubts about your competence and the value of your work.”

Causes of work burnout, clinically, include lack of control, unclear job expectations, dysfunctional workplace dynamic, mismatches in values, poor job fit, extremes of activity, lack of social support, and a poor work-life balance.

[Source: Business Insider]