Mexico is one of the nations that has fewer vacation days per year. The average is 14 dates of rest, between those of benefits and the official ones that mark the calendar. While in recent decades there has been a noticeable change in people’s lives caused by the acceleration in routines. Due, the doctors of our country are the most stressed in the world.
This situation was alerted by the researcher of the Faculty of Psychology (FP) of the UNAM, Erika Villavicencio Ayub. She said that the cultural approach to labor in our country and the way in which we are educated to commit to work cause doctors to feel “guilty” for leaving on time, or “disconnecting” during their breaks or vacations. .
“These types of factors have been positioning the work culture, leading us to have to demonstrate with actions that we are interested in our work, such as overloading with activities, having a desk full of papers or staying longer than the established hours. This does not necessarily provide the best results in organizations, but psychosocial risk factors are triggered”.
Since 2017, figures from the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that Mexicans are the most stressed people in the world because of their work. Our country has the first place in work stress, above nations like China and the United States, the two largest economies on the planet.
According to data from the World OCC Labor Exchange in Mexico, in 2019 the chronic stress in the work centers it affected more than 40 percent of its members; in 2021 it increased to 63 percent.
Aches and pains that stressed doctors develop
The also coordinator of Organizational Psychology of the FP asserted that the COVID-19 pandemic evidenced the “always available collaborator”. This increased mental disorders such as work stress that causes gastrointestinal discomfort, sleep disturbances, headaches, behavioral reactions and/or fears, but also increased experiences of workplace harassment.
It also generated exhaustion or Burnout syndrome, which some people express by pretending to be extremely busy to project the image of someone successful. Consequently, organizations perceive low-quality results, an increase in workplace accidents or poor customer service, emphasizes the expert.
“The urgency or immediacy provided by new technologies have affected people, especially by preventing them from completely disconnecting from their work areas to attend to other areas of personal life. Therefore, it is necessary to move towards a balance of our activities through the organization of our time”.
A study published in Journal of Happiness Studies showed that because it takes time to relax after a stressful work period and to acclimatize to vacations, it takes eight more vacation days for the benefits of rest to be fully realized.
However, the academic commented that a vacation period in which full rest is achieved can be more than three days, if people ignore work. During this time, activities that produce well-being and pleasure can be planned, that help to forget about the daily work; she also suggested getting physically active for overall good physical health.
“By having a real rest, our attention processes are optimized when we return to an activity that requires concentration, otherwise we get blocked and the delivery of good results is complicated. It is about complying with times and deliverables that are requested of us in the workplace, but doing it in an orchestrated way and with this, not only is there a prompt delivery of results or a reduction in conflicts, but we also produce a better working environment.”
Likewise, Villavicencio Ayub pointed out that when looking for a balance between work and personal life, there is the opportunity to enjoy vacations so that performance can be improved upon return.