Dar es Salaam — TOUGH urban life caused by the overgrowing cost of living is threatening the mental health of many residents of big cities like Dar es Salaam, and the reputable mental health experts claim it is the source of stress and burnout complications.
Clinical Psychologist, Ms Nadia Ahmed, says burnout is a big threat to the urban residents at the moment.
Burnout, according to Nadia Ahmed is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress.
” It occurs when you feel overwhelmed,” she said.
Ms Nadia Ahmed warned the cities’ residents during a workshop held in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday evening when she presented a topic titled ‘Leading with Wellness Building a Career Without Burnout.’
Addressing the gathering, she emphasized on the importance of people to take good care of themselves and how best they can navigate through life stresses without risking burnout.
She says mental and physical exhaustion are inevitable in big cities …in excess, they lead to stress and usually, too much stress has been linked to occurrence of blood pressure and many chronic diseases.
“We have analysed the major signs of burnout which include emotional exhaustion, cynicism, excessive fatigue, lack of satisfaction with our accomplishments and many others.
“It is now a pandemic because as human beings, we pass through a lot in our lives like financial setbacks, social stresses and a lot of things that people are encountering and this result in affecting our normal living,” she said.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Adding, Ms Nadia who is also founder of Mind Matters clarified that being exposed to such stresses give birth to burnout.
“Burnout is basically caused by chronic stress so if we can manage our stresses before they become chronic, we can surely avoid burnout and this is what we ought to do in order to have a good life,” she said.
Ms Nadia also pointed out that introducing boundaries, not only with other people but also boundaries with oneself, work, boundaries with family, social world plus having ample time to rest are all remedies to burnout.
“Resting between tasks is very important plus knowing when to agree or disagree are the best means that can guarantee us a full focused life…not always be available but instead, plan well your time on what you should do and don’t,” she remarked.
One of the beneficiaries of the workshop Balewa Rashid says there are many things he learnt on the day that will help to shape his life and make it more productive.
“The topic we have been taken through is a direct reflection of our day to day lives…we do face many things that in one way or the other affect our lives either positively or negatively.
“We have learned how to manage stress and focus on what is good for our proper upbringing…so, there are many takeaways from this fruitful workshop,” he said.
On her part, the organiser of the event Ms Dariah Clemence says the platform is bearing tangible impacts as people are having a nice moment to learn things that sharpen their precious lives.
“They come here to learn and interact…its similar to killing two birds using one stone and in this session, they have particularly grasped life changing lessons.
