C-Force: Labor Day Used to Be About Taking on Too Much Work

Here's hoping you and yours had an enjoyable Labor Day holiday on Monday. Yet I'm betting it's left a lot of folks feeling a day behind in their workload because of it. For countless others, Labor Day amounted to no time off at all. That's because it is a somewhat unconventional holiday. For many, it isn't even a day off work. "Unlike most U.S. holidays, (Labor Day) is a strange celebration without rituals, except for shopping and barbecuing," writes Jay L. Zagorsky, a senior lecturer at Boston University. "For most people it simply marks the last weekend of summer. ... The holiday's founders in the late 1800s envisioned something very different from what the day has become. The founders were looking for two things: a means of unifying union workers and a reduction in work time. ... In the 1830s, manufacturing workers were putting in 70-hour weeks on average. Sixty years later, in 1890, hours of work had dropped, although the average manufacturing worker still toiled in a factory 60 hours a week.

"The original holiday was meant to handle a problem of long working hours and no time off," Zagorsky writes. "Although the battle over these issues would seem to have been won long ago, this issue is starting to come back with a vengeance, not for manufacturing workers but for highly skilled white-collar workers, many of whom are constantly connected to work."

It is no secret that working long hours without sufficient breaks can be hazardous to one's health. A recent Cleveland Clinic report, a study by the World Health Organization and the International Labor Organization found that "working more than 55 hours" in a week is linked to "coronary artery disease, a condition of recurring chest pain or discomfort and stroke."

"While a traditional workweek is about 40 hours, it's very unrealistic these days," according to a Cleveland Clinic report. "Many of us have workweeks that go far beyond 40 hours. Reasons can include an overload of emails, having a tough time creating barriers while working remotely and being short-staffed. ... 'It's really hard for people to turn off and say, "OK, I'm going to leave this at the office and not think or worry about it until I'm back tomorrow,"' says Dr. (Adam) Borland."

There are lots of other ways that working too much can impact your health. "If you're overworked, your cortisol levels (the primary stress hormone) increase which can lead to brain fog, high blood pressure and a host of other health problems," the report continues. "'In our society it's almost like a badge of honor to say, "I worked this much on this little amount of sleep,"' says Dr. Borland. 'We need to adjust that type of mindset.'"

Unfortunately, the ones we turn to the most in addressing these mounting health issues -- care professionals -- are some of the most impacted by the problem. The nation's health is dependent on their well-being.

According to an often-quoted 2022 surgeon general's report, it is projected that if current trends continue, the U.S. faces "a shortage of 1.1 million registered nurses, 3 million other healthcare workers and more than 140,000 physicians by 2033," according to a report by Fast Company. "A 2022 Mayo Clinic study reported that only 58% of physicians would choose to become a doctor again if offered a chance to revisit their career choice, dropping from 72% from just one year before."

The report, coauthored by Marc Moss, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, and Rafaela Mantelli, a program manager at Colorado Resiliency Arts Lab, continues: "We as healthcare workers push ourselves to the limits to learn new ways to enhance human health. The irony is that this often comes at the expense of our own physical, emotional, and mental health. We learn to mask emotions and internalize all the negative events we see in healthcare. But that is unsustainable.

"In the 2000s, up to 80% of critical care nurses reported experiencing burnout or other forms of psychological distress. ... Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, which intensified the stress on healthcare workers: three in five physicians reported burnout during the height of the omicron variant in 2022. ... Satisfaction with work-life balance dropped from 46.1% in 2020 to 30.2% in 2021. Burned-out healthcare professionals are unlikely to seek professional treatment and, as a result, tend to experience heightened levels of substance use, depression, and suicidal thoughts."

To develop new ways for addressing the escalating coping problem, some professionals are now turning to an old solution. "In ancient Greece and Rome, participation in the arts was 'prescribed' for people with depression or anxiety," according to the Fast Company report. "Likewise, for centuries, tribal communities have used dance, music, and art to facilitate physical and mental healing in individuals." Moss and Mantelli now part of a program "teaching healthcare workers how to use art-making to effectively process trauma and develop coping mechanisms through expression and community. ... We believe that creative art therapy is effective because it allows these healthcare professionals the freedom to be imperfect.

"Healthcare professionals face the immense burden of tragedy, illness and dying in an intensely stressful setting as a routine, ongoing part of their jobs. ... Though the roles of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals are often glorified through terms such as superheroes and guardian angels, in reality they are human beings who make mistakes and get exhausted too. The creative process invites them to remember what it means to be human, to be vulnerable."

Maybe it is time we start letting Labor Day be a reminder that while work is important, so is rest. As a wise, anonymous author once wrote, "Resting is an essential part of hitting the reset button for a better life."

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Follow Chuck Norris through his official social media sites, on Twitter @chucknorris and Facebook's "Official Chuck Norris Page." He blogs at http://chucknorrisnews.blogspot.com. To find out more about Chuck Norris and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.