Lack Of Recovery

Before you run a race, there is usually a time for warm up. After the race, there is a cool down period for your muscles. After you stretch a rubber band, you allow it to relax to its original shape. A rubber band that is constantly stretched without break will be literally bent out of shape, and before you know it, it will not be elastic anymore.

This is the same as being a human. We all have many things to do throughout the day. As physicians, many times we are stretched and pulled in different directions. There are various stressors in our lives. Do we allow ourselves time to recover?

I was discussing with my coach the other day. We were talking about how life as a physician could be stressful. There is endless expectation of us from patients, colleagues, administration, not to mention our families and friends. The biggest impact on our well being is not necessarily the stress we feel or the stressors we experience, but it is the lack of recovery that is stripping us of staying emotionally and mentally healthy.

Stressors are not always our adversary. For example, you train your muscles to be stronger by giving them some stress. If your training does not involve any fatigue or some degree of soreness, you probably are not giving your muscles a chance to be more robust.

The more important issue is what happens after the stress. After a long workout, I imagine that you will go home and give your muscles a chance to rest and recover from all the hard work. The next morning, you get up renewed and refreshed, ready for more challenges for your muscle fibers.

The stressors in the work place, the emotional trauma we endure from the patients, their families, and sometimes from other staff members, are difficult to fathom by someone outside of our profession. There is the duty of doing your best to take care of the patients medically, address their psychosocial needs, while balancing your own emotions and well-being. Are you someone who keeps on going, doing, and moving along without processing what has happened? Do you allow yourself a little time-out so you can process the day’s events and your emotions?

A physician friend did some data collection recently about her own efficiency. She recorded the time spent on seeing patients, compared between if she had a break or no break, with more sleep or not. She found out that she was more efficient when she took a break in the middle of the day, and when she slept more. In other words, she discovered that, with time to recuperate, she became a better version of herself.

Let us have the awareness of what really is going on in our surroundings, and how our environment and people are affecting us. No matter how busy you are, and how much work you have planned to complete, allow yourself some break time. When you are rested, you have a fresh set of eyes to look at things at a different angle. You are more alert and sharp. You have more ability to concentrate. The end result is that you will complete a task in a shorter time. Allow yourself an emotional break time. Allow yourself some recovery time to refill your emotional tank.