When Burnout Becomes a Diagnosis: What Gen Z Is Living With Right Now
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When I was in college, my grandma talked about it often. What would happen if you spent too many hours working and not enough remembering to enjoy life? In her words, I’d be old and gray before I knew it, without having really lived my life. I’d also find myself empty, dissatisfied, and depressed.
By the time I was teaching high school English to sophomores, I realized she was right. I was becoming burned out, and so were the students I taught. Day after day, I would ridicule myself for ending up like this. But it didn’t happen overnight, did it?
Now at the age of 30, I’d love to say that I have my grandma’s advice figured out. That I’ve mastered the balance of navigating the grind and having fun. The truth is that I’m only just beginning. I’ve started taking one Sabbath day a week, but I’ve realized that alone isn’t enough. Our bodies need daily rest when we’ve lived in a state of exhaustion for decades. And that’s what many Gen Zers are presently experiencing.
In a news report covered by West Central Online, Gen Zers are experiencing the highest levels of mental health strain and chronic disease pressure of any generation. This isn’t new news, according to Barna’s report in 2020, but it’s startling. 6 years later, not much has changed. But much has grown worse.
How do we reach a generation that’s tired on the inside? How do we stop them before it’s too late? How do we talk about faith to a generation whose nervous systems are exhausted?
While public reactions believe this exhaustion stems from weakness or over-diagnosis, culture shows us this is about a generation growing up under sustained pressure with limited recovery time, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. Young adults aren’t just “too sensitive” or “over-medicated,” but they haven’t been given the tools and permission to live.
A Generation Without Recovery Time
As I look back over my teen and Gen Z years, I see a lot of trauma. We’ve survived the pandemic during formative years, educational disruption, economic instability, climate anxiety, rising depression, and digital overload. This chronic stress has directly correlated to the chronic illness we’re seeing worldwide. Public Health Post reports that this cumulative nervous system strain has become a matter of life or death.
“In the last ten years, rates of obesity, depression, high blood pressure, and other chronic conditions have increased among young adults.”
Not only are chronic health issues occurring, but they’re co-occurring with other serious mental illnesses. A new CDC study by Kathleen Watson reports that these stats reflect a constant, draining, and never-ending pain for many young adults, with consequences they won’t outgrow as they mature into adults.
Nearly 60% of adults aged 18 to 34 reported at least one chronic condition, and more than 19 million young people live with two. From asthma to diabetes, migraines, arthritis, depression, anxiety, and autoimmune disorders, those who live with chronic health issues find everyday life, relationships, work, school, and fun nearly impossible to manage.