The psychologist talked about the syndrome of overloading work meetings

Long and frequent work meetings can overload the cognitive system and provoke emotional burnout. Clinical psychologist Darya Yausheva told Izvestia about this on July 16.

The condition that occurs in employees after an excessive number of meetings and absences has been informally called "meeting overload syndrome." According to the expert, it is not in the classifiers of diseases and the doctor will not put it, but it is quite real and can affect the general condition of a person. She clarified that the main burden falls on the prefrontal cortex, the area responsible for planning, self—control and attention.

"Continuous meetings are a cognitive burden, especially for the prefrontal cortex. During a meeting, the brain processes a large amount of information. We perceive and process speech, facial expressions, intonations, and nonverbal signals. At the same time, we control ourselves and our emotions, plan a response, and maintain attention and working memory. All this requires active work of the prefrontal cortex," she noted.

The expert also added that a significant part of the resource is spent on "mentalization" — the ability to "keep in mind" the emotions and intentions of other people, which especially drains the brain with a busy schedule of meetings. It is for this reason, according to Yausheva, that activity in the prefrontal cortex begins to decrease after the first meeting.

The areas of the brain responsible for concentration, emotional regulation, and decision-making are gradually depleted. This, according to her, manifests itself in a feeling of "fog in the head", difficulty remembering information, irritability, drowsiness and fatigue. Over time, a person's motivation may decrease and their daily work may lose its meaning.

"That's why, after the first flight, the activity of the zones responsible for concentration, emotion regulation and decision—making decreases," Yausheva emphasized.

If the brain does not have time to recover between meetings, the physiological mechanism of chronic stress is activated: cortisol levels rise, sleep worsens, and internal regulation processes are disrupted. With prolonged exposure to this condition, emotional burnout and anxiety disorders are possible.

To reduce the workload, Yausheva recommends taking breaks between meetings for at least 5-10 minutes, preferably away from the screen to give your eyes and brain a break. It is useful to go for short walks, do breathing exercises or stretching. Wherever possible, it is worth replacing video calls with asynchronous communication formats such as text or audio messages. It is important not only the number of tasks in the schedule, but also the ability to restore between them.

"Of course, this is also an important question for company executives: how does the number of meetings, meetings, meetings, and so on affect the condition of employees. Giving your brain a break is not a whim, but a necessity. Just as muscles get tired from overloading, cognitive functions need to "switch modes," Yausheva summarized.

Yulia Krylenko, head of HR practice at Adizes Business Consulting, told Izvestia in December about burnout at work. One of the common causes of burnout is the performance of tasks that are unusual for us by nature. In addition, if a person has initially low productivity, then the speed of completing tasks, strict deadlines and unforeseen circumstances can throw him off balance.