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Cardiac hypertrophy is characterized by an enlargement of heart muscle cells triggered by an increased need to pump blood, ultimately leading to decreased heart function. Overworking progresses in the same way.
Cardiac Hypertrophy
Part 1: Adaptive Growth Under Pressure
To understand what I mean, you first need to understand cardiac hypertrophy on a deeper level.
Cardiac hypertrophy is a chronic condition in which the heart muscle grows due to either a higher volume of blood flowing into the heart or a higher demand for blood in other parts of the body. Since adult heart muscle cells cannot easily proliferate, the heart adapts by increasing the size of individual cells rather than their number. In terms of the high blood volume or higher demand for heart pumping & strength, there are many disease-related factors that can cause these issues, from aortic stenosis (narrowing of the valve) to heart damage from a heart attack. However, many controllable stimuli can also heavily contribute to cardiac hypertrophy: hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and occupational stress caused by long working hours.
Cardiac hypertrophy initially starts (and succeeds) as a mechanism to reduce wall tension. Nonetheless, when cardiac hypertrophy becomes chronic and sustained, it significantly weakens the heart.
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Now – although the term is partially self-explanatory – let’s briefly cover overworking. If you have a sense of what overworking is, you’ve likely already noticed some of its similarities to cardiac hypertrophy.
Overworking is defined as working beyond your capacity or healthy limits, and it is often associated with other overachieving phenomenons such as perfectionism & overthinking. It is not only a mental health hazard, but also a physical health hazard; research suggests that working more than 55 hours per week significantly increases your risk of developing cardiovascular diseases & sleep disorders.
So, to sum up the relationship between cardiac hypertrophy and overworking in one sentence, both conditions begin as attempts to adapt to excessive stress but ultimately lead to dysfunction when the pressure is perpetuated.
Similar to the way in which the heart responds to increased demand by growing in size, you might expand your effort and hours to perfect every assignment or manage an overwhelming workload. But what starts as mild and harmless turns into a stiff and damaged heart in cardiac hypertrophy and burnout and exhaustion in overworking.
And just like cardiac hypertrophy, the damage from overworking isn’t sudden; it accumulates overtime. Your system compensates, adapts, and even appears stronger at first, while the cost of sustained overload quietly builds beneath the surface and slowly leads to collapse…
To be continued :)
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