Caution is the key
Career crisis could lead to overwork, and overwork could lead to mental stress, says Hu Yinglian, a teacher at the School of Public Policy and Management at the Chinese Academy of Governance.
Since China's social security system is still far from perfect, people feel insecure when it comes to medical care, housing, children's education and pension. They try to work overtime to make as much money as possible to improve their living standards, often at the cost of their health.
What's more, some underlying problems such as the widening income gap further exacerbate the social ethos of making more money in the shortest possible time, Hu says. "If stress keeps mounting, people's anxiety can turn into mental problems."
"Some people say that there's no motivation without pressure," Hu says. "But we need to understand that pressure should be within limits. Or else, the consequences will be severe."
Overwork caused the deaths of many young and middle-aged people in Japan in the 1970s to 1980s, when that country was experiencing high economic growth. The figure in China, however, is no less alarming. A Xinhua News Agency report says about 600,000 people die from overwork in China every year.
According to a survey conducted by Ciming Checkup, a health checkup chain, last year, 36.3 percent of the more than 220,000 white-collar respondents said they worked more than nine hours a day and more than 60 percent said they worked overtime regularly.
Another survey, carried out by China Medical Doctor Association, showed that 76 percent of the white-collar workers were not in good health. It also showed that 60 percent of the white-collar workers in metropolises such as Beijing and Shanghai frequently worked overtime.
"Whenever I hear about young people dying from overwork, I get nervous for a couple of days because I'm afraid that my lifestyle is pushing me to the edge," says Lu Yi, a 30-year-old consultant manager of an insurance company in Beijing.
"I am 185 cm tall and I weigh about 100 kilograms. My friends feel I am very strong, but the fact is I contract the flu whenever the season changes," he says. "I rack my brains to find ways to explore new clients and, at the same time, to keep in touch with my old clients by sending them messages and gifts or inviting them to dinner. This takes up almost all my leisure time."
Compared with physical fatigue, Lu says, the high pressure of work is more unbearable. "Whenever I think that tomorrow I have to attend a meeting, to report to my boss, to meet a client … I have sleepless nights and often need to take mild tranquilizers to fall sleep."
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