Work and mental health are intertwined like laces in a pair of elegant shoes – impossible to separate without unraveling the whole form. The organization of one often determines the comfort of the other.

My own life often feels like proof of that. I am a professor and research scientist, steering the ship of my own lab while juggling lectures, grants, and the perpetual paper chase of academia. My days are drenched in deadlines – peer review reports, committee meetings, and a to-do-list that never seems quite finished. It’s a life built on brainpower, but it comes at a mental cost.

I’ve lived with my mental health impairments for long enough to know that my depression is cyclical, creeping back with the familiarity of an unwelcome friend. When it hits, the first thing to crumble is my routine. I decide to skip the gym “just this once”, which quickly becomes twice, and so on. I eat excessively and unhealthily, which often carries over multiple days. I start staying up later and often remain in bed until the following afternoon. This often continues for several days, resulting in the collapse of an otherwise regimented but incredibly beneficial routine. 

My eating habits become a particular concern. It’s not uncommon for me to eat 8,000 calories per day during these periods. Often completely stuffed, I continue to eat regardless. In the same way that somebody might be addicted to illicit substances, as soon as I start, I find it incredibly difficult to stop. It’s a misguided approach to comfort that negatively impacts my mental health rather than promoting positivity. It has got to the point that I need to avoid any sort of sugary food to prevent these episodes from happening.

Consistent disruptions in my routine have underlined the importance of discipline, not motivation, as the central driver for regulating my mental health. I’m not happy every day. I’m not motivated every day. But I need to be disciplined enough to go to the gym even when I don’t want to, avoid sugary food despite the addictive craving, and follow a proposed schedule even when my bed looks far too comfortable. 

Because structure, in my experience, isn’t restrictive – it’s restorative.

Work: It’s a Double Edged-Sword

Work can be a gift or a grievance. Sometimes, it’s simply a means to an end – a paycheck that permits the rest of life to unfold. Other times, it becomes all-consuming, swallowing hours, hobbies, and even our sense of self.

Passion can be a dangerous disguise for overwork. We tell ourselves we’re lucky to love what we do, but even passion can poison when it outpaces balance. I’ve seen it in colleagues and students alike: the scientist who forgets to sleep, the teacher who forgets to eat, the professional who forgets who they are beyond their work.

The Science of Strain

This isn’t new. The evidence connecting work and mental health is vast and compelling.

Take shift work – jobs outside the usual daylight hours of 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. – for example. It’s been repeatedly linked with poor sleep, disrupted routines, and higher rates of depression and anxiety. A 2019 meta-analysis found that shift workers were significantly more likely to develop depressive symptoms, with women showing the highest risk¹.

A larger systemic review in 2024 reaffirmed the same conclusion: sleep and mental health outcomes consistently worsened following the onset of shift work. Researchers suggested interventions before beginning such schedules should be employed to protect the health of workers².

In China, studies of shift-working nurses revealed a similar story: higher incidences of burnout and mental health problems, indicating the deterioration of personal wellbeing³. These findings stretch across countries and cultures yet point to the same biological truth – when the circadian clock is broken, the mind can soon follow.

But these mental health impairments are not limited to shift work. A 2020 systematic review of work-related stressors in young workers found that job insecurity, high job demand, low skill variety, lack of autonomy and job control, and effort-reward imbalance all associated with poor mental health. For men, low workplace support was identified as an additional culprit⁴.

The message is clear: how we work affects how we feel. 

The Continuum of Collapse

In clinical psychiatry, diagnoses are often reserved for distinct disorders – depression, anxiety, bipolar, and so forth. But there’s a growing appreciation for the middle ground: what some call psychological strain.

It is not a diagnosable condition in the DSM-5-TR (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision), but it lives on the mental health continuum somewhere between “happy” and “ill”. It looks like fatigue that never fades, irritability without cause, sleep impairment that never restores, motivation that melts away. It’s the bubbling of a volcano before it erupts.

Prolonged exposure to workplace stressors pushes the body into a constant state of vigilance. Cortisol – a crucial stress hormone – rises, blood pressure follows, and the sympathetic nervous system stays switched on – a biological red alert that was never designed to last this long. Our “Fight-or-Flight” response evolved for predators, not productivity. 

Substance, Stigma, and Survival

Alcohol and illicit drug use within the workforce remains a significant burden. In the United States, the National Safety Council and NORC at the University of Chicago found that certain jobs, including construction trades, service positions, and transportation occupations, all appear to carry particularly high rates of substance use disorder among employees⁵. Financial insecurity, long hours, and irregular shifts are often to blame.

Even in medicine and academia, where substance use may be subtler, the same dynamics of pressure and perfectionism apply. The stigma surrounding addiction still silences too many, turning potential conversations into quiet crises.

In the end, work doesn’t just shape our income or our schedule – it shapes our coping mechanisms. When the boundaries blur between productivity and self-worth, escapism can masquerade as relief. 

Routine as Remedy

For me, routine doesn’t restrict – it rescues.

Keeping a routine keeps me going. I eventually learned that my brain craves predictability when emotions run unpredictable. Even small consistencies – washing clothes, reading for 30 minutes, or showing up to the gym even if a bit sluggish – become stabilizing rituals.

When I eat well, I think clearer. When I sleep on time, my moods soften. And when I lift weights, even when my mind resists, I come out feeling refreshed. 

Sure, this discipline doesn’t cure my depression, but it contains it. It gives it boundaries. That’s something.  

The Lists That Keep Me Steady

These routines will look different for everyone. For me, they take the form of four monthly “to-do” lists, each with its own focus: 

1. Work
2. Health
3. Hobbies
4. Maintenance

The Work List
This is the backbone of my structure – the only list broken down week by week.

Each week, I write out the tasks I aim to complete and assign them a priority score. If I hit 75% or more, that’s a win. Writing everything down keeps me accountable and stops me from drifting into procrastination. 

When a task without a deadline slips through, it’s not a failure – it’s simply carried over to the following week, usually with higher priority. It’s a system that forgives but doesn’t forget.

The Health List
This list covers both daily habits and longer goals.
Daily habits which are incorporated every month include:

• Gym sessions
• Calorie tracking
• Taking my medication at set times
• Ten minutes a day of Spanish practice

Longer-term items vary month-to-month but often include tasks such as finishing a book, running a certain accumulated distance, and calling my mum.

These small acts of care build momentum that my mood alone cannot always supply.

The Hobbies List
This list is less strict, but just as vital. It’s where I remind myself to do what I enjoy – writing for this blog, making music, or anything that helps me reconnect with who I am outside of work. Creativity and curiosity belong here.

The Maintenance List
The practical list. This includes things like laundry, cleaning, paying rent, and buying essentials. All the small tasks that hold daily life together. I try to clear most of these early in the month, so they do not hang over me as background noise.

Connection and Companionship

Structure doesn’t always have to come from checklists or alarms – sometimes, it comes on four legs. 

Among older adults, pet ownership has been shown to support mental wellbeing by restoring routine, providing comfort, promoting physical activity, and fostering social connection⁶. For many, pets do not just fill the home. They give it purpose.

What We Carry Home

Work doesn’t end when we leave the office, the construction site, or the classroom. It lingers – in our shoulders, in our sleep. Sometimes it inspires; sometimes it erodes.

But perhaps the goal is not to separate work and mental health entirely – that may be impossible. Instead, it’s to notice the knots where they intertwine, to loosen them before they tighten. 

I have learned that the mind is much like the job itself – demanding, cyclical, and sometimes unforgiving. But if I can give my work structure, I can give my mind the same. Perhaps this applies to you, too.

Routine will never be romantic. It doesn’t promise happiness. But it does promise continuity, and sometimes, that’s enough to keep you walking – one lace, one loop, one step at a time.

References

1. Torquati, L., Mielke, G.I., Brown, W.J., Burton, N.W. and Kolbe-Alexander, T.L., 2019. Shift work and poor mental health: a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. American journal of public health, 109(11), pp.e13-e20.
2. Harris, R., Kavaliotis, E., Drummond, S.P. and Wolkow, A.P., 2024. Sleep, mental health and physical health in new shift workers transitioning to shift work: systematic review and meta-analysis. Sleep medicine reviews, 75, p.101927.
3. Cheng, H., Liu, G., Yang, J., Wang, Q. and Yang, H., 2023. Shift work disorder, mental health and burnout among nurses: A cross‐sectional study. Nursing open, 10(4), pp.2611-2620.
4. Law, P.C.F., Too, L.S., Butterworth, P., Witt, K., Reavley, N. and Milner, A.J., 2020. A systematic review on the effect of work-related stressors on mental health of young workers. International archives of occupational and environmental health, 93(5), pp.611-622.
5. National Safety Council., n.d. Substance use disorders by occupation. Available at https://www.nsc.org/getmedia/9dc908e1-041a-41c5-a607-c4cef2390973/substance-use-disorders-by-occupation.pdf(Accessed 15 October 2025).
6. Hui Gan, G.Z., Hill, A.M., Yeung, P., Keesing, S. and Netto, J.A., 2020. Pet ownership and its influence on mental health in older adults. Aging & mental health, 24(10), pp.1605-1612.