Every morning, millions of people wake up, beat traffic, log into meetings, answer emails and spend most of their day trying to earn an honest living. Work is meant to provide stability, purpose and a better quality of life. It should never become the very thing that takes life away.
Yet, across the world and increasingly in Nigeria, stories of employees dying after enduring impossible workloads, being denied time to recover from illness or being pushed beyond their physical limits are forcing society to ask a difficult question:
At what point do we draw the line between commitment to work and protecting our health?
The conversation has become impossible to ignore.
In recent months, Nigeria has witnessed heartbreaking cases involving healthcare professionals whose deaths have been linked to extreme work conditions.
One of the most talked-about incidents was that of Dr. Oluwafemi Rotifa, a young resident doctor at the Rivers State University Teaching Hospital. Reports say he collapsed and died after working an exhausting 72-hour shift with little or no adequate rest. His death reignited conversations about the realities faced by many doctors who work around the clock because there simply aren’t enough hands on deck.
Another equally devastating case involved a Nigerian doctor who reportedly slumped and died on duty just 15 minutes after arriving at the hospital to attend to waiting patients. Medical associations, including the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), have repeatedly pointed to chronic staff shortages, overwhelming patient loads and excessively long working hours as major contributors to burnout among healthcare workers.
These tragedies are not isolated incidents. They are symptoms of a much bigger problem.
Globally, the issue has already claimed countless lives.
The death of Anna Sebastian Perayil, a 26-year-old chartered accountant who worked with EY India, sparked worldwide outrage in 2024. According to her family, she endured relentless work pressure, sleepless nights and crushing deadlines before her sudden death. Although investigations into the exact circumstances continued, her story reopened conversations about whether modern workplaces have normalised unhealthy levels of stress.
Japan has long had a word for this phenomenon: Karoshi, which literally means “death by overwork.” The term was coined after repeated cases of employees dying from heart attacks, strokes and other stress-related illnesses caused by excessive working hours. It has since become one of the world’s strongest warnings about the dangers of a culture that glorifies exhaustion.
Health experts define this level of physical and mental exhaustion as burnout.
Imagine your body as a mobile phone.
You can run several applications at once, but if you never plug it into a charger, eventually the battery dies. Your body works the same way. Long shifts, skipped meals, poor sleep, emotional stress and constant pressure are like heavy apps draining your battery. Rest, proper nutrition, sleep and time away from work are the charger. Without them, the body eventually reaches a breaking point.
The danger is that burnout is not always dramatic at first. It starts quietly with constant fatigue, headaches, anxiety, poor concentration, irritability and difficulty sleeping. But when ignored for weeks or months, it can contribute to serious medical conditions including hypertension, heart disease, depression and, in some cases, sudden cardiac arrest.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), long working hours, job insecurity and inadequate rest contribute to hundreds of thousands of work-related deaths globally every year. Chronic workplace stress keeps the body in a constant state of alert, causing repeated spikes in blood pressure, increased strain on the heart and other potentially life-threatening health complications.
Sadly, many Nigerian workers can relate.
There are employees who drag themselves to work with malaria because they fear being labelled unserious. Others ignore chest pains, severe migraines or worsening health because they cannot afford to miss a deadline or risk losing their jobs. Some ask for sick leave only to be questioned, guilt-tripped or outright denied.
Some bosses equate suffering with dedication.
Some organisations celebrate employees who skip holidays, work weekends and answer emails at midnight, as though exhaustion is a badge of honour.
But no promotion is worth a funeral.
No target is worth a heartbeat.
No deadline is worth a family losing a loved one.
A good employer understands that productivity and wellbeing are not enemies. Employees who are rested, healthy and mentally stable consistently perform better than those who are physically and emotionally drained.
Likewise, workers must also recognize that no job should come before their survival. Companies can replace positions, reopen recruitment and continue business. Families cannot replace the people they lose.
Perhaps it is time we stop praising people for “hustling till they drop.”
Perhaps we should stop glorifying burnout as ambition.
Perhaps saying, “I need to rest,” should no longer be seen as weakness but as wisdom.
Because work is supposed to help people build a life.
It should never become the reason they lose it.
