Feeling exhausted and overworked? You may have neurasthenia: Being unable to cope with the pace of modern life was first diagnosed by the Victorians
- The condition was first defined by neurologist George Beard in 1869
- Neurasthenia was originally thought to be a disease of the nerves
- It is used to describe people struggling to cope with the pace of modern life
If you feel sluggish, stressed and unable to keep up with the pace of modern life, your symptoms are nothing new.
Victorians were being diagnosed with so-called 'neurasthenia' almost 150 years ago.
The condition was defined by neurologist George Beard in 1869 and was used to describe people struggling to cope with the hectic pace of modern life.
And despite exhaustion now being considered a symptom, rather than a disease, David Schuster, author of the book Neurasthenic Nation believes the concerns are still bothering us today.
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If you feel sluggish, stressed and unable to keep up with the pace of modern life (stock image), your symptoms are nothing new. Victorians were being diagnosed with so-called 'neurasthenia' 150 years ago. The condition was defined in 1869 and was used to describe people struggling to cope with the hectic pace of modern life
'Back then, people were concerned about the move from farm to the city, from the calm life in the country, to the artificial life in a city.
'Now it's looking at your smart phone rather than the people at your dinner table,' he told The Pulse.
The book's description says: 'As the United States rushed toward industrial and technological modernisation in the late nineteenth century, people worried that the workplace had become too competitive, the economy too turbulent, domestic chores too taxing, while new machines had created a fast-paced environment that sickened the nation.
'Physicians testified that, without a doubt, modern civilisation was causing a host of ills - everything from irritability to insomnia, lethargy to weight loss, anxiety to lack of ambition, and indigestion to impotence.
'They called this condition neurasthenia.'
How medics understand exhaustion has changed over time and in the 19th century a worrying pandemic of neurasthenia gripped industrious people working in cities.
How medics understand exhaustion has changed over time and in the 19th century a worrying pandemic of neurasthenia or fatigue, gripped industrious people working in cities. A stock image of sleeping women by Victorian artist Edward Burne-Jones is shown above
The history professor at Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne said: 'The condition was predicated on the idea that our bodies run on nervous energy.'
The idea was a popular one in the late 19th century when Edison was at his peak of creativity and people thought when they ate food, nutrients were converted into energy that was transported by the nervous systems to the organs.
So they feared hunger and a lack of energy caused physical and mental health problems, making neurasthenia a disease of the nerves.
While we now know this to be medically untrue, it's thought the real cause of exhaustion was industrialisation as the pace of life sped up and people had to get to grips with travelling by rail and using a telephone, for example.
The malaise was dubbed 'Americantitis' by philosopher William James who suggested people were paying the price for America being so advanced.
Schuster explained: 'It's almost like if you had Neurasthenia, you were working hard at something, you worked yourself into sickness, and you needed to recover, take some time off, get back into the rat race.'
The malady was also thought to affect creative people who were more susceptible to it because they felt strongly about things and Marcel Proust was said to suffer from it.
While views may have changed, the 'cure' of getting back to nature and having a rest is still makes sense today when modern life gets a bit too much.
While neurasthenia was a common diagnosis during World War One for shell shock, it rapidly fell out of favour with the medical profession soon afterwards as Sigmund Freud shed more light on the way the body is connected to the mind
At the time, women were advised to rest in bed for between six and eight weeks.
While men were encouraged to connect with their inner cowboy by leaving the city and getting closer to nature again.
However, electrotherapy and more experimental treatments were also advocated, along with a drug called 'Americantitis Elixir'.
While neurasthenia was a common diagnosis during World War One for shell shock, it rapidly fell out of favour with the medical profession soon afterwards as Sigmund Freud shed more light on the way the body is connected to the mind.
But Schuster believes the concerns framed by the Neurasthenia diagnosis are alive and well today in the form of checking messages and keeping up with the latest trends.
Back then, neurasthenia was held in high esteem, according to a blogger at the Wellcome Trust and indicated an exemplary work ethic.
In a way, the same could be said today about people who 'burn out' today by working at such a ferocious pace thanks to the advent of new technologies.
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