The Overtime Trap

In Dr. Kevin Gilmartin’s Emotional Survival for Law Enforcement, he discusses the physical and emotional effects of hypervigilance.  He explains that when officers are on duty, they go into a hypervigilant state to protect themselves from potential danger.  The sympathetic nervous system turns on and officers experience the emotions of feeling alive, alert, involved and being humorous.  The problem is that the body cannot maintain that level of hypervigilance for a long period of time, so it must do something to regulate.

An officer’s body must dip below normal range to allow the body to recover prior to coming back up to normal range.  Dr. Gilmartin argues that left to its own devices, the body will take 18-24 hours to recover and return to a normal state.  When officers are off-duty and drop below that normal state, they experience the emotions of feeling tired, detached, isolated, and apathetic.  We can combat these emotions through exercise, eating right, an appropriate amount of sleep and limiting our time on-duty. 

Have you ever justified a purchase or payment by stating “I’ll just pick up an overtime shift”?  Me too.  The problem with this mentality is that when we justify long term payments with the availability of overtime, we place ourselves into the overtime trap.  Overtime becomes a part of our regular income and we begin to live up to those means.  This has a secondary consequence of requiring additional time in a hypervigilant state and our body having to regulate itself more often, leaving us riding the hypervigilance rollercoaster more frequently.  This leaves our bodies and emotions out of sync and creates additional stress when home.  We can improve our overall wellness through financial wellness. 

Our financial coaching services can help you to break the overtime trap and guide you to financial freedom.  Sign-up for a free 15-minute consultation today. 

Stay safe and stay well.