There’s a condition sweeping through the nation’s workplaces and it’s affecting more women than ever before.

With such pressure to be successful and get ahead in your career, it’s easier than you might think to let work take over your life at the expense of your health.

Emma Walker was 28 years old and in the middle of a booming career when her ambition and desire to do a good job despite an overwhelming workload brought her crashing down.

“When I first arrived in Australia, my boyfriend got diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma,” she said.

“We moved back to our hometown in Wales for his treatment, and about eight months later we moved back to Sydney.”

Having got over the drama of her boyfriend’s cancer, Emma was ready to get back to work and focus on her career in exhibition coordination.

“I got a job as the National Events Coordinator at a company which ran exhibitions right across Australia,” she said.

“It was a very small team, which meant we didn’t have many resources and so all my effort was going into work. I did all the events, which were every six weeks and would vary from 1500 – 15,000 attendees which I had to manage.

“By the end of 2015, I had a lot of stress and a lot pressure and that’s when it all came tumbling down.”

The pressure from Emma’s workload and her refusal to switch off meant that before she had even hit 30 she had experienced a complete burnout.

“I started to get really severe headaches and I was crashing at 2pm every day,” said Emma.

“I had to take a whole week off work and stay indoors because the pain from the headaches was so bad. Eventually, I went to the doctors and they did various tests, including a CAT scan. I saw a specialist who said I had severe tension headaches. Then, I was diagnosed with IBS and the doctor said it was all related to stress. I was burning out.”

And Emma is by no means the only woman experiencing this condition; it’s becoming a serious problem for working women worldwide. More women than men are ending up leaving work because of this insistence to burn the candle at both ends.

This so-called “Millenial Meltdown” can easily catch you out, according to Meredith Fuller, psychologist and author of ‘Working With B*tches’.

“The mentality of doing everything, working on everything and doing it all right now is why so many women are crashing so early into their careers,” said Mrs Fuller.

“Women want it all. They are getting up at 4am to go to the gym, running home to get ready for work, then try and be the first at their desk in the morning, and the last to leave in the afternoon.

“People are so scared of missing out on opportunity, with the workplace being so competitive, it’s not OK to say you’re tired anymore.

“So as a consequence, our bodies try and tell us that we are doing too much, and when we don’t listen, that’s when they shut down.”

Mrs Fuller has been in the business for over 35 years, so she certainly knows her stuff. She has noticed a recent increase amongst clients aged 25-35, which she puts down to women having “a real problem with being ordinary” – feeling the need to excel all the time instead of giving themselves a break.

“The world is changing faster than we are,” she said.

“Women want to do interesting work and make a difference and achieve, and to do that they put themselves under unrealistic pressure to be on top of things.

“Realistically, our bodies need 3-4 weeks a year of total rest, but no one is relaxed enough to do that. So we take quick holidays instead, because we are too frightened to stop.”

Men are still dominant in the Australian workforce, so you can see why women are feeling the pressure to perform.

The 15-19 age group is the only one where there are more women than men at work.

Amongst the other age groups, it’s 25-34, 55-59, and 60-64 where the gap between men and women is most considerable.

It’s the ‘do it all’ attitude that is causing many women to burn out. As they struggle to juggle careers, kids, and caring for ageing parents, there is no time left to look after themselves.

And it’s not just anecdotal evidence that shows this. According to a 2014 study on stress in the Australian workplace, levels of both job satisfaction and work-life balance have dropped since 2011 .

Almost half of working Australians said the workplace is a source of stress for them, but stress from areas outside of work (such as finances, family, relationships and health) is much more likely to affect women than men.

“The biggest physical problems I see in women is digestive problems, chron’s disease, IBS, allergies, headaches, neck problems and debilitating back pain,” Mrs Fuller said.

“I’ve also seen young women come in with osteperosis before 30, anaemia and fatigue which all contribute to your capacity to keep going.

“Depression and anxiety is another big problem, which says a lot about why so many young people are taking medication.”

Emma found that during her burnout, she lost the desire to do anything outside of work hours. Her first full year living in Australia became “a total blur” and she realised she was wasting her life.

“I started to see the person I was becoming,” she said.

“I decided to change myself and move in to starting my own business and work my own hours and manage my own pressures.”

Emma has managed to turn things around and now runs her own small business, called ‘She Went Wild’. But she believes something needs to change in order for other women to avoid going through the same ordeal that she did. Basically, they need to learn to switch off and take time out for themselves.

“It’s 100 per cent becoming a big problem for women, because there’s such pressure of having to try and do everything all the time,” she said.

“You have the pressure of having a good job, an impressive career after university, then it really starts to kick off when you have children.”

Some people might say that Gen Y are just lazy or can’t be bothered to work, but Mrs Fuller, our psychologist, puts it down to unrealistic expectations and the fact that we are constantly “switched on”.

“Men find it much easier to say no or decline jobs, whereas women want to be the best so their way of doing that is to take on everything,” she said.

“Women continue to feel guilty if they take an afternoon off, or pop outside for lunch. People are far too impatient, and get annoyed if an email hasn’t been replied to within a few hours.

“Sadly, women feel they’re expected to be there, switched on to work all the time. It’s got to a point where you can’t even eat your own dinner anymore!”

Emma agreed, saying “You can’t really get away from your phone.”

“Emails are able to be accessed all the time, and you are under pressure to get back to a sender within 24 hours.

“There’s just no switching off after 5pm anymore. Today, we are always expected to be up to date and on the ball with everything.

“The consequence is being left behind, which just isn’t worth it.”

Well, we officially give permission to anyone reading this to take a proper break today – get outside for lunch, go for a walk after work, and leave your phone behind so you can disconnect for just a short while.