Is Death from Overwork Someone Else's Story? Your 'Essence' Is Heading Toward Empty

From the perspective of modern medicine, the depletion of essence described in the Donguibogam resembles a systemic crisis. The mitochondria, our body's energy powerhouses, become exhausted and fail to function properly, while the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, our primary defense against stress, becomes overloaded and malfunctions. Excessive workload, irregular routines, and mental stress continuously push the body into a fight-or-flight response. When this state persists, the hypothalamus in the brain secretes excessive corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). This signals through the pituitary gland, prompting the adrenal gland to continuously release stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. While this provides temporary arousal at first, prolonged activation exhausts the adrenal gland and diminishes its hormone-producing capacity. This leads to chronic fatigue, lethargy, decreased immunity, and even depression and anxiety disorder. Clinicians refer to this state as adrenal fatigue or HPA axis dysfunction. Chronic stress also disrupts the balance of neurotransmitters. As serotonin, which supports emotional well-being, and dopamine, which provides vitality, become depleted, impaired concentration, memory impairment, severe mood swings, and poor sleep quality follow. This is why it becomes difficult to fall asleep at night or why waking up feels unrefreshing despite hours in bed. Internally, ongoing inflammation accelerates cellular senescence and harms gut health, resulting in general hypofunction throughout the body. The sign that your essence is running low is a serious distress signal that warrants careful attention.