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Looksmaxxing. Sleepmaxxing. Gymmaxxing. Fibremaxxing. If social media is to be believed, every aspect of our lives now requires optimisation.
What started as niche internet jargon has evolved into a full-blown mindset, one that encourages us to constantly improve, upgrade and maximise ourselves. But while the endless pursuit of self-improvement may be marketed as aspirational, experts are increasingly questioning whether our obsession with becoming the "best version" of ourselves is doing more harm than good.
This isn't to say ambition has gone out of fashion. Setting goals, building a career and striving for more are all part of a healthy, fulfilling life. The problem arises when optimisation stops being a tool and starts becoming a requirement.
According to neuromodulation company Nurosym, social media is helping to create a culture where relentless productivity is not only expected but celebrated, blurring the line between healthy ambition and burnout.
Their analysis found that online interest in "maxxing" trends has surged dramatically, with monthly searches rising from 1,900 a year ago to 9,900 in March 2026 alone. Across platforms, users are encouraged to "moneymaxx", "productivitymaxx" and "careermaxx", transforming ordinary goals into an endless quest for self-optimisation.
The messaging is clear: success isn't something you achieve, it's something you constantly chase.
Yet behind the motivational slogans sits a workforce already struggling under significant pressure. Stress now accounts for almost half of all self-reported work-related ill health in Britain, while Mental Health UK's Burnout Report found that 91 per cent of adults experienced high or extreme levels of stress over the past year. One in five workers needed time off due to stress-related poor mental health, and stress, anxiety and depression are now responsible for more than 22 million lost working days annually.
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Experts warn that the modern obsession with squeezing more from every hour of the day is normalising a state of chronic stress, where exhaustion is reframed as discipline and being constantly busy is treated as a badge of honour.
"We are witnessing the normalisation of a chronic stress state," explains Dr Elisabetta Burchi, Clinical Psychiatrist and Head of Research at Nurosym.
"There is a growing disconnect between the demands of modern life and what the human body can sustainably tolerate. Many individuals are functioning under persistent physiological activation, perceiving it as normal productivity," she continues. "Although the body is remarkably equipped to manage acute stress in the short term, prolonged stress exposure without adequate recovery gradually impairs cognitive flexibility, emotional regulation, sleep quality, attentional capacity and overall resilience."
When stress becomes chronic, cortisol and adrenaline can remain elevated for extended periods, making it harder for the body to properly switch into recovery mode. Over time, this may contribute to sleep disruption, anxiety, cognitive fatigue, poor concentration and emotional exhaustion, leaving people stuck in an ongoing "fight or flight" response.
Dr Burchi says the issue is not simply workload, but the constant stream of psychological, professional and digital demands that many people face throughout the day.
"The human stress response evolved to respond to intermittent challenges rather than the kind of continuous stimulation we are exposed to in modern life," she says.
"The current environment exposes people to psychological, occupational, and digital stressors throughout much of the day, often with limited opportunities for physiological downregulation. Over time, this can create a cumulative burden that makes recovery progressively difficult."
Importantly, she notes that chronic stress is not always visible.
"People may appear highly functional and productive while their autonomic nervous system is operating under sustained strain," Dr Burchi explains. "In the short term, performance may be maintained, but over time, this can reduce adaptability and increase vulnerability to anxiety, burnout and emotional dysregulation."
As conversations around nervous system health continue to grow, attention is increasingly shifting towards recovery rather than relentless output. Because if social media has spent years teaching us how to optimise, experts say the next challenge may be learning how to recover.
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