Overwork covers three aspects: overstrain, overwork with the mind and excessive sexual activity.

Overstrain refers to protracted physical hard work, such as over physical work and over sports activity. Protracted physical hard work consumes great amount of qi and blood and causes disease if the energy and vitality are not supplemented and restored in time. Other activities, such as protracted standing, prolonged walking and speaking for a long time, also lead to overstrain.

Overwork with the mind refers to excessive contemplation that consumes heart-blood and causes asthenia disease. Overwork with the mind not only consumes heart blood, but also impairs the spleen. So the symptoms caused by overwork with the mind are usually palpitation, amnesia, insomnia and dreaminess due to malnutrition of heart-spirit, often complicated by anorexia, abdominal distension and loose stool due to dysfunction of the spleen.

Normal sexual activity is helpful for the flow of qi and blood and the regulation of yin and yang. However, excessive sexual activity consumes kidney-essence, weakens qi and blood and malnourishes the five zang-organs, leading to early senility with the symptoms of aching and weakness of the waist and knees, dizziness and tinnitus, dispiritedness, or impotence, seminal emission and premature ejaculation due to kidney deficiency.