FIf you’ve ever felt pressure to “keep up,” be more productive, or push harder, you’ve experienced hustle culture. Hustle culture ties our self-worth to external output. Rooted in perfectionism and control, it enforces similar values to diet culture and may increase the risk for developing eating disorders. Here, we take a closer look at what happens when unrealistic expectations shape our relationships to work and our bodies. Understanding the connection between hustle culture, burnout, and eating disorders can help us identify issues with the status quo and pivot to the type of society that supports a more sustainable way of life.

The Background of Hustle Culture

Hustle culture is the philosophy that hard work and a goal-driven mentality are key to not only a successful career but also our intrinsic value as humans. And these days, it’s seeped out beyond the office. It shows up in social media posts of people waking up before dawn to work out; it shows up in a culture that celebrates people who have side hustles in addition to full-time jobs; it shows up in every piece of cheesy “rise and grind” wall art.

While dedication and persistence may sound good on the surface, hustle culture takes these one step too far. It makes productivity part of identity and expects people to work toward constant optimization. Hustle culture normalizes things that go against human nature. It pushes people to the point of exhaustion while treating rest as “lazy.” 

At its worst, it ties people’s self-worth to a certain output. What’s marketed as motivation and inspiration on the surface can become intense internal pressure. When these pervasive systems start shaping how people relate to themselves, we start to raise our red flags.

What to Look Out For: Hustle Culture’s Values

As we think about hustle culture, you likely have a few experiences already coming to mind. For folks living in the U.S. and other Westernized countries, hustle culture is the norm. However, just like any specific culture, we can identify a clear value system that it uplifts. Being alert to how these values show up in our thoughts, behaviors, and environments can help us better understand their impact. With more awareness, we are able to question whether they are truly serving our well-being. Here, we highlight some of the values associated with hustle culture.

• Perfectionism: Hustle culture doesn’t just expect achievement; it sets unrealistically high standards, leaves no room for error, and perpetuates the fear of not being “enough.”
• “Go, Go, Go” Mentality: Hustle culture creates the pressure to always “do more.” It conveys the message that staying busy equates to (or sometimes supercedes) being productive.
• Inflexibility and Control: Hustle culture often relies on black-and-white thinking that labels behaviors as either good or bad. Routines – often ones that neglect any sort of rest – are held with rigidity.

As part of the eating disorder recovery community, it’s hard not to notice the overlap between these values and some of the risk factors for eating disorders. 

Boiling Over and Burning Out

Before we dive into the direct connections between hustle culture and eating disorders, let’s touch on the impact that hustle culture can have on one’s mental health in general. Hustle culture thrives on keeping people in a state of stress. What’s the result of burning the candle at both ends all the time? Burning out.

When high stress meets high standards, the result is burnout. A term coined by psychologist Herbert Freudenberger, burnout is used to describe a state of emotional exhaustion and overwhelm, often caused by work-related stress. While burnout isn’t a unique diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), it’s often associated with other mental illnesses and presents similar symptoms to depression.

Statistics on burnout speak to the pervasiveness of hustle culture. Over 60% of workers in the U.S. are experiencing some sort of burnout, with younger generations more affected. A 2025 poll found that about a quarter of millennial and Gen Z adults experience burnout by age 30. The impacts are showing up before people even start their careers. Over half of teenagers feel the pressure to have a clear plan for the future.

At this point, it’s worth asking the question: who does hustle culture actually serve? While it’s often framed as a pathway to success, hustle culture is deeply embedded in a broader capitalist system that prioritizes productivity, efficiency, and output above all else.

Connection Between Hustle Culture and Diet Culture

These patterns don’t exist in isolation. Many of the same values that drive hustle culture – perfectionism, control, rigidity, and the constant pursuit of improvement – also show up in another pervasive system: diet culture. Just as hustle culture equates productivity with worth, diet culture equates body size, food choices, and appearance with value. These systems reinforce one another, creating an environment where harmful self-optimization is not just normalized, but expected.

Shared Imagery: What Professionals “Look Like”

One way that hustle culture and diet culture go hand-in-hand is through weight bias in the workplace. People in larger bodies face discrimination from bosses, coworkers, and hiring managers to the point where many consider quitting their jobs. Over time, these pressures to conform, both physically and professionally, to unattainable standards can shape how people are perceived. They can also shape how people relate to their bodies, food, and sense of control, increasing vulnerability to disordered eating patterns.

Hustle Culture and Eating Disorder Risk

Traits reinforced by hustle culture, like perfectionism and rigidity, along with body shaming in the workplace, can increase vulnerability to eating disorders. A drive to “do better” can become a fixation on thinness, control, or achieving an ideal body, increasing the risk of body dissatisfaction. This may show up as caloric restriction, rigid food rules, obsessive tracking, or compulsive exercise framed as discipline. 

Over time, these patterns can become entrenched and harmful, with research suggesting an increased likelihood of developing disorders like anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa when exposed to high-pressure environments. As we know, eating disorders develop from a mixture of genetic, environmental, and social influences; hustle culture is evidently one of the variables that can increase one’s risk.

Stepping Away from the System and Embracing Recovery

Despite the ubiquitous presence of hustle culture, we can try to take steps away from its influence. As a result, we can help create a world that values people for who they are, not their daily achievements or body size. By deconstructing the role of hustle culture, we can help make recovery more accessible for those living with an eating disorder.

Calling Hustle Culture’s Bluff

The first thing to do is acknowledge that hustle culture doesn’t serve anyone. While it may convince us that the “grindset” is an effective path to success in the short-term, the long-term consequences of burnout and overwhelm are often inevitable. To call hustle culture’s bluff, we start by redefining what success looks like. What if we saw success as a reflection of overall well-being, supportive connections with others, and a sustainable and balanced lifestyle? 

Eating Disorder Treatment

Recovery can often be a continuation of challenging hustle culture’s beliefs. Eating disorder treatment can help individuals build more flexible, sustainable ways of relating to themselves and their bodies. This process is highly individualized, but there are several evidence-based approaches that can help unpack these patterns.

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) can help address perfectionistic thinking and the idea that self-worth is tied to achievement. 
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) focuses on building emotional regulation and distress tolerance, offering alternatives to rigid control. 
• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) supports individuals in reconnecting with their values, rather than living by external pressures. 

Recovery isn’t just about changing behaviors; it’s about reshaping the beliefs underneath them.

Find Support with The Alliance

Stepping away from hustle culture and all the pressures that come with it can feel overwhelming in itself. But you don’t have to navigate that process alone. The National Alliance for Eating Disorders offers free, therapist-led virtual support groups and a therapist-staffed helpline to connect individuals and families with resources. Whether you’re just starting to question these patterns or actively seeking support for eating disorder recovery, reaching out can be a powerful first step toward healing.