The ambitious people who take 500k/year jobs at HFT firms are to top .25% of "workers" in some abstract measure, and have different expectations and causes of burnout relative to the median burnout experiencer who is for example a school teacher or administrative assistant in an office job. Some people have an addiction to the fast pace, feeling of being need, and stress.

This is a really good insight! I am not an HFT guy but ex hedge fund and I think this is spot on with my experience and former colleagues.

Loss of efficiency/productivity might not be the product of burnout. It might be the cause.

People get addicted to the dopamine hits of getting things done and when they hit a wall, enter a vicious cycle of depressive withdrawal. Recovering from burnout by taking a break is simply resetting that dopamine addiction. Just a personal theory.

If you work in a high paced environment with competent colleagues, management and tooling, you can just keep rolling with the punches and never hit the wall.