How To Recover From Burnout
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How To Recover From Burnout
Do you suspect you are suffering from burnout? Burnout was once thought to only affect high-level corporate workers and CEOs. But now we know that anyone can experience burnout – no matter what your career or lifestyle looks like.
How do you know you’re burned out, and what can you do about it? Let’s explore how burnout can affect your health and the steps you can take to aid in your recovery.
What is burnout?
Burnout is a state of exhaustion – both mental and physical – that leaves you depleted, unmotivated and miserable. The things that you once enjoyed no longer give you the same sense of joy.
Burnout is a condition brought on by severe stress.
Some of the symptoms experienced during burnout can include:
Reduced performance at work and/or school
Being withdrawn or isolating yourself
Constant procrastination
Sudden outbursts of emotion and moodiness
Feeling helpless and unmotivated
Loss of enjoyment with activities that you used to love
A sense of failure
Feeling like you’re alone in your struggles
Headaches and migraines
Severe fatigue, including trouble getting up in the morning
Change to appetite – either eating constantly to cope with emotions or completely losing your appetite
Altered sleeping patterns – sleeping constantly, barely sleeping, or sleeping during the day and being awake overnight
Digestive symptoms such as pain, nausea, constipation and diarrhoea
Frequent illnesses and infections
Use of substances and addictions as a coping mechanism (food, alcohol, gambling, shopping)
As you can see, burnout doesn’t just affect how you think. It also influences how you feel and even how your body is functioning. If you don’t get on top of your burnout, it can even lead to serious long-term conditions such as depression, type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
It’s important to note that these symptoms don’t pop up overnight. They will likely creep in one or two symptoms at a time. Because of this, you might feel like that’s just how your life is, rather than noticing that something is amiss.
Who is at risk of burnout?
Anyone can experience burnout – the only prerequisite is being continually exposed to a high level of stress. But there are some factors that increase your risk of burning out.
If you work in any helping profession, such as medicine, aged care, disability services and nursing, you are at a higher risk. The same goes for those who care for children (parents and caregivers), particularly if the child has special needs or a disability.
Your personality can also influence your risk. If you’re a Type A personality, have always been a high achiever, tend towards perfectionism or feel the need to be in control, it’s more likely you will burn out.
Another thing to consider is your support system. If you have a strong support system in place made up of friends, family, co-workers and healthcare professionals, your risk will be lower than someone who has little to no support in their life.
The stages of burnout
Psychologists have identified 12 phases that occur during work-related burnout:
Compulsion to prove yourself (excess ambition)
Pushing yourself to work harder
Neglecting your own needs including eating well, exercising and sleeping
Blaming outside influences e.g. your boss, your job, your colleagues (displacement of conflict)
Having no time for non-work related needs and spending less time with loved ones
Increasing denial of the situation and continuing to shift blame
Withdrawal from friends, family and your support network
Behavioural changes including being aggressive and snapping at people
Depersonalisation – when you feel detached from your life and can’t seem to control your own life
Inner emptiness, anxiety and addictive behaviours
Increased feeling of apathy, lack of interest in life, as if everything is meaningless
Complete mental and/or physical collapse – this often warrants medical attention
Although this is focused on workplace burnout, you can see how it could apply to any stressful situation. You push yourself to cope and deal with the challenges, and as a result, you end up depleted, lonely and exhausted.
How to recover from burnout
If you can see yourself in these stages and symptoms, how can you begin the recovery from burnout? It is a slow process and you need to be gentle and understanding with yourself along the way. Here are some tips to get you started:
Do nothing
Yes, this is a genuine recommendation based on research! One study found that activities such as lying on the couch, watching TV, napping or simply doing nothing improved cognition and physical energy in people at high risk of burnout.
Of course, you don’t want to do nothing forever. But setting aside some time each day to recuperate and relax on the couch can be incredibly helpful, particularly in the early days of your recovery.
Focus on restoring your healthy habits
To rebuild your body’s stress resilience, you need to re-establish the healthy habits that fill up your cup. Get plenty of sleep and nap if you are able to. Eat more nourishing foods and slowly reintroduce gentle physical activity such as yoga or walking. And don’t forget to add in stress management techniques to prevent relapse and recurrence of burnout.
Include social activities
One of the most effective ways to restore your wellbeing after burnout is through socialisation. Studies have found that social activities improve cognition, physical energy and recovery in those at high risk of burnout.
So make some time to spend with your family, friends and loved ones. In the early stages, you might prefer they come visit you so you can rest immediately afterwards. Over time, build up to spending time out together.
If possible, detach from the situation
This isn’t something that will work in every single case. But if you can disengage the situation that led to your burnout – be it work, family, a stressful relationship – you will be able to relax and replenish yourself more effectively.
Of course, you might not be able to quit your job or give your kids away! But even the act of turning off your work phone or laptop after a certain time each evening or having a friend babysit the kids once a fortnight for a few hours can make a big difference.
The best treatment is prevention
Like any health concern, preventing burnout is easier than treating it. So how can you reduce your risk of developing burnout in the first place?
Eat well – by supplying your body with plenty of nutrients, nourishing your gut and balancing your blood sugars, you reduce physical stress on the body. The easiest way to do this is to increase your intake of wholefoods and plants.
Include regular physical activity – exercise is a great way to support your physical and mental wellbeing, and it helps to reduce stress levels. Find a way that you enjoy moving your body and incorporate it frequently.
Prioritise good sleep – when you sleep, both your body and your mind get a chance to reboot and repair the effects of the day. If you skimp on sleep, you’re more vulnerable to stress and therefore burnout. I share my 6 top tips for deep sleep here.
Meditation – there is plenty of research to support meditation for reducing the risk of burnout, particularly in vulnerable professions such as nursing and teaching
Seek support – we all go through stressful times. But the sooner that you act and reach out for help, the easier it is to prevent the downward spiral of burnout. This could mean speaking with a family member or friend, seeking advice from a mental health professional, or working with your health coach to address your stress management.
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