How to Spot Burnout and Take Action
Stress is a natural part of life. You experience many stressors at work, at home, and even when socializing with your friends. Small doses of stress are even healthy. However, when all the pressure begins to overwhelm you and you experience bouts of burnout, especially at work, it can leave you feeling exhausted, empty, and unable to cope with the demands of life.
Burnout is a condition you may experience when you’re under long-term stress in your workplace. Let’s break down what burnout is, what causes it and how coping methods like holistic medicine can help.
What Does Burnout Feel Like?
Burnout is practically a state of chronic stress that often leads to exhaustion from work, detachment, or even feelings of ineffectiveness. If you’re constantly fatigued and always in a bad mood, or you find no joy in any task you complete, these signs indicate that you might be experiencing burnout.
The thing is, burnout isn’t something you see coming. It often creeps up on you because its symptoms can be easily dismissed as a normal part of life. You’ve probably felt those days where you just feel too tired no matter what you do, and you don’t really feel like tackling your workload. While these occasional feelings of exhaustion are normal, when this becomes frequent, then that’s the time burnout is starting to creep its way into your life and your entire disposition.
Normally, burnout involves psychological elements like exhaustion, feelings of cynicism and detachment, or that uncomfortable feeling of ineffectiveness. While that may seem hard to handle, there are also physical symptoms that you may have to deal with, such as:
An inability to take pride in your accomplishments
Being cynical and heavily critical of yourself and others
Difficulty concentrating
Being irritable most of the time
Relying on alcohol, drugs, or food to make yourself feel better
What Causes Burnout?
Burnout is mainly caused by too much pressure building up in your life that your stress response just goes into overdrive. When this happens, your hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) kicks into action. The problem with this is that you can’t really reason with your HPA. Once it’s switched on, you’ll immediately feel a surge of adrenaline and cortisol, which is meant to save you from danger in the short term. However, when this process repeatedly happens in the long term, that’s when burnout becomes too much.
Recovering from Burnout
There are many recommended ways of recovering from burnout, one of which is enjoying some rest and relaxation. Don’t push yourself to the brink of total exhaustion all the time, and just find time to relax. It also helps to find support when you need it. Having your friends and family close to help you cope with your stress helps a lot.
It also doesn’t help to live a sedentary lifestyle. Try to be more active by exercising regularly and eating healthy food. This helps increase the serotonin levels in your body, which is a feel-good hormone that helps when dealing with stressful situations.
Conclusion
Burnout is something that’s almost completely undetectable but very much avoidable by maintaining a healthier lifestyle. By practicing self-care, you reduce the risk of feeling burnout in your career and life.
Don’t let all the stressors in your life overwhelm you and back you up in a corner. Let Dr. Stephanie Lyn Coleman help you free yourself from your emotional burden. If you’re experiencing anxiety or signs of mental health issues, Dr. Coleman and her team can provide mental health treatment and other solutions to help you steer your life back to a happier place. Take control of your life by scheduling a consult today.