Feeling tired? Maybe a little beyond tired, like it goes to your bones? Or like it’s making your brain feel...foggy or as if it’s offline? Then keep reading, we’ve got something you might want to hear!

These are some of the common signs of burnout; an experience more and more of us are being faced with in times of stress, busyness, and uncertainty.

In fact - in 2019, burnout formally became considered a work-induced syndrome by the World Health Organisation (WHO). In the WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD), burnout has been classified as a syndrome that develops due to chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.

But, when we look at the three defining characteristics of burnout, it’s not surprising that the definition expands beyond the professional, and is becoming a term used by many to describe the effects and experience of chronic stress in our personal lives.

The three defining characteristics of burnout are:

1. Feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion

2. Increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job; and

3. A sense of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment.

 

For a lot of us, we can relate to the above when we think of family, relationships and home life. Describing these experiences under the banner of burnout then feels natural as we experience it not only in a work environment, but also in our daily personal lives.

Our bodies respond to burnout and chronic stress in myriad ways, some of which you may be familiar with, while others might be less obvious. Recognising these signs is crucial, as they can indicate that we've transitioned from heading towards burnout to actually being burned out. The severity of burnout will determine the steps we need to take to regain balance.

• Do you find it hard to be creative?
• Does the idea of a small and simple task feel like too much work?
• Do you find it hard to switch off at night while also feeling physically and mentally exhausted?

These are all signs, in the body and mind, that our stress levels are higher than desirable and that it’s time to take action!

So, how can we determine what is manageable stress and what is chronic stress that leads to burnout?

Beyond normal day-to-day stress, the road to burnout becomes gradually (or suddenly for some) filled with a sense of overwhelm, anxiety, and apathy. The road to burnout is gradual, but there are points along the way that move us away from a place of stress balance (homeostasis) and toward an unrecognisable place of distress. Looking out for red flags along the way can help us redirect our path before we reach the point of total burnout.

5 signs you could be on the road to burnout:

1. Tiredness that edges towards a sense of complete body exhaustion

A hallmark sign of burnout is fatigue. When our body has endured stress for a period of time, it down-regulates the production of our stress hormone, cortisol, which, when in balance, helps us feel vibrant and energised.

According to psychologist Hans Selye, there are three stages we transition through on the road to burnout:

1. Alarm
2. Resistance
3. Exhaustion

Both the alarm and resistance stages enable our body to perform above our baseline and push ourselves beyond normal parameters for a period of time. This is ideal if we need superhuman levels of strength to complete a task or challenge, but when we spend a prolonged period of time in this out-of-the-ordinary state, we become exhausted.

In simple terms, our bodies aren’t designed to exist in this state for too long.

Because stress = cortisol, and too much cortisol can be harmful, our body stops producing it at the exhaustion stage and deactivates that which we already have. Our bodies are incredibly intelligent, and we know exhaustion is preferable to the whole host of issues that come with excessive cortisol.

Cortisol is our survival hormone and has been historically used by our bodies to activate our fight or flight response. But it’s not a great multitasker so, in doing this it deprioritises things like the immune system. If you’ve ever gone on holiday after a stressful period and gotten ill almost immediately, that’s this phenomenon in action.

Early warning signs of the resistance phase include:

• Sleep disturbances
• Hypervigilance
• Irritability
• Frustration
• Poor concentration

2. Emotional numbness, detachment with the world and others

As we veer towards burnout, we can notice our relationships with others and the world begins to change. Perhaps you lack the usual enthusiasm to catch up with friends. Or you feel disconnected from your partner and family. Or, every little thing festers into irritation.

Why is this? Burnout can create a desire for isolation because the hormones that drive us toward social interaction are suppressed. These include dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, and oxytocin—our happy, calm, balanced hormones.

• Dopamine is responsible for reward, pleasure, and enjoyment when we are moving towards our goals.
• Endorphins are our natural pain relievers and help us feel good.
• Serotonin, our happy neurotransmitter, gives us a sense of pride, lifts our mood, and encourages socialisation and feelings of gratitude.
• Oxytocin, otherwise known as the love hormone, is critical to the maintenance and formation of our bond with others. Oxytocin creates trust, altruism, and a sense of generosity towards our peers, loved ones, and wider community.

They sound lovely, right?

Without these feel-good hormones and neurochemicals running through our system - we are left with only our two stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol which, in isolation, can lead to feelings of fear, self doubt, anger and hypervigilance.

3. An anxious or overwhelmed feeling of not being able to cope

In the face of chronic stress, our fight or flight response can get stuck in overdrive and leave our body flooded with cortisol and adrenaline and devoid of all of the neurochemicals and hormones that make us feel good.

When we experience this change in our neurochemistry—having only stress hormones and very few happy ones—it leads to feelings of hopelessness and an inability to deal with everyday challenges and novel situations.

When our body is already flooded with these stress hormones, we have no capacity to deal with any extra. This is generally when new challenges and learning can overwhelm us, lead to feelings of frustration and reduce us to tears. It’s also, unfortunately, at this point when we are prone to berate ourselves for these gut reactions when, in reality, it’s a mix of our survival instincts and modern life, which don’t always mix. When we’re aware of this, we have the power to harness our hormones, not fight them.

What helps?

If you've ever felt better after a big cry, it's because crying releases oxytocin and reduces stress hormones, helping to reset our emotional state. Similarly, physical exertion can help with stress-induced anger by increasing endorphin and dopamine levels, countering cortisol and restoring calm. It's like restarting a computer to make it work better.

4. Low feelings of satisfaction, low motivation and an sense of self doubt

Similarly to point two, in a place of burnout, we’ll notice our joy or sense of fulfillment from our work or completing tasks is diminishing. We no longer experience the joy we normally find when we have a professional or personal ‘win’.

With high cortisol and adrenaline clouding our ability to release dopamine and feel the reward of our efforts, our hours of hard work only leave us feeling depleted, unfulfilled and purposeless.

This can make personal and vocational accomplishments and the completion of our normal responsibilities feel fruitless and unfulfilling when the reality is we have worked hard and done a good job and it’s our hormones that are telling us a different story.

5. A lack of creativity and the ability to think outside the box

Trying to switch on our creativity when in a place of burnout is like trying to turn on a car with no gas in the tank. There’s nothing there to help rev us up.

Stress is great for getting things done but is a hindrance when it comes to creating new ideas, joining dots that would not normally go together and for developing or expanding a concept. We need to be calm to be creative and we need to feel safe to relax and explore the wonders of where our imagination can lead us.

If you’re anything like us, a lot of that is going to sound familiar—these are the familiar signs that we are burnt out, or well, on the way there. And when we look at all its impacts, there’s something quite exciting about the fact that the more we know, the more we can do about it.

When stress begets more stress and we find it increasingly difficult to feel like we’re in control, how can we get back to balance?

3-Step Check In

1. STOP - The awareness phase.

Heard the saying “we don’t know what we don’t know”? If we blindly experience feelings and don’t know where they’re coming from, how can we be expected to change them?

Awareness is the first step on any journey towards making a change. Raising awareness within yourself that you are dealing with high levels of stress means you can note that you need some time to reflect, restore and rest. This also reduces the stress we experience when we aren’t sure why we feel overwhelmed and therefore get stuck in a stress loop.

So, stop and ask yourself:

On a scale of 1-10 how do you rate your stress levels at this moment? How overwhelmed or anxious do you feel?

• Rating of 1-3 Green zone = You are good to go!
• Rating of 4-7 is the Orange zone = Beware you are pushing hard.
• Rating of 8-10 Red zone = You may be close to breaking point.

 

2. SCHEDULE:

Take time to have a cup of tea in peace or take a short walk around the block to think about what you need. Do you need more sleep? A holiday? Less on your plate? Regular meals?

You don’t need to do it all at once - just one solution is all it takes to make a step towards nourishing your nervous system.

Solutions may include any of the supporting strategies below or your own solutions. Once you have made a choice on which is best for you, schedule a time to implement this as soon as you can.

3. Choose a SUPPORT strategy

 

• Breathe deeply
• Support a good, deep sleep
• Reduce overstimulation from caffeine and screen time
• Move your body (albeit gently, choosing something like yin yoga or a gentle walk)
• Get outside in nature as much as you can
• Choose to eat nourishing whole foods
• Balance your blood sugar levels by eating the right balance of fats, carbohydrates and protein
• Reduce inflammation by reducing sugar, gluten dairy and transfats
• Top up on key nutrients that support burnout, magnesium, zinc, omega 3, vitamin B, vitamin D and selenium
• Seek out supportive herbs including calming kava and passionflower and nourishing lemon balm, ashwagandha and rhodiola and theanine
• I think I’m on the way to burnout or already there...

If we feel exhausted and mentally overwhelmed, and our usual rest and relaxation techniques aren't helping, we need to take more extensive steps to prevent or recover from burnout. This can help us avoid total mental and physical exhaustion.

Implement the STOP, SCHEDULE, and SUPPORT strategy to check in with your mind and body, take time to prioritise your health, and choose one of the many tried-and-true effective, natural support tools.

Soon, you can be living your life without spending too much time enjoying it!

What's Next?

If your stress levels feel consistently raised and don’t end when the stressful circumstances end, try BePure Inner Strength for ongoing nutritional support. Inner strength builds our resilience, and its blend of adaptogenic herbs helps us manage our busy lives.

If you would like to have a chat with our clinic team and receive additional guidance and support on how to get on top of burnout, then feel free to book in for a free clinic discovery call.