Top Ways To Deal With Burnout

Working 40, 50, or 60 hours a week can be a great way to stay ahead and be on the path to success, but what comes with that type of workload? Exhaustion, chronic fatigue, stress, overwhelm, and burnout. Burnout is when the body can no longer push itself beyond its limits, causing you to shut down and lose momentum no matter what you do. Over time, if we do not do things to take care of burnout or prevent it, it can lead to chronic disease and even mental health conditions that could be debilitating for years. This could lead to devastating results of the loss of a job, lack of motivation, depression, and anxiety. In this article, I will share the phases of burnout and how you can get back on track nutritionally and prevent burnout through lifestyle factors.

Stages of Burnout

Burnout does not abruptly happen; it happens over months in stages. Let us break down each step and see if you can identify any locations you are going through.

Overly Ambitious

a. When beginning a new job or task you generally start very ambitious and full of energy. You can refer to this as a sensitive striver, a person who feels the need to prove themself and seek validation for what they are doing for work. Feeling this way can create the feeling that you are not enough leading into the next stage, excessive work.

Excessive work hours

a. Putting in your time is necessary for success, but when all you do is work and make time for work, you neglect the personal things your body and mind may be missing. Working excessively can drain your love for creation and shift it into hatred or feeling it is worth nothing. If your schedule looks and feels overwhelming, that means it most likely is.

Pouring into others more than yourself

a. Now this may sound or feel selfish, but when you pour into others more than yourself, you limit how much you can give to others. As the saying goes, when the mask falls on the airplane, who do you put the cover on first? Of course, yourself, because if you are dead, you are no good to anyone. If you are not doing something for yourself, you will begin not to be able to pour into your job, coworkers, or family.

Avoiding breaks

a. When work becomes more important than your time, it’s like running a marathon daily. Eventually, your body begins to shut down. Working on a project for long hours day in and day out without breaks begins to shut down your decision-making skills, focus, and memory, and your need for coffee increases.

Bottling up emotions

a. This is the stage where denial starts kicking in when we show up to work feeling like we do not want to be there, but we know we have to be. Therefore, we put on a fake smile and say everything is okay when nothing is. This is when exhaustion can creep in and take over your schedule. You may catch yourself wanting to fall asleep at work, not as motivated to get things done, and feeling anxious and overwhelmed by what seems straightforward tasks. As we continue to bottle up emotions, we get built-up stress, and tension begins to build.

Denial of problems

a. Denying our issues is the next step in burnout, similar to building up emotions; we begin to restrict how we feel and try the fake it until you make it method. Masquerading our actual emotions can bring on unnecessary stress and anxiety because it is like kinking a hose and not releasing your feelings. This exhausts your brain and begins the stage of withdrawal.

Withdrawal

a. Withdrawing doesn’t mean you don’t show up for work; you begin not to do the same things you used to do, like talk at the coffee maker with your coworkers, laugh and have fun at work, become isolated in your office, lose focus quickly and feel fatigued all the time. All your conversations concern work, and you escape work with guilty pleasures.

Lack of purpose

a. From the buildup of emotion, withdrawal, and denial, you question your purpose with what you do. While at the same time, you try to get work done, you are feeling exhausted, feeling like there is no way out. You begin to create unhealthy habits such as overeating, smoking, and alcohol to numb yourself.

Depression

a. At this stage, you feel lost and emotionally and mentally exhausted. Work feels downright devious and purposeless.

Full burnout syndrome

a. Complete burnout is when you no longer can handle it, which generally results in mental breakdown or needs medical attention. If you are struggling with total burnout, please seek medical help or contact your supervisor and be honest about what you are going through.

What to do to get Back on Track (nutritionally)

- Take care of your adrenals- Your adrenals are located on top of your kidneys and help with the secretion of adrenaline and noradrenaline. These hormones help regulate blood pressure, heart rate, and other critical bodily functions. Our adrenals take the most significant punch when we begin to feel the symptoms of burnout. Taking care of them is essential. Taking adaptogenic herbs is necessary. Such as ashwagandha, holy basil, Rhodiola, reishi mushroom, turkey tail, and much more will help your body fight off stress before it gets too bad. In addition, these herbs help regulate your emotions, keeping you calm throughout the day. Giving you the ability to control the amount of work you decide to put in.

- Eat an anti-inflammatory diet- What we eat affects every function in our body. From how we respond to stress to how our energy is utilized, eating a diet full of inflammatory foods only worsens burnout. Eating a diet rich in biodiversity increases power and can improve productivity, enabling you to do more work in a shorter period. Foods such as berries, leafy greens, root vegetables, turmeric, ginger, fatty fish, grass-fed beef, avocados, beets, and cruciferous vegetables all contain deep antioxidants that are cleansing to the body and great for energy and brain function.

- Drink mineral-rich water- Staying hydrated is one of the most important aspects of maintaining energy, not getting fatigued, and preventing stress. Drinking mineral-rich water is crucial; click this link to learn more about it and what it can offer you. (LINK)

- Practice fasting- fasting is a great way to disconnect your brain and body from the stress you put under each day. You can fast in multiple ways, from fasting from food to social media. I recommend fasting from electronic devices at least 1-2 days a week and allowing your brain to function without distraction. Then intermittent fasting and dinnertime-to-dinnertime fasts 1-4 days a week can be great for your digestive tract and mental health.

- Take energy-producing supplements- Nootropics, herbs, and amino acids are great at rejuvenating the brain and enhancing your ability to get more work done without overworking yourself. If you are interested, I will have links below to some of the best supplements I recommend for natural energy production. Please ask your doctor before taking anything new, especially if you are on prescription medication.

Nootropic

Nootropic

Maca

Royal jelly

American ginseng

Asian ginseng

What to change in your lifestyle

- Get More Sleep- With burnout, our brain and body need time to recover from the damage from all of the work. I recommend 7-9 hours of sleep when dealing with burnout or just getting healthy sleep. It can be beneficial to take 10-15 minutes during the day to help decompress from a heavy workload. Alternatively, doing yoga Nidra 1-2 times a day can be a great way to release stress and rejuvenate your energy.

- Take decompression breaks- Being able to separate yourself from your desk a couple of times a day can be an excellent way to catch your breath and give your brain a break from thinking. Take two decompression breaks, or, in between tasks, take a few minutes to relax before digging into something else.

- Move your body- Separating yourself from your office can help you to channel your stress or anxiety into a walk. Doing yoga on your lunch break or going and working out can be tremendous for preventing burnout and Improving your productivity.

- Take days to do mindless tasks- Take one-day f the week and do something mindless tasks such as sitting at the park in a hammock, going and reading a book, watching your favorite show, go shopping. Anything that does not require you to focus on work. This is a great way to relax and take a break from the ordinary and do something that fills your cup.

- Work on self-awareness- My number one tip for burnout is to catch it before it worsens with self-awareness. Being able to identify when you feel you need a break is the best way to prevent burnout from ever happening. So If you feel burnout creeping into your life, use the above tips to create a space for4 yourself so you can get your energy back.

Handling Work-life balance

When it comes to burnout, we all need to be aware of balancing our work and personal lives. It is easy to allow those two to become meshed together, but with self-awareness and the proper breaks, it can be easy to take control of your schedule. It may seem difficult, but just taking a few minutes a day can make all the difference in preventing burnout. If you are struggling with burnout, take a few tips above, apply them for a week, and see how they make you think. You will be surprised at what 5 minutes of breathing can do for you.