As our lives get busy we may feel rushed off our feet when dealing with multiple priorities in our workplace, social circles or taking care of families. Sometimes we may forget to step back and rest. That is when burnout can occur.

What is Burnout?

Burnout is a state of mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. Burnout often occurs when you feel overwhelmed and unable to meet constant demands, which often makes you more stressed. Burnout saps your energy and reduces productivity leaving you feeling helpless, resentful, and cynical.

Burnout can also spill over into every area of life including your home, work, and social life. Burnout can also cause long-term changes to your body that makes you vulnerable to illnesses.

Do not get confused between stress and burnout. Stress is having too much work on your plate, too many responsibilities or too many hours spent working. Burnout is the opposite; you typically feel not having enough motivation, not enough energy or not enough care. You are at higher risk of burnout if you have unrealistic expectations in the workplace, are understaffed or experiencing conflicts in the workplace.

Symptoms

Burnout does not happen overnight, it is a gradual process and there are many subtle signs and symptoms which can get worse overnight and affect your ability to function. Identifying these signs early on can reduce stress and prevent a major breakdown. Ignoring them will eventually cause burnout.

Physical Symptoms

• Frequent headache and muscle pains

• Frequent illnesses

• Change in appetite and sleeping habits

• Constantly feeling tired and drained

Emotional Symptoms

• Having a negative outlook

• Sense of self-doubt and failure

• Loss of motivation

• Decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment

Behavioural Symptoms

• Taking out frustrations on others

• Isolating yourself from others

• Using food, drugs, and alcohol to cope

• Procrastinating, taking longer to get things done

Causes of Burnout

Burnout often stems from your job with individuals being overworked and undervalued. Burnout can occur for anyone ranging from an office worker who has not had a vacation for a long period to a stay-at-home parent tending to kids, housework, and an ageing parent. Burnout is not solely caused by stressful work or too many responsibilities as other factors can contribute to it. Your lifestyle choices and personality traits can also have an impact on burnout as well as how you look at the world.

Work-Related Causes

• Unclear or overly demanding job expectations

• Working in a chaotic or high-pressure environments

• Feeling little or no control over your work

• Doing unchallenging work

Lifestyle Causes

• Not getting enough sleep

• Taking too many responsibilities without help from others

• Working too much with not enough time for socialising or relaxing

• Lack of close and supportive relationships

Personality Traits

• Need to be in control and reluctance to delegate to others

• High-achieving trait

• Perfectionistic tendencies

Five Stages of Burnout

Through thoughts, feelings, and actions, burnout progress through a series of stages.

Honeymoon Phase

Similar to the honeymoon phase in marriage, starting a new job or tackling a new task can lead to periods of energy and optimism. During this period, individuals will have high productivity and the ability to tap into their creative side.

Onset of Stress Phase

As the honeymoon phase dwindles, individuals will start to experience stress. There will be frequent times when stress takes over and you will start to take notice of physical and mental signs. You may start to lose focus more easily and be less productive when completing tasks. Fatigue will start to set in making it more difficult to sleep or enjoy activities outside of work.

Chronic Stress Phase

Stress becomes more persistent or chronic. As pressure increases, stress is likely to affect your work. You may not be able to complete work on time, be late for work or procrastinate during tasks. Socially you start to withdraw from normal-related conversations. In some cases, you may become angry and lash out at co-workers. These negative feelings at work, which you may take home, can affect your relationships with friends and family.

Burnout Phase

At this stage, you have reached your limit and no longer function as normal. You start to obsess with problems at work. At times, you start to experience self-doubt. Physical symptoms start to become intense which can lead to chronic headaches, stomach issues, and gastrointestinal problems. Friends and family start to notice behavioural changes.

Habitual Burnout Phase

If left untreated, it will become part of your everyday life and can eventually lead to anxiety and depression. You can also experience chronic mental and physical fatigue that prevents you from working.

Recovering From Burnout

When you recognise the warning signs of impending burnout or when you have passed the breaking point, you will need to take action to help yourself overcome burnout and feel healthy and positive again.

Dealing with burnout requires the “Three R” approach:

• Recognise – Watch for the warning signs of burnout

• Reverse – Undo the damage by seeking support and managing stress

• Resilience - Build your resilience to stress by taking care of your physical and emotional health

Here are some tips to prevent or deal with burnout to regain your energy, focus, and sense of well-being.

Talk to Someone

When you are burned out, everything looks bleak and can be difficult to muster up the energy to care and take action by yourself. One positive step is to reach out to your family, friends, and co-workers. Spending time with others can help you by taking a break from your work brain. Removing yourself from negative people will also help bring a more positive outlook into your life.

Change the Way You Look at Work

One obvious way is to quit and find a job that you love. For some, this won’t be as easy to quit your job as you may have financial commitments. There are other ways to change your outlook at work. One is to focus on aspects of your work that you enjoy such as helping and interacting with customers or problem-solving.

You can find balance in your life by looking for satisfaction elsewhere such as in your family, friends, hobbies or voluntary work.

Making friends at work can help reduce the effects of burnout. Having friends to chat to and joke with during the day can help relieve stress from an unfulfilling or demanding job, improve your job performance or to get through the day.

If you feel burnout is inevitable, take a complete break from work. Remove yourself from the situation and use that time to recharge your batteries and pursue other methods of recovery.

Reevaluate Priorities

When burnout occurs often, it is an imbalance in your lifestyle and priorities. Refocus your priorities at work and in your personal life. At work, you can learn to say “no” to requests which will enable you to say “yes” to requests that you like to participate in. During your workday, set some time during the day to disconnect yourself from technology such as turning off your phone and stop checking emails.

If you find yourself working late, set aside some relaxation time for yourself to rest and enjoy the thing you like doing. Try to get a bedtime routine going to ensure you get enough sleep to allow your body to rest and recover.

Exercise

Exercising is a powerful tool to combat stress and burnout. Aim to exercise 30 minutes or more per day to lift your mood, increase energy, sharpen focus, and relax both the mind and body. Exercising gets your mind off work and focus on yourself. Focus on sensations such as the wind on your skin or the smell of freshly cut grass.

Healthy Diet

Controlling what you put in your body can have a huge impact on your mood and energy levels. At times of stress, individuals may resort to alcohol and nicotine to reduce stress, however, they can increase anxiety as they wear off. Reducing your inputs in nicotine, alcohol, sugars, and a high intake of foods can greatly improve your mood as well as improve your overall health.

Summary

Burnout can greatly affect your productivity and outlook on all aspects of your life. Identifying the early signs can help you avoid total burnout before they start becoming habitual. If you are suffering from burnout, it is important not to isolate yourself. Many things will help reduce burnout and to allow your mental and physical body to recharge and regroup. All of us need to notice signs of burnout in ourselves or in others to make sure everything is working at their optimal state of mind.