Key Takeaways
- For many people, burnout is a real concern that stems from experiencing high levels of stress over a prolonged period. It can negatively impact a person’s physical health, mental health, and overall well-being.
- When someone is experiencing burnout, it can be difficult to respond effectively to new or ongoing stress.
- It’s possible to address and manage burnout on your own, but you may also benefit from working with a therapist.
Burnout happens after a long period of unmanaged stress and can cause mental, emotional, and physical exhaustion. If you’re experiencing burnout, it may be difficult to move forward and accomplish your personal and professional goals. Burnout can negatively affect your performance and happiness at work, home, or school. It can even have an impact on your interpersonal relationships. If you’re experiencing burnout, it’s best to address it as soon as possible for the best chance of turning things around.
Understanding burnout
Since the 1970s, people have been using the term “burnout” to describe a sense of exhaustion that accompanies long periods of high stress. Originally, the term described the experiences of people working in helping professions, like doctors, nurses, and therapists. Now, it’s common for people in any profession to use the term. To be clear, burnout is not a mental or physical health condition, so you can’t officially be diagnosed with it.
Some common signs of burnout include:
- Fatigue: Mental, emotional, and physical fatigue and exhaustion are a key indicator of burnout. If you’re burnt out, you may feel tired, unmotivated, depressed, or very stressed.
- Aches and pains: You may experience stomach problems or random pains in your body. These aches and pains are common physical complaints that accompany burnout, reflecting the body’s response to prolonged emotional and mental strain.
- Disconnection: You may feel separated and isolated from support at home, work, or school. And it may feel like no one understands your situation and how you’re feeling.
- Poorer performance: Your performance in various areas of your life will likely decline. Your grades may drop, your work productivity may decrease, and you may have trouble being a good partner, friend, or parent.
- Apathy and numbness: With burnout, you may struggle to care about anything. It may feel like your senses have been overstimulated for so long that you can no longer feel anything at all.
Six strategies for burnout recovery
If you’re experiencing any of the signs of burnout, it’s best to learn to manage it sooner rather than later. You can try:
1. Practicing relaxation and stress-management techniques
When stress is high, it’s important to actively pursue relaxation and stress-management techniques. Some relaxation options include:
- Deep breathing techniques
- Meditation
- Yoga
- Progressive muscle relaxation
- Journaling
Remember that these skills take time to develop, so it’s important to practice them even when you’re not in distress. That way, they’ll be more accessible to you when you need them. Working with a therapist can also help you learn and refine these techniques.
2. Making healthy lifestyle choices
Since stress affects physical health, if you’re moving toward burnout, it’s important to prioritize your physical health needs. You can slow or stop the progression of burnout by focusing on healthy physical health choices, like:
- Eating healthy foods: The food and drink you consume can directly impact how you feel. Foods full of fat, sugar, caffeine, and alcohol may offer short-term emotional relief but can contribute to long-term stress and negatively affect your overall well-being.
- Getting regular exercise: With time and consistency, exercise can be very helpful in the fight against burnout. If you can’t make it to the gym, try doing a mini workout in your living room.
- Spending time outdoors: Connecting with nature is invaluable and slows the rise of burnout. Try going on a walk, taking a hike, or spending time in a park.
- Practicing good sleep hygiene: Sleep plays a major role in your mental health, so getting enough sleep can make a huge difference. If stress is keeping you up at night, try building a nightly routine to help you wind down before bed.
3. Setting and maintaining boundaries
With only so many hours in the day and so much energy to give, sometimes, you have to limit what you commit to. Though this may be uncomfortable at first, you can increase your free time and decrease stress by establishing and sticking to boundaries. Remember, it’s OK to say no.
4. Reevaluating your life and work
Life is about balance. Work, home, family, friends, and leisure need to coexist in harmony. If you’re experiencing burnout, it may help to determine which factors in your life are sources of stress and which factors are sources of joy. From there, you can determine what changes are possible and determine the risks and benefits of making these changes. For example, maybe attending every social event isn’t worth the exhaustion and lack of personal time.
5. Building a strong support system
Stress is powerful, but having a robust and available support system can counteract the effects of stress. Make good use of the friends, family members, and coworkers who are available to you. If your support network is limited, consider exploring support groups that are available online or in person.
6. Working with a mental health professional
At times, the negative impact of burnout becomes powerful enough to cause or worsen mental health conditions, like depression or anxiety. If this is the case for you, you may benefit from seeking help from a mental health professional.
If you choose to try therapy, you’ll meet with a trained professional who can help you achieve your mental health goals and recover from burnout. You may also benefit from medication if you have co-occurring mental health conditions, in which case you’ll want to see a psychiatric practitioner as well.
Preventing burnout in the future
The best way to manage burnout is to prevent it from happening in the first place. To avoid burnout, it can help to continuously assess your mood, energy, optimism, and motivation. It’s also important to set and maintain boundaries, rely on your support network, and cultivate healthy coping strategies.
To prevent burnout, you may need to:
- Have a difficult conversation with a boss or loved one
- Change jobs
- Risk upsetting someone or letting someone down
- Act in your own best interests, rather than prioritizing everyone else’s needs
- Walk away from an unfair or unbalanced relationship
- Change your path at school
Find care with Rula
Burnout is a serious concern for many people, no matter their occupation or history. But recovery is possible with a clear plan and support from loved ones and therapists.
If you’re interested in trying therapy, Rula’s therapist-matching program can help you find a therapist who accepts your insurance and specializes in whatever you’re dealing with. Plus, you can skip the wait and meet with a therapist from the comfort of your home as soon as tomorrow.
About the author
Eric Patterson, LPC
Eric Patterson, LPC is a professional counselor with over 10 years of experience helping people of all ages reach their goals and improve their well-being.
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Rula's editorial team is on a mission to make science-backed mental health insights accessible and practical for every person seeking to better understand or improve mental wellness. Rula’s clinical leadership team and other expert providers contribute to all published content, offering guidance on themes and insights based on their firsthand experience in the field. Every piece of content is thoroughly reviewed by a clinician before publishing.
