Burnout: It's more harmful than you think!
Have you ever suffered from burnout, or do you feel like you’re on the cusp of it? I know that I’ve definitely been there. And the questions we need to ask ourselves is this: If we keep making the same choices, returning to the same stressors that led to burnout in the first place, will we ever truly recover? And what is the real price that burnout is costing us?
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New blog alert! 〰️
Burnout: a definition
Burnout. It’s a term that is often tossed around, but what is it exactly?
In short, it’s a state where you reach mental, emotional and physical exhaustion due to repeated exposure to stressful situations.
Burnout tends to emerge when the demands of a job/life outstrip a person’s ability to cope with the stress. And unfortunately, no one is immune. However, we do know that those in caring professions – teachers, nurses, social workers, psychologists, physicians – report the most prevalent rates of burnout.
A comprehensive report on burnout from The World Health Organization identified consistent evidence that “high job demands, low control, and effort–reward imbalance are risk factors for mental and physical health problems.”
In fact those experiencing burnout often feel like they’ve got nothing left to give, leaving coping with the normal day to day responsibilities of life excruciatingly hard. And the reality is, burnout just doesn’t go away. It’s not just an emotional response to long days or a challenging job.
Research shows us that burnout is not just a state of mind, burnout out is a serious condition that leaves a mark on the brain and the body.
Emerging research also shows that the chronic psychosocial stress that characterises burnout not only impairs people’s personal and social functioning, it also can overwhelm their cognitive skills and neuroendocrine systems — eventually leading to distinctive changes in the anatomy and functioning of the brain. And left untreated it can lead to serious physical and psychological issues like depression, diabetes and heart disease.
The impact on your brain + body
Thanks to the research, we now know that the cost of burnout is perhaps higher than we may have realised, particularly when we keep returning to the same stressors that led us to burnout in the first place!
Research from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden provides striking evidence that workplace burnout can alter neural circuits, ultimately causing a vicious cycle of neurological dysfunction. The studies demonstrated that those with burnout (compared to the control group) had an enlarged amygdala (the area of the brain that is critical in emotional reactions including fear and aggression) and reported more difficulty modulating their strong negative emotional responses compared with the healthy controls, which was confirmed by their physical responses.
Wait there’s more…
Neuroimaging studies of people who have experienced severe early-life trauma have revealed that their brains show similar patterns to the brains of people suffering from burnout. Regardless of the underlying cause, evidence suggests that neuronal circuits can be damaged by both situations of extreme trauma and by accumulated everyday stress.
And beyond changes to the brain’s anatomy, researchers are beginning to understand how burnout can affect people’s cognitive functioning — essentially it disrupts creativity, problem solving, and your working memory.
…The research doesn’t end there!
In addition to dysregulation in brain function, emerging evidence suggests that — much like other chronic stress conditions — burnout also leads to turmoil within the regulation of the body’s neuroendocrine system.
Essentially the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis is an important component in the regulation of the stress response, controlling the release of the “stress hormone” cortisol. Under conditions of prolonged stress, the HPA axis ceases to produce higher-than-normal levels of cortisol. And when cortisol levels remain too high for too long, the body responds by eventually shutting down cortisol production to abnormally low levels, a state called hypocortisolism.
These abnormally low levels of cortisol are associated with severe stress and trauma, as though the body’s stress response system itself has been burned out.
And surprise surprise, in studies that examined how burnout impacted the body’s neuroendocrine system, they showed that burnout groups had significantly lower morning cortisol levels compared with a group of healthy control subjects — a sign that their bodies were responding to long-term stressors.
Why is this evidence so alarming? Because research suggests that hypocortisolism induces low-grade inflammation throughout the body, which in turn contributes to severe health problems.
Studies have determined that burnout was a significant risk factor for developing coronary heart disease, which can lead to heart attacks.
A team of researchers, led by Sharon Toker, head of the organisational behaviour department of Tel Aviv University, Israel, tracked the routine health screenings of 8,838 employees for an average of 3.4 years. They found that employees who scored in the top 20% on the burnout scale at baseline had a 79% increased risk of being diagnosed with coronary heart disease over the course of the study.
In other words, the stressors of a grinding work environment may be as detrimental to our health as lighting up a cigarette or eating a double cheeseburger!
Is burnout reversible? Can we recover?
In short, emerging research has demonstrated that yes, burnout is reversible (YAY), with relaxation and reflection being key!!
The most common advice when it comes to burnout is to ‘take a break’. It sounds simple and it is often effective, however, when we return to the stressors that created the burnout in the first place, we are essentially just repeating the same patterns. So how can we do things differently so we don’t put our brains and bodies into the same harmful states?
Reflection is the answer
Using a break as an opportunity to reflect is key to developing insights and strategies to help you recover from burnout by not only identifying the sources of burnout, but also becoming clear around what changes you can make to prevent or minimise it from happening again.
See reflection is how you switch from a reactive mindset to a proactive one. Bill Gates is famous for his “think weeks,” where he takes a break from his day-to-day routine and goes away to his private cabin for a week or two to read, contemplate, and strategise his next steps.
In other words, taking a break from the things that cause stress and lead to burnout gives you the opportunity to cultivate stillness and calm. And when we cultivate stillness, we have the space to open ourselves up to gain deeper insights into our situation, allowing us to access our proactive mindsets.
So if you needed a sign to book that solo getaway so you can switch off, reset and reflect, this is it. And whilst you’re at it, take these questions with you to help you reflect.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION:
Firstly, ask yourself what sources of your stressors are within your control to change. Once you have them, then ask yourself the following:
▪️If I could redesign my routine from scratch, what would it look like?
▪️What are the most important things I need to do, and how can I prioritise them instead of getting distracted by busy work that causes me to feel constantly overwhelmed?
▪️How can I set, communicate, and maintain healthy boundaries to protect my mental health so I can fully show up in my work and responsibilities?
▪️What are the roadblocks that slow down my productivity and increase my symptoms of burnout, and how can I reasonably remove or restructure them?
▪️What are the activities that recharge me that I’ve been neglecting, and how can I schedule them back into my routine?
▪️What specific changes can I commit to making so that when I return to work, I will be less stressed, less likely to burn out, and better able to enjoy the work I do more?
▪️Who are my support crew that I can communicate these plans and intentions with, to help me stay accountable?
Once you feel like you’ve mapped out these answers you would have then developed a concrete strategy to use when you return to work after your break!!
Happy resting and reflecting x
