Confronting Burnout and Restoring Wellbeing.
April marks Stress Awareness Month, this makes it an ideal opportunity to talk about burnout. Stress is not a bad thing, but too much of something in anyone’s life is. Encountering stress in ancient times was needed as a survival tool. Now, when encountered by the stressors of the modern world, a little stress can be necessary to keep up motivation to work hard. However, stress becomes a problem when it’s constant and creates burnout.
Let’s talk about stress.
Stress affects the body. The stages of stress are alarm, resistance, and exhaustion. When a stressor is present, the brain sends signals to the nervous system releasing adrenaline to the blood. This causes the body to experience fast breathing, a rapid heartbeat, an energy surge, and increased alertness. Think about when someone feels they work better under pressure, it's because these physiological changes aid in completing the task. When the sense of experiencing the stressor has passed, the nervous system will attempt to reach a balance. In the event a sense of safety is not felt, the cycle will repeat with even more stress hormones. But this time it will cause poor concentration and frustration. This means the stress cycle is not complete. Prolonged and chronic stress takes its toll on the body.
Stress vs. Burnout.
While burnout is a form of stress, there are major differences. Burnout and stress are not the same. The fatigue that is brought on by burnout is different from the stress from a long work week. Usually stress can be managed with self care. However, exhaustion felt from burnout can be so severe that the recovery takes a much longer time. It even has the trajectory of ending careers.
Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognized burnout as an official syndrome related to chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. A Gallup study found that 23% of people in the workforce experience burnout very often or always, and over 40% feel burnt out sometimes. All this means is that nearly two-thirds of employees are burnt out on the job.
Burnout is an invisible monster that feeds on your energy and can lead to anxiety, depression, insomnia, and mental illness.The constant demands push one to a limit that no longer motivates, but rather makes one drained and unmotivated. When this occurs, it places your health in a state of physical and emotional exhaustion.
There is no medical diagnosis, despite the recognition from the World Health Organization. Subsequently, it is important to be aware of signs of burnout.
Constant lack of energy and or trouble sleeping
Feeling detached or having trouble concentrating
Having a negative outlook about work
Procrastinating and reduced productivity
Many of these symptoms reflect anxiety and depression, which goes to show just how crucial it is to tackle burnout and even prevent it. With burnout, most problems are related to work. So, adjustments made at work will typically help.
Burnout recovery and prevention:
There is a detrimental impact burnout has on a person in the short and long term. The short term triggers of burnout include effects on high blood pressure, poor immune function, gastrointestinal problems, and insomnia. Burnout has been found to actually alter the brain causing long term neurological dysfunction. This means the brain physically changes after burnout recovery, and leaves you operating from a completely different mind; making one less sharp, focused, or innovative in the future.
Experiencing burnout is a big issue. More and more studies are shedding light on the downfalls of chronic stress, as it can be the cause of very real physical and mental health problems, but it doesn’t have to be. Encountering stressors is going to happen, no matter how hard we try to avoid it. The goal should be to minimize stressors and increase relaxing activities.
Tips to burnout recovery:
Set boundaries for your work hours and when you need to be on and available
Incorporate mindfulness before and after work
Take digital detoxes and schedule extended periods of time away from your screen
Take frequent short breaks throughout the day, ideally with some fresh air and or body movement included.
Take mental health days once a quarter if you can
Increase health and wellness in the workplace.
The “good ole days” of when employees subjected themselves to harmful corporate demands to keep their jobs are gone. And it is not changing in the lifestyle of those that made it through the pandemic. With mental health becoming a trending issue in the workplace, there is pressure on business leaders to learn to handle employee burnout. Companies need to attract and retain workers in order to compete in the global economy, which means that mental health resources also need to be incorporated in the culture for employees.
Systems need to be put in place to support the employee's wellbeing. Otherwise, the turnover, productivity level, and healthcare costs will suffer. The root causes of burnout can be averted with prevention strategies applied by leadership; it is not a lack in self care or resilience that causes burnout. If employees experience burnout, then there is something in the work environment that is lacking for employees to thrive.
Take action by addressing burnout in the workplace. By making wellbeing part of the company culture, it allows for accountability for the whole team and a space to design the ideal environment for employees to flourish. It is really important to focus on the power of feedback to generate meaningful development. Not to mention that there is great value in the feedback on the needs of employees and of DEI training for all staff.
If stress interferes with your daily life, meaning that it is in a severe state and doesn’t go away, consider talking with a professional mental health expert who can help you identify other strategies to cope.
