Signs You Are Burned Out And What To Do About It

We all know what it’s like to feel stressed. You might have felt it around exam time at university, or perhaps when going through a particularly demanding period at work. Stress is a very common experience, however feeling burned out can take this stress to an entirely new level.

Burnout is essentially a state of emotional, physical and psychological exhaustion, usually caused by high levels of stress over a prolonged period of time. Many of the symptoms of burn out actually look quite similar to those of depression, including fatigue, exhaustion, loss of passion, headaches, negativity, hopelessness, headaches and thoughts of suicide.

Why do we burnout? 

Many of us get burned out due to our jobs. While there is not one particular job that can cause burn out, researchers have found that there are a few conditions which can lead to it. These include workload, control, reward, community, fairness and values. When difficulties begin to arise in one or many of these domains, we become more susceptible to burnout. A report by the World Health Organisation found evidence that high job demands, low control and effort reward balance are risk factors for both mental and physical health problems.It is not however, only jobs that can burn us out.

We may also become burned out as a result of unfulfilling relationships, carer responsibilities, study, daily responsibilities and many other situations. It’s obvious that burnout can change the way we feel ... but it turns out these effects may be even more profound.

Can burnout change your brain?

Research has begun suggesting that burnout might even be changing our brain. In one study, examining a group of ‘burned out’ individuals in comparison to a group of ‘healthy’ controls, it was found that the burned out group had an enlarged amygdala (the part of our brain associated with emotional reactions). This group also had weaker connections between the amygdala and the medial prefrontal cortex (a structure that assists in executive functions); this may explain why burn out people might have more difficulty controlling negative emotions.

Alarmingly, it also seems that being burned out for long periods of time can even lead to ‘wear and tear’ on our brain with the medial prefrontal cortex appearing to thin more rapidly in comparison to non-burned out people.Even our hormones can start dysregulating, particularly the hormone cortisol (our stress hormone). Usually, when we are exposed to a perceived threat (e.g. thinking we are being followed by a stranger), cortisol is released into our body triggering a range of psychological and physiological reactions as we prepare to fight or flee from this situation. Once this threat has passed however, cortisol levels lower and we tend to return to baseline.

However, when our stress is chronic, cortisol levels do not return to baseline and instead remain elevated for a long period of time. In response, the body will respond by shifting cortisol production to abnormally low levels; this is associated with severe stress and trauma; it is as if even the stress response system has burned out.

How can we deal with burnout? 

A recent study found one important factor that determined just how burned out people became. A group of chief medical officers (CMOs) at 35 large hospitals were assessed for their levels of stress and what they do to cope with their feelings of stress and/or burnout. Although 69% of the CMOs advised that their current stress levels were 'severe', 'very severe' or 'worst possible', the majority were not burned out. So how could this be the case?

Well, the one common theme is that of emotional intelligence. Being aware of our emotions, might allow us to understand what it is that is causing our feelings of distress; self-management can assist us to control our impulses and stay calmer when faced with difficult situations; conflict-management might allow us to use a problem-solving approach to problems rather than becoming crippled by them and understanding the perspective, emotions and attitudes of others might give us the ability to elicit feelings of compassion and empathy to thereafter keep level headed when faced with difficulties. Some other ways to prevent and manage feelings of burnout include:

Understanding your limits:

Recognising your strengths and weaknesses may help in identifying areas in which you excel more easily in and areas which you may need more help with. Becoming aware of your limits in terms of workload can also be useful in recognising when it is getting too high or demanding. 

Using mindfulness practices: Bringing your attention back to the present moment can assist in managing feelings of anxiety, bringing back a sense of self –control and even being open to more solutions.

Taking a break: A break can look many different ways – it might be a holiday, it might be some time off work or it might be reducing your workload. Whatever it is, when we are feeling burned out we are not functioning at our optimal psychological level. Taking a step back from our external pressures is often needed and may leave us feeling a lot less stressed.

Challenging your perspective: When we are in a state of extreme stress it is easy to perceive everything as a stressor that simply cannot be avoided or resolved. Re-evaluating our situation and realising that there are other options available to us can be a huge help in bringing our stress levels down.