Burnout, a beginners guide.

I think it would be fair to call Burnout a buzz word right now. While it’s great that everyone’s recognising it, discussing it, writing brilliant books all about it….it’s equally troubling that it’s becoming part of our societal norm. 

So, what is Burnout? 
It’s most commonly described as a state of complete mental, physical and emotional exhaustion which can occur when you experience long term stress. It’s often researched and discussed as a work related issue, an occupational hazard of high pressure jobs, but it’s becoming clearer that it’s effecting people due to many stresses, including the metal load of running a home and caring for a family. This is a common issue I see in my clients, who come to me with a feeling of total overwhelm, wanting to make changes in their life but unable to get their head above water. 

One of the major contributors to burnout, is an incomplete stress cycle. This is the fight, flight or freeze mode which your body launches into when faced with a perceived threat. This was evolved as a survival mechanism, enabling us to react quickly to life-threatening danger, and occurs when our amygdala (the part of our brain which processes emotions) sends a distress signal to the hypothalamus (our brains control centre). Your body then gets a surge of energy, your heart rate goes up and you’re flooded with adrenaline, this originally developed to help you to, for example, run from a lion. It also slows down any functions in the body that aren’t immediately necessary, such as digestion and long term memory. 

The difficulty with this function in the modern world, is that we are constantly triggering our bodies fight or flight mode with regular stressors which aren’t a physical danger, such as work stress or traffic jams, and are not calming down between each cycle of stress. Our bodies are not receiving information that the danger is over, leaving us in a constant state of stress and adrenaline. 

What can we do to help?

Some of the most simple and effective ways to help take our bodies from fight or flight back into rest and digest mode are;

Physical activity - regular exercise will always help, but even a quick few minutes after an intense moment of stress will have a huge effect. When you get home from that stressful meeting or terrible journey, put on your favourite music and dance around your living room, jump, sing, get your heart rate going. Once you feel out of breath, take a few moments to stop and breath deeply. Tell your body you escaped the lion, the threat is gone. 

Kissing - Studies show that kissing a loved one for 6 seconds or more will do the trick to calm your nervous system down.

Cuddling - Cuddling for 20 seconds or more - we are showing our body with body language (the only language it speaks) that we are safe, calm, happy and loved. 

Looking for more help?
I work with clients in 1-2-1 coaching sessions where we can discuss your goals and work out the best plan to get you there. I mix classic life coaching with EFT accupoint tapping and love nothing more than to help women build lives that feel good! If you want to find out a bit more about my services please feel free to book in for a free introduction call and I can answer any questions you have.

Further resources :
Burnout by Emily & Amelia Nagoski
When the body says no by Gabor Mate