Burnout has become a common disorder experienced by mainly students and professionals. According to Forbes, more than half of the survey respondents faced burnout in 2021 due to the terrifying covid situation. Half of the Millenials and gen-z are facing burnout every day. Growing job stresses are pushing people off their limits. This pandemic has forced people to experience an extreme workload with no satisfaction or break. But it can’t also be denied that burnout isn’t something we should take as a trivial issue and get along with it. Instead, we must learn new ways to defend ourselves from it. 

What is burnout?

Burnout is when physical and mental health deteriorates due to overpressure from work, anxiety, social negligence, lack of support, etc. This can bring drastic unusual behavioral changes. I have seen my partner coming home with a hopeless face saying,” What’s the point of doing hard work when you can do less!” not to mention he was enthusiastic about his work field until he went through a ride of dissatisfaction. 

People around you might be facing burnout more or less yet don’t realize it. If you find yourself demotivated, sick, and tired due to overload or lack of work, you might be facing burnout. It is often misunderstood as stress, but it’s something more complex than that. Stress has temporary mental effects, whereas burnout causes a high level of multiplex psychological change. Stress is just a part that plays its role and other factors that lead to burnout.

Can you prevent burnout?

The answer is simple, “Yes, it’s possible but not always”. 

Burnout can be prevented if not then lessened.

Proper diet: A good diet is often hard to maintain, especially for a working person. If someone is excessively workaholic, then keep a very little time and attention to their eating habit. They usually eat junk food or don’t eat at all. A proper diet is necessary for people of every age and stage to ensure a better functioning body. You’ll notice your mood is great when you feel fresh and energetic throughout the day. And it doesn’t happen by chance but rather by maintaining a balanced diet that provides all the nutrition that a body needs.

Workout: If you ask a person who might be going through burnout whether he workouts or not, they’ll answer either with,” I don’t have time for that” or “I’m already so tired from work”. But little did they know that working out can release energy. You will feel more active and energized if you workout regularly as regular body movement warms up the body. Physical exercise boosts self-confidence, stamina, flexibility, and energy. Working out increases good appetite as well. So make the workout a part of your life to fight against burnout.

Healthy sleep cycle: Sleeping is essential to help our body to get the rest it needs. People who face burnout also suffer from an irregular sleep cycle. Having a messed up sleeping cycle may not seem so much at first, but you’ll notice some visible negative changes in your appearance and behavior as time passes. Our body has a biological clock that is used to sleeping at night. If our overwork disturbs our sleeping, having a bad mood is common throughout the day. Lack of sleep decreases productivity and deteriorates health and wellbeing. So make sure you maintain a regular sleeping schedule.

Figure out your goal:

• Remind yourself why you were working in the first place and ignore this capitalistic society for a while.

• Remember your ambition and goal. If needed, revise your goal to something more achievable given your own mental health needs.

• Look closely at your environment if it’s supporting you or hampering you.

• Evaluate your action according to your goal.

You’ll realize that you were doing way much unnecessary stuff than you needed to. Dump all the extra, useless tasks you’ve taken upon yourself and focus on what’s essential.

Learn when to say “No”: Now, this is something that is often neglected. Knowing when to decline is also a skill. Yes, you heard right, something as simple as saying no when you need to seems challenging to some people. As people grow up, they learn the importance of obeying; they learn courtesy. The majority of the people avoid saying no to capricious because they feel it’ll offend the other person. So they never turn down any favor asked by others to prove that they are capable of helping and working. But sometimes you need to say no even when you can do the work just because you are considering your comfort. There is no need to push yourself to become the apple of people’s eyes at the cost of your mental health. Especially for work, consider taking extended time off through a sabbatical or unpaid leave to help you reset.

“Me” time: Everyone needs a little time for themselves. So do you! Start loving and pampering yourself with a little bit of love, and you’ll see the changes. Burnout is when too much work blurs the line between work and personal time. 

Reach out: If you can’t help yourself, then seek for who can. There is nothing wrong with sharing your problems with someone you feel comfortable with. Upholding your problems through conversation can help you understand your state. It’s even better to invest in a therapist because mental health is just as important as physical health. So without any further delay, book your session with the best therapist in your town!

How to detect burnout?

Depending on its intensity, burnout can be both easy and hard to detect. There are many physical, mental, and behavioral signs by which anyone can try to find if a person is going through burnout or not. This should also be kept in mind that these are some generalized symptoms, so the person you are assuming to face burnout won’t show all these symptoms together, and their signs might be more personalized. 

• Their conversation will commonly show that they are not satisfied with their work

• They hate their current efficiency level and claims they were better before

• They will seem very negative about everything. They will take your suggestion negatively and will become anxious

• None of your advice would work on them as they are so hopeless to believe any good things

• Even important work seems too much to them. They hate work.

• They are pushing themselves so much, which seems unhealthy

• Neglects the importance of self-care. 

• They start to think about unusual ways to change their work field

• They regret their decision

• They get aggressive at simple arguments and explain their point with their workload depression

• They commonly complain about aches like back pain, headaches, shoulder pain, sore muscle, sore joints

• They always seem tired

Conclusion

Life isn’t a bed of roses. Facing new difficulties seems like nothing special as we have mastered the skill of neglecting our vital problems. Yet, for our future generation, we need to deal with this complication systematically. We have to learn ways to protect ourselves from this detrimental psychological problem to become a better asset to society and kinder to our surrounding people. As burnout can cause people with different types of complexions, everyone must become aware of it to provide a helping hand to whoever is in need. Also, to understand when to seek help. Because mental health is nothing less important. You can also consider helping your body recover with additional supplements such as Tok Wellness, which uses researched adaptogens to help the body recover.