Burnout: The Early Warning Signs & What You Can Do

Burnout is defined in the International Classification of Diseases as “an occupational phenomenon,” caused by unmanaged stress at work. It is not classed as a medical condition. Unmanaged stress in other areas of life can lead to the same sense of physical and mental exhaustion, for example stressful life changes such as separation or bereavement. Trauma often plays a role too.

Whether you call it burnout, exhaustion or fatigue and whatever the setting, the root cause is long-term, high-level stress and the early warning signs are shared. If the underlying problem is not tackled, symptoms only worsen and can lead to a chronic exhaustive condition such as chronic fatigue syndrome, ME, fibromyalgia or post-viral fatigue syndrome.

Warning Signs

As with many health problems that come on gradually, the ill health of exhaustion from chronic stress can start to feel the norm. Sufferers often push on through regardless, thinking and hoping that things will improve. Unfortunately, the signs and symptoms won’t just go away. They are the body’s way of warning that something is wrong and needs to change. 

The warning signs include:

• Waking exhausted
• Feeling overwhelmed
• Palpitations
• Feeling stressed with a normal workload or duties
• Low mood/tearfulness
• Sleep disturbance
• Anxiety
• Bloating or IBS
• Reacting badly to caffeine
• Poor tolerance of alcohol
• Increasing headaches or migraines
• Dizziness
• Brain fog or difficulty concentrating
• Short-term memory problems
• Pins and needles in the face
• Cold hands and feet
• Jangling, juddering or buzzing sensations in body
• Noise intolerance
• Panic attacks
• Bouts of exhaustion
• Unexplained pain in muscles and joints.

If you experience one or two of these symptoms, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are heading for burnout, but the more you tick, the more likely you are to be going that way. Awareness precedes transformation.

Coping Strategies

Another clue is what coping strategies you are using to get through each day and make yourself feel a bit better for a short while. These might include:

• Caffeinated drinks to stay awake
• Energy drinks to keep going
• Comfort eating
• Supplements to boost energy or calm anxiety
• Alcohol to calm down or get to sleep
• Antidepressants
• Sleeping medication
• Going to bed very early every night
• Screening calls to avoid conversations
• Withdrawing from social events
• Putting on a brave face
• Pushing yourself to perform to hide exhaustion from others
• Using exercise to build stamina to combat exhaustion
• Blaming external factors
• Taking time off work to rest
• Trying lots of different therapies.

If you ignore the warnings, they will get louder until the body says no and you are forced to stop. Action is required to feel better and avoid crashing completely to the point of being bedridden.

What You Can Do About It

If you think that you are heading for burnout, a small change can make a big difference to how you feel. And lots of little changes really add up, so start by making a small, positive change in one of the key areas below that influence wellbeing:

• Nutrition - How healthy and balanced is your diet? How could you avoid or cut down on sugar and refined carbohydrates? How about avoiding or reducing your consumption of caffeine or alcohol? How else could you improve your nutrition?

• Finances - Money is often an overlooked part of the health and wellbeing equation, but it is a key component. See my blog post Financial Wellbeing for tips in this area.

• Emotions - Do more of what brings you joy and makes you feel good, perhaps start by listing five of those things and then schedule those activities into each week, ideally at least one a day, whether that is a soak in a hot bath, ten minutes of meditation, getting out in nature, listening to or playing music, catching up with friends, having a massage or reflexology treatment, etc. You choose.

• Environment - Just as we need to work on our internal energy through healthy lifestyle choices, our external environment and the energy that surrounds us is also important to our health and wellbeing. Find out more in my recent blog post The External Environment: A Harmonious Home for Health & Wellbeing.

• Pace of life - This is an area that is often out of balance in burnout and one that I cover in my blog post Finding the Balance Between Activity and Rest.

• Relationships - The quality of our relationships affects our health and wellbeing more than many of us realise. A dysfunctional relationship with a partner, friend, family member or colleague can harm not only our mental health, but our physical health too, so it pays to work on maintaining healthy relationships. A really helpful way to do that is to look at relationships as emotional bank accounts. Find out more in my post How to Pay Into Your Emotional Bank Accounts.

• Movement - Physical activity can help dissipate stress and boost energy levels, so you may find increasing your level of physical activity beneficial. Build up gradually and be patient - it can take up to six weeks to notice a difference. Or maybe you have the opposite problem and are over exercising, in which case you could benefit from cutting back - even Olympians burnout!

• Life purpose and meaning - Dr Rangan Chatterjee goes so far as to say that "the single best way of living a calmer, happier life is to do it with a strong sense of purpose.” For inspiration in this area, read my blog post What is Your Life Purpose?

Do bear in mind that making a change in one area of your life can have a positive impact on other elements too, so you don’t need to tackle them all head on straight away! Less is more, so start small to avoid adding to that sense of overwhelm.

Further Resources

Mental Health UK have lots of suggestions on the Burnout page of their website. And The Chrysalis Effect have an online programme that you can follow to avoid crashing completely or to aid recovery. The Stress Solution by Dr Rangan Chatterjee is also an excellent resource for stress management.