Signs of Burnout and How to Cope

Dr Nadia Correia

Burnout is an important topic in recent times. Statistics vary but it's safe to say that anywhere from 50%-75% of healthcare professionals report signs and symptoms of burnout or are actively experiencing it. This rate is contributing to the labour shortage in healthcare and other industries, showing that there are serious consequences.

But by identifying the signs and potential coping mechanisms you can push back against burnout.

What is it?

Burnout is usually attributed to excessive and prolonged stress. It’s a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion. It can make us feel emotionally drained and incapable of functioning or handling more pressure even outside of work. It's often identified by its hallmark of feeling drained, helpless, hopeless and resentful. 

Often, burnout occurs because we’re not getting enough opportunities to relax and recharge from stressful environments. Think of it like your car’s gas tank. If you’re always running your vehicle at highway speeds but never refuelling the gas tank, you will run out of fuel faster. And if you try driving on an empty tank, you can damage the engine, making it less likely to run at those highway speeds again.

The same basic thing happens to our minds and bodies. Burnout results from running ourselves too fast and thin for too long.

Signs and Symptoms of Burnout

Advanced Signs of Burnout

Burnout has some early signs that you can watch out for. These signs allow you to turn things around and refill your tank.

Early signs include:

• Every day is a bad day
• Caring about work or home life seems like a complete waste of energy
• Being exhausted all the time
• The majority of tasks feel either woefully dull or overwhelming
• Feeling like nothing you do is making any difference or that you're unappreciated

Physical Signs of Burnout

Burnout is as physical as any other condition, although it’s typically considered a mental health issue. Physical signs to look out for include:

Feeling tired and drained the majority of the time

A lowering of immunity and frequent illnesses

Frequent headaches and muscle pains2

Change in sleep or eating habits

Emotional Signs of Burnout

Burnout is often described by the emotional toll it takes. Emotional signs include:

• Sense of failure and self-doubt
• Feeling helpless, trapped, or defeated constantly
• Decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment
• Loss of motivation
• An increasingly cynical and negative outlook
• Detachment and feeling alone in the world
• Behavioural Signs of Burnout

Behavioural symptoms of burnout can help us identify it in others and ourselves. Behavioural symptoms to keep an eye out for include:

• Withdrawing from responsibilities
• Skipping work or arriving late and departing early
• Using food, drugs, or alcohol to cope
• Isolating from others
• Taking frustrations out on others
• Procrastinating or taking more time to get things done

How to Cope with Burnout

Exercise and Sleep

Although these two things seem on opposite sides of the spectrum they’re two halves of one coin. This is because sleep restores your well-being and fills your gas tank naturally by repairing cells and protecting your health. Whereas exercise helps give you the tools you need to cope better with stress. The aim with harnessing the best practices in these is to build our bodies and minds up to prevent burnout from worsening.

Talk About It

A major symptom of burnout is the desire to self-isolate. This means pulling away from others because we feel like we don't have the energy to cope with them and it's a common aspect. So the danger lies here.

Talking to others within our community, from friends and family to social services, allows us to connect with others and refill our fuel tank. Reaching out to others can also help combat the symptoms of burnout naturally. This includes protecting yourself from it happening in the first place.

Social prescribing makes finding ways to treat burnout holistically and naturally easier. This practice of leveraging community and connections to bolster our health is gaining traction as more people break the stigma around mental health. 

Complex Mental Health: The Benefits of Social Prescribing provides a comprehensive overview of the complexities of mental health issues like burnout and how social prescribing can be leveraged to help. Check this out on Amazon for more information.

Dr Nadia Correia