For those of you familiar with burnout - you’ve skirted around it or your energy, motivation and/or health has full-blown flatlined - you might have noticed that it can become your achilles heel.
You recognise that you need some recovery time but as soon as you start to pick up again you slam your foot back onto the accelerator and expect to get back to the top speed you were operating at before. I’m afraid I’m here to tell you something you might not want to hear. If the only thing you change is taking a short break from your commitments, spoiler alert - you haven’t addressed what is going on in your body. You could be right back to feeling frazzled before you know it.
My first experience of burnout was in my 20s - at 27 I didn’t know what was wrong, I was experiencing anxiety, depression, fatigue and a compromised immune system (2 kidney infections and a lung infection in the space of a year). I quit my job as I recognised that I wasn’t coping with the stress and I genuinely thought that would solve the problem. Unfortuantely - what I hadn’t accounted for is that the body’s response to chronic stress is that it down-regulates many other processes that are not required for immediate survival in a dangerous situation - bye bye effective digestion, ta ta tip top immune response and see you later sex drive. There is some work required to recalibrate these systems and support the physiological processes to power up to their former glory.
I am not going to lie to you - the stress management side of things was by far the trickiest thing for me to get right. It was only when I was in my third year of my nutrition qualification - working full-time during the week and studying at weekends, that I HAD to face up to the fact that I still had a BIG problem with stress management. There was a small disagreement at home and I had a full-on panic attack. Nothing like the body sending you a panic attack as a sign that something is awry. Essentially I was flirting with my old nemesis of burnout and I realised my adrenal glands (responsible for stress hormone production) deserved better. I resolved to learn how to put myself first and I am proud to say that I took this seriously and I made some big changes.
Cue pandemic…… In February of 2021 I did my health MOT with a blood test and my comprehensive hormone test. I. HAD. DONE. IT. AGAIN!!! I knew I was tired, I’d been working hard, I’d rushed to see family over that Christmas break. I was heading to burnout city once again - how did I know this?
The hormone test I use looks at your stress response (as well as oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone). The test results include daily cortisol production (cortisol is our main stress hormone), free cortisol and inactive cortisone. My test results were telling me that my energy levels (free cortisol) were a thin veneer that would soon crumble as I didn’t have much left in the tank (metabolised cortisol - total production). My body was about to put me into standby mode - this is how I like to think about it - the body can favour inactive stress hormones when you’re going through chronic stress as high levels of active stress hormones flying around aren’t desirable for the body in the long-term. When your body puts you into this mode - this is when you start experiencing the inability to get out of bed, the low mood, low motivation, low energy, sluggish digestion, sluggish immune system.
To the untrained eye - this free cortisol pattern looks alright…
Given the 2020 experience - it was no huge surprise to me that I was almost in the burnout boat again. The Pandemic and the way the world and our lives have changed had a massive impact on me and my adrenal glands were really telling the tale. I had also taken on some big projects and had lost a lot of time for myself. Although I’d previously learned how to support my body to recover from burnout, I hadn’t acknowledged the impact of the pan-demo and my results were what really made it real for me. When you live on your own - there is no one to point out how many hours you’re at your desk, the fact that you haven't left the house that day or that hummus isn’t a good enough source of protein for your dinner - of course it is easier to slip into unhealthy habits.
Are you someone that needs to see some evidence on paper before you start to put yourself and your health first? Or have you learned to listen to the signs that your body is sending you?
Do reach out if you’d like to have a conversation about avoiding or recovering from burnout.