How To Recover from Burnout: 6 Ways To Fight Stress

If you're feeling wiped out, apathetic, anxious, restless, antisocial, and unable to complete tasks that used to be no sweat at all, you may be wondering how to recover from burnout.

Two-thirds of workers experience burnout, according to a 2018 Gallup study of nearly 7,500 full-time employees. But the issue involves more than feeling like you're drained. It can take a toll on your physical and mental health.

In one study, those with high burnout, as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory, reported more job strain, less social support at work, and higher levels of anxiety, depression, vital exhaustion, and sleep impairment.

What is burnout and why is it a concern?

The term isn’t an official medical diagnosis in the United States, but in other countries—such as Sweden, France, the Netherlands, and Portugal—burnout is considered an occupational disease.

Burnout isn't just about how you feel. Physiological markers can also indicate burnout. For example, burnout is associated with higher levels of TNF-a, a protein that causes inflammation.

It's also associated with a higher hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C), an indication of your average blood sugar levels over the past three months.

Midday levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, have also been shown to be elevated in people with burnout, and morning levels are typically lower than usual.

Parsley Health doctors often use a test that measures cortisol levels throughout the day in members who are experiencing symptoms of burnout. This test helps to assess how the adrenal glands, which produce cortisol, are functioning.

“Someone with healthy adrenal function will have high cortisol when they wake up and then it will reach its lowest point at night,” explains Parsley Health physician Ruvini Wijetilaka, MD.

“But people who are completely burned out," she says, "will have low levels throughout the day.” This is usually the final stage of burnout, explains Dr. Wijetilaka. In the early stages, cortisol levels may be abnormally high because the body is always in “fight-or-flight” mode.

The physical and mental implications of burnout can have serious consequences. Chronically high cortisol has been associated with high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, obesity, and osteoporosis.

Work stress and impaired sleep also tripled the risk of cardiovascular death in workers with high blood pressure, according to a 2019 study in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

Employees experiencing burnout are even 63 percent more likely to take a sick day. At Parsley, we’re all for taking mental health days, but no one wants to feel so run down that they can’t perform daily tasks.

Signs of burnout

So how do you know if you’re burned out? Burnout symptoms may be slightly different in each person, but they usually include one or more of the following.

• emotional exhaustion
• physical exhaustion
• fatigue
• insomnia
• brain fog
• weakened immune system
• anxiety
• depression

Causes of burnout

Many people refer to burnout in relation to work, but job stress may just be one component, says Dr. Wijetilaka.

Everything from family responsibilities to engaging in too many activities or even getting too much exercise can lead to burnout.

You’re always on.

Do you remember when work-life balance was a thing? Our modern, always-connected, always-on world makes striking this balance difficult. With remote work, we may not have solid boundaries between work and home, though we can create them.

You can’t say no.

Many of us have a fear of disappointing others. Or we may even have anxiety of underperformance. These factors can make saying no to tasks outside of your job scope more difficult. And we sometimes commit to things unrelated to work that we don't really have the time for.

You’re working in a toxic environment.

Respondents to a 2018 Gallup poll cited five main reasons for job-specific burnout.

• unfair treatment at work
• an unmanageable workload
• lack of role clarity
• lack of communication and support from a manager
• unreasonable time pressure

When employees feel supported by their manager and not crunched for time, they’re about 70 percent less likely to experience burnout.

Your screen time is taking a toll.

Research suggests that screens, scrolling, and social media contribute to burnout.

Blue light from electronics, particularly before bedtime, can lead people to wake up during the night and sleep less. And social media use has repeatedly been linked to higher levels of anxiety, depression, and low self esteem.

We can't eliminate screen time altogether, but limiting our use can help.

You’re constantly multitasking.

Do you eat lunch while working, send emails while in meetings, or constantly respond to notifications, even when you're trying to focus on a work task?

If you feel like your brain has too many tabs open, you’re less productive, more easily distracted, and more prone to making errors, according to researchers at Stanford.

Try to limit yourself to doing one thing at a time. You might find that you're more productive.

Recovering from burnout

So how can you prevent and treat burnout? These are the tactics Parsley Health doctors use to help members get back to their energized, productive, and vibrant selves.

Practice mindfulness.

“Being present and being aware of the now can be really helpful in reducing burnout,” says Dr. Wijetilaka.

You can practice mindfulness by developing a meditation practice, learning to eat mindfully, or monotasking instead of multitasking, she adds.

Parsley Health providers specialize in helping members figure out how meditation can fit into their lives.

Take a look at your diet.

If you’re feeling spent, you may be more likely to grab convenient foods, order takeout, or even skip meals.

“I recommend staying away from processed foods," says Dr. Wijetilaka.

To feel energized, your body needs nutrient-dense foods that truly fuel you with a mix of high-quality protein, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

“A lot of patients I see with burnout are extremely fatigued, so they try to mask their fatigue by consuming a lot of caffeine," Dr. Wijetilaka says. "But that’s actually doing them more harm than good, because caffeine stimulates the adrenal glands to produce more cortisol."

Fine tune your exercise routine.

Many people who experience burnout are also high achievers and gravitate towards things like high-intensity workouts or endurance exercise, says Dr. Wijetilaka.

In small doses, that’s great. Exercise in general can help combat burnout. However, if you’re doing intense exercise every day, it can negatively impact adrenal function and contribute to burnout, she explains.

To counterbalance more intense exercise, add in gentle activities such as yoga, which has been found to reduce cortisol levels.

Shoot for quality sleep over quantity.

People with dysfunction in their cortisol levels and people who are generally stressed tend to stay awake later and have sleep disruptions, says Dr. Wijetilaka.

Maintaining a regular sleep schedule can make a big difference. Shoot for seven to eight hours and try to get to bed before 11 p.m., when cortisol is normally at its lowest point. This will help improve the quality of your sleep so you feel more rested.

Taking a magnesium glycinate supplement before bed can also help your body to relax and muscles to un-tense.

Cap your social media time.

You may not be able to ditch technology altogether. But research has found that when people limited their social media use to 30 minutes a day, they felt significantly better after a three-week period.

Participants reported reduced depression and loneliness, and the effects were even more profound for those who had higher levels of depression at the start of the study.

Support with supplements.

Lifestyle changes are the first defense against burnout, says Dr. Wijetilaka.

But sometimes supplements may also be needed. If someone is toward the end stages of burnout, certain adaptogens, such as ashwagandha and cordyceps, might be useful for supporting their adrenal glands, while L-theanine or CBD oil may be more appropriate for helping with anxiety.

Sometimes bloodwork shows that specific nutrient deficiencies could be contributing to symptoms.

“Vitamin D deficiency is very common, and vitamin D benefits the immune system, gut health, and is anti-inflammatory,” explains Dr. Wijetilaka. Low B-12 or low iron are also common nutrient deficiencies that can lead to fatigue.