The Root Cause of Burnout? Autonomic Nervous System Disruption. The Health Consequences? Too Many to List.
The question “Am I burning out?” may have crossed your mind a time or two in your professional life. Why do I feel tired and sore so often? Is my chest pain or racing heart stress-related? Why does everything feel like an impossible burden? Am I depressed, have a new medical condition, or burned out?
Burnout has both emotional and physical consequences. According to a 2017 systematic review of prospective studies on burnout consequences, burnout was a significant predictor of the following physical consequences: hypercholesterolemia, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, hospitalization due to cardiovascular disorder, musculoskeletal pain, changes in pain experiences, prolonged fatigue, headaches, gastrointestinal issues, respiratory problems, severe injuries and mortality below the age of 45 years. If you are experiencing physical, emotional, or professional sequelae that don’t add up, burnout might be on your horizon. What are some steps to tackle or prevent burnout?
The first step is to become aware of and characterize your stress. Is your stress now and again short-lived or very often? Is it eustress or distress? Eustress might result from a challenging activity that leads to growth, such as meeting an impossible deadline, yet feeling a positive sense of professional competence. Chronic distress, on the other hand, might occur in persistently conflictual personal or professional relationships or work demands. The examples are innumerable, and what is stressful for you may not be for another.
The second step is to evaluate whether you experience effective recovery from stress. Neurobiology research shows that heart rate variability (HRV) can objectively assess psychological stress. Frequent or long periods of low HRV during daytime or sleep indicate impaired autonomic nervous system recovery and could be the lead-up to burnout. High HRV, however, suggests that effective stress and sleep management are in place. HRV can also assess when exercise is effective and therapeutic. Beyond the value of HRV in assessing stress and recovery, it can also measure improvements in lifestyle and stress management.
As an executive health coach, I’ve found providing my clients with real-time HRV insights imperative. Are they under chronic stress throughout their workday, and how can we design recovery periods? Is their sleep yielding physiologic recovery, or are they logging in sleep hours with minimal effective recovery? How is their eating pattern influencing their body’s physiology? Does alcohol or the timing of exercise influence their recovery?
Hopefully, you are not experiencing burnout right now, but if you are, get help now. And if “Am I burning out?” has crossed your mind recently, reach out to begin a burnout prevention plan tailored to you.
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