66% of the workforce, or about two-thirds of workers, report feeling burnt out, according to a book named the Beyond Burnout Blueprint. The term ‘burnout’ has become commonly used due to the majority of the workforce feeling a state of physical and mental exhaustion. In India, the workforce is feeling it at an increasing pace due to factors like the constant demand to be productive at all costs and the need to be mentally and physically present in places for profit.
Burnout is more than just exhaustion; it affects physical health and leads to visible symptoms, as well as affects brain function. While burnout was identified by psychologist Herbert Freudenberger in the 1970s, the WHO has recognised its prevalence decades later. The World Health Organization has formally recognised burnout as an occupational phenomenon that can be identified via exhaustion, detachment, and reduced effectiveness.
What Is Burnout?
Burnout can often be characterised in people when they feel exhausted, lose all hope, become increasingly negative, and reduce effectiveness in workplace tasks. It can’t be measured, but the severity of the symptoms can be felt on a day-to-day basis.
According to the research published in the Frontiers of Psychology, burnout can often stem from unmanaged workplace stress. It is a psychological by-product of feeling stressed out consistently, and if left unchecked, it can spiral into numbing physical manifestations that can be psychological. Or emotionally hard to deal with, and you may face hindrances while trying to seek treatment for relief.
Contrary to popular belief, burnout can also affect people who are carers and parents who are on an emotional rollercoaster that takes a toll on their physical and mental well-being.
How Burnout Manifests In The Body
Burnout, if left unchecked, can lead to major depressive disorder or even type-2 diabetes, as the blood sugar levels can become altered due to constant feelings of stress. This is why active stress management is necessary to curb issues like burnout, and keeping your expectations with work or life needs to be realistic. The psychological condition can manifest in your body in the following ways:
- Brain fog is a way: when people feel constantly stressed, then their brain gets rewired, suppressing decision-making centres of the brain, and this can lead to reduced work performance, leading to career growth impacts.
- Back pain and muscle tension are common among people who are burnt out, as chronic stress impacts posture and pain perception in the body.
- Cardiovascular risks can increase as people with burnout have elevated blood pressure as they feel constantly on edge. Additionally, it can even increase the chances of a stroke, which has serious health consequences.
- Immune system suppression can occur, as an excessive amount of cortisol (stress hormone) can lead to higher vulnerability to illness.
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Neurological Perspective On Burnout
The brain is impacted when burnout is experienced, as stress has a direct impact on brain function. Here are the ways it can impact your brain and what you need to know about burnout and its neural impact:
- Stress, specifically the hormones it releases in the brain, can activate the amygdala, which is the fear centre of the brain. This leads to feeling a heightened sense of danger even in normal day-to-day life and existence.
- Burnout tends to suppress the prefrontal cortex, today, which is the part of the brain that is responsible for decision-making and emotional regulation.
- The condition can push people into survival mode and reduce their psychological flexibility to adapt to new environments.
Science-Based Recovery Approaches To Burnout
Numerous therapies to treat burnout exist that can offer relief for the people experiencing it and can significantly improve the quality of their life and work life. Here are the therapies that you need to know:
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT): This therapy works by deploying radical acceptance and reducing contemplation of “what-if” scenarios in the head that stress it out further.
- Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT): This involves self-compassion, which means that having compassion for yourself and your condition can regulate your nervous system in a better manner.
- A combination of approaches can help shift people who are burnt out from survival mode to them living their best life.
Also Read: Maternal Perinatal Depression Increases Risk Of Autism In Toddlers, Finds Study
Burnout In High-Pressure Professions
Studies and systematic reviews published in the Frontiers of Psychology suggest that burnout is often experienced in high-pressure professions like:
- Healthcare, education, finance, and technologically heavy or digital workspaces present unique challenges for the mind and body.
- These reviews and studies reveal that burnout is taken lightly but needs to be systematically addressed for employee well-being.
- To actively address it, employers need to introduce realistic and fair workloads, flexible arrangements, and safe work environments so that people feel psychologically secure and are able to deliver their best at work.
Building Resilience
People are social beings and need active community support to be their best selves and build endurance and resilience to deal with workplace stress. Here are some ways to make people resilient and make them able to deal with situations like burnout and their potential impacts on their physical and emotional well-being easily.
- You need to clarify your values and vision and align them with your work.
- Learn to sit with discomfort and process your feelings in a healthy manner to avoid emotional turmoil.
- Replace self-critical narratives with compassionate self-talk to develop a positive approach to workplace stress.
- You need to identify your strengths and perform regular energising activities that make you happy to strike a proper work-life balance.
Burnout is not just mental, but it can have serious physical health impacts. If you are burnt out, then for recovery, you need to seek help and follow science-based strategies that provide long-lasting results.
If you or someone you know is feeling burnt out, then you can contact India’s mental health helpline number at 1-800 891 4416 called TELE MANAS, where you can connect with a trained counsellor or psychologist who can provide help.
Disclaimer: This content, including advice, provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for a qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.
