How to Prevent Burnout

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Are you exhausted? Do you dread your upcoming day? Have you noticed yourself becoming more pessimistic about your work even though you previously enjoyed it? Do you feel like you’re not as productive lately and/or your performance is suffering? These are just a few of the many signs of burnout. What is burnout? Burnout can briefly be defined as the physical and/or mental collapse caused by overwork. “Collapse” may feel like a strong word, but that is ultimately the risk of continuing to perform at such a high level (i.e. long hours, heavy work loads, and/or enormous pressure to succeed). Burnout is a state of chronic stress which is unhealthy for anyone’s body and emotional well-being. Chronic stress causes prolonged exposure to the hormone cortisol which has many negative impacts on the body including, but not limited to, weight gain, elevated blood pressure, and long-term problems for the heart and blood vessels.

Why does burnout happen? According to the sources cited by Paula Davis-Laack in her 2013 article, burnout at work comes from the following six sources: lack of control, values conflict, insufficient reward, work overload, unfairness, and breakdown of community. “One study measuring job demands and lack of control found that the one combination that was most detrimental to health and morale was high job demands in combination with low control,” (Davis-Laack, 2013). The most notable point of Davis-Laack’s article is that you don’t need to have an issue in all six of these areas; difficulty with just one of these puts you at risk for burnout.

What can you do about burnout? Benjamin Franklin’s quote, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” seems to fit here. Having good work habits in order to prevent burnout is key; recovering from burnout is much more challenging and time consuming. According to Sherrie Bourg Carter, PsyD (2011), start with the basics: sleep well, eat well, and drink enough water. Basic self-care strategies such as exercising are also very helpful. Ultimately, you have to find what fits for you when deciding how to prevent burnout. Do you need to make an extra effort to leave by 5PM so you have enough time for a healthy dinner and your favorite yoga class? Do you need to talk to your boss about a raise so you don’t feel you are being taken advantage of? Just as there are many aspects of your work that can lead to burnout, there are many ways you can work to prevent it.

 

Written by Alexis Anttila, LAMFT

 

References

Bourg Carter, S. (2011, January 11). Refueling Your Engine: Strategies to Reduce Stress and Avoid Burnout. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/high-octane-women/201101/refueling-your-engine-strategies-reduce-stress-and-avoid-burnout

Bourg Carter, S. (2013, November 26). The Tell Tale Signs of Burnout … Do You Have Them? Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/high-octane-women/201311/the-tell-tale-signs-burnout-do-you-have-them

Davis-Laack, P. (2013, August 29). Six Sources of Burnout at Work. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/pressure-proof/201308/six-sources-burnout-work

 

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