If you’re an active member of the working world or even a student in the 21st century, then more likely than not, you’ve felt tired, overwhelmed, overstressed, and ready to just throw your hands in the air and give up. Does that sound about right? If that’s the case, then you’ve experienced what is known as job or workplace burnout. But no need to despair; there are methods of self-care to treat feelings of burnout and perhaps avoid it all together.

What is Burnout?

Job or workplace burnout, or burnout for short, is—as its name denotes—a type of stress linked to work that involves being worn out physically and/or emotionally. It may also involve feelings of uselessness, powerlessness, and emptiness. Although burnout isn’t a medical diagnosis, some experts say that other conditions, mainly depression, are behind the phenomenon. Burnout can certainly raise the risk of depression given its grueling nature, but burnout and depression are two different maladies that require different treatments.[1] To know if you have job burnout, you should ask yourself some of the following questions: do you often question the value of your work? Do you have to drag yourself to work and really have trouble getting going? Have you lost the patience that you previously had with customers, coworkers, and bosses? Do you feel little satisfaction and let down by your job? If you answered yes to most of these, that probably indicates that you might be experiencing job burnout. 

How We Burn Out

Mindy Shoss, PhD, professor of psychology at the University of Central Florida and associate editor of the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, says, “There are many potential causes of burnout in today’s workplaces—excessive workloads, low levels of support, having little say or control over workplace matters, lack of recognition or rewards for one’s efforts, and interpersonally toxic and unfair work environments. Add to that the constant hum of uncertainty about a possible recession, and it’s no surprise that burnout is on the rise in many.” [2]

The way in which we burn out is different for everybody, but it typically involves a great deal of overworking oneself. This could be putting in too much overtime at the office or taking your work home with you on a constant basis, which isn’t inherently a bad thing, but does lead to job burnout if you don’t have a strong work-life balance and if you’re constantly doing it. The stress of all these looming tasks can not only induce job burnout; due to the prolonged exposure to high levels of adrenaline, cortisol, and norepinephrine that comes from work stress, your hippocampus is negatively affected—the part of your brain crucial to memory and learning, which also determines mood.[3] This means that not only does the quality of your work decline because of the negative effects stress has on your memory and learning, but that you are also liable to becoming burnt out if not already so, which leaves you further at risk for depression—as mentioned earlier—along with generally feeling like trash just all around.

Burnout Treatment

You might be stressed reading this, realizing you could be going through work burnout. Don’t worry, there are things you can do to try to treat this. First, look at your options. Perhaps talk to your boss about how you feel (if you have that type of relationship) and see what changes can be made. Start setting realistic goals about what you can get done, not goals that are based on an overachieving standard that you know will leave you feeling burnt out. Most importantly, to treat burnout you must use methods of self-care in order to restore feelings of restfulness. Some recommendations may include taking an aromatherapy bath, trying some de-stressing but accommodating exercise like yoga and getting enough sleep.[4] Some space away from work and activities such as these that set you and your physical/mental health as a priority are the curatives that will bring you out of an immediate and intense work burnout. 

Burnout Prevention

Given all we now know about burnout, in order to avoid it, it takes a good deal of control over your work life balance. This means maintaining a healthy and harmonious relationship between your work and your personal life.[5] To have this healthy balance, it is important to firstly prioritize your physical and mental health. If you’re battling a chronic illness or physical disability, don’t be afraid to take time off for convalescence. Eventually, it’ll allow you to retain a good quality of work before being burnt out. If you struggle with depression and mental health, then be aware and unafraid of speaking to those in charge about needing help, in whatever form that may be. Another good way to avoid burnout is to actually use your vacation days. According to a 2023 study, 62% of U.S. workers with paid time off did not use up their full days.[6] It’s important to take opportunities like this when you can and ask yourself if it’s possible and would it be valuable to give yourself a personal day. Overall, setting boundaries with your work and your personal time is what will lead to the prevention of burnout.[7]

With an increasingly stressful job market just looming over us all, it’s not surprising that job burnout is a common issue among workers of all types. But to avoid this, it’s imperative to remind yourself that sometimes work is just work, not the beginning and end of the world. It’s also important to take the time and actually smell the roses, instead of filling up your ears with the sounds of typing or your eyes with the sight of blue light. By putting aside excessive work, balancing your time and health, and making sure the work you do feels rewarding, you’ll be able to battle work burnout with the best chances there are. 

[1] https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/adult-health/in-depth/burnout/art-20046642

[2] https://www.apa.org/topics/healthy-workplaces/workplace-burnout

[3] https://www.nuvancehealth.org/health-tips-and-news/the-effect-of-stress-on-the-brain-and-ways-to-manage-it#:~:text=High%20levels%20of%20stress%20at,brain%20for%20learning%20and%20memory

[4] https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/burnout-recovery

[5] https://www.malvernbh.com/blog/work-life-balance-mental-health/#:~:text=Spending%20too%20much%20time%20on,%2C%20mental%2C%20and%20emotional%20health

[6] https://money.com/workers-unused-vacation-time-pto-survey/#:~:text=New%20data%20suggests%20that%20even,Sorbet%2C%20a%20fintech%20lending%20firm

[7] https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/burnout-recovery#boundaries

Photo by Abbie Burnet free to use under the Unsplash License.