The first Wednesday of every November marks Stress Awareness Day and we have some tips to help you recognise and deal with burnout.
We all know what it’s like to suffer from stress. Some people are more prone to experiencing it, while others merely feel flutters of nerves before an exam, a deadline or a presentation.
Stress is a spectrum and we all slot in somewhere on the scale.
Stress Awareness Day was set up by UK charity, Mind, who want people to notice when stress is prolonged and affecting their health:
“We all know what it’s like to feel stressed – being under pressure is a normal part of life. But becoming overwhelmed by stress can lead to mental health problems or make existing problems worse.”
Today is an opportunity to take a moment to think about our wellbeing and ways that we might overcome lengthy periods of distress. The mental health charity also notes that stress can often be rooted in the workplace, “where stresses of workload and working relationships are common.”
Niamh Maher, presenter of Her’s in-house show, Girls With Goals, spoke to psychotherapist and behavioural change therapist, Siobhan Murray about burnout and how to manage it.
Siobhan says that burnout was originally associated with “high-level caring careers”, such as doctors and lawyers but now it’s “across the board”, affecting everyone from stay-at-home mums to junior cert students.
She says that stress, depression and burnout are all correlated, but that burnout is a “continual level of stress” that affects diet, sleep, and slowly compounds until you don’t have any energy left.
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Siobhan highlighted that anyone can suffer from burnout, but that perfectionistic personality types are at the greatest risk.
If you think you might be suffering, here are three tips we learned from Siobhan on how to alleviate the symptoms of burnout:
1) Visit your GP.
If you have a persistent low feeling, you need to visit your GP to rule out underlying issues. Depression is treated differently to burnout.
2) Learn how to shut off your brain.
Don’t be on your phone before bed and don’t make to-do lists for the next day before you turn the lights off. This should be done in the kitchen the next day or in work as your brain should associate your bedroom with rest and relaxation and you need to give your mind a chance to wind down before you go to bed.
3) Sleep is the most important thing for your recovery.
During the interview, Siobhan explained in a simple but effective way what happens to your brain when you go to sleep. She said when your brain shuts down at night, all the cells shrink and a fluid passes through your brain. Siobhan likens it to the same build-up of plaque that would be on your teeth. In the same way brushing your teeth helps cleanse this plaque, the fluid that passes through your brain when you are asleep helps re-fresh the brain.
It seems it’s a cliché for a reason: less stress, more success. Or, as my dad says, “pressure is for tyres.”
