Dealing With Burnout in the Workplace and in Your Personal Life

Welcome back everyone. It's NTD Health Matters and we have our lovely Sheridan Jenrig back with us. She's our in-house nutritionist and health correspondent. Today we're talking about burnout. Do I have your attention yet? Yeah, because if you've been really busy, just tired and swamped, chances are that you might have been thinking about whether or not you have burnout. So to get some clarity today, Sheridan, thank you so much for coming in. It's been a while. It's good to see you again. Thank you, Evelyn. I'm so happy to be back and it's actually been one of those years where I think people are feeling these accumulative effects of burnout, but I want to be able to define it for people because it might be thrown around, but until we actually really know what we're talking about, we can't really pinpoint and address it. So I've got my notes just to make sure I didn't miss any really important details. World Health Organization in 2020 defined burnout as a syndrome and that means it's a cluster of reactions that can creep in. But what I really noticed when I looked at the research is that they only really talk about workplace burnout. And so I want to be able to get a better definition and I looked at the Cambridge Dictionary for that. So burnout is caused by extreme tiredness or mental or physical illness caused by working too hard or trying to do too much. So basically unrelenting stress, and this can lead someone to lose energy and enthusiasm. So it's the behavior change part. And what I really like about the dictionary definition is that it opens it up to all those carers that are at home, all those stay at home parents, all those people that are just taking on too much, but it might not be just work related. So it's good to know because that obviously doesn't put a limitation on where you can get burned down. And according to psychology today, actually people can be burned out through all kinds of things, especially we shouldn't underestimate, you know, at homework, especially if you have kids running around. And then apparently, you know, even with a significant other or political affiliations. And I think during election year, that's also very significant. But what is a common denominator here? What are the factors that actually play into it? Good question. So there's three main factors. Workplace factors are one of those. So financial and work related stress is one factor. Then we've got individual health factors. So how well someone is actually coping with their own physical and mental health. And then the third one is personal factors. So how much support does someone have? How much of a family unit or friends? You know, really, these are the three colliding factors. And when there's a bit of a dip or drop or too much pressure, it could be the other side, then that is going to affect all three of those factors at the same time, usually. Yeah, that's a really good point. And I think it can snowball, right? So let's keep that in mind, because we have some really good audience questions that were sent in. Let's start with Lina. Let's take a look. Hello, my name is Lina. Thank you for taking my question. I work in the design industry. And sometimes burnout is part of the job. But I was wondering if there is some science I can do to recognize I'm about to go into one, how to talk about it to others and how to reverse it. Okay, how to catch it early. Yes, really important to highlight this is burnout is a spectrum of so it means it can start from mild symptoms and become more severe. And I like to be able to highlight the minor symptoms for people because you can catch it early and reverse it. Whereas when it becomes more severe, and it's leading into more serious health problems, it's much harder. And you really could have, you know, done some little things to address it. So the main things I actually see are behavior change. I noticed that with a lot of my patients first, they might become more dismissive of social activities. So isolating themselves more often, because really the physical and the mental exhaustion is so severe, even in the early stages, that it really makes someone want to just withdraw. So behavior change looking for that. The other things to notice is someone more irritable or critical, reactive around criticism, so overly sensitive when they didn't used to be so affected. Someone also that is getting headaches more frequently, maybe getting sick more often, the physical signs of just really low suppressed immunity that can be coming about because of burnout. But the anxiety, the depression, the typical things that are mood swings, that's also going into it. So it doesn't have to be one of these types of symptoms. It's usually a combination. And definitely the behavior change is really something to highlight. So if a family member has it, for example. Yeah, that's a very good point. And also to look out for help, to look out for our loved ones, to see the warning signs, so to speak. But also it sounds like for ourselves to be mindful, because it can spiral into something more serious or more medical conditions, so to speak. Yeah, definitely. So let's take a look at the second question here. We have another one from an audience. Let's take a look. Hi, Sheridan. My name is Sophia and I have nine-year-old twins. I'm exhausted trying to keep up with their busy schedules. In addition to school, they are both very active in a variety of sports. We're usually up early and don't get to bed until late most days. I have very little time for myself. Do you have any suggestions on what I can do to avoid burnout? Okay, so stay-at-home parents, it's like a 24-hour clock. You've got no breaks sometimes. I think the thing I want to highlight with this is three key factors. One would be, I'll run through them first and then I'll go deeper into them. First one is self-care. As a mum, really it starts with prioritizing how you look after yourself. And that means eating the can. It doesn't have to be perfect, but prepping foods and freezer meals. So not when you're going shopping when you're hungry. I can't even do that myself. It's just about prepping things a bit ahead of time and then movement. So in my book, I actually used to write about mood follows movement. So you can actually change the way you feel based on moving your body. So if someone's really feeling stress, stretching or going for a little walk outside in the yard, getting some fresh air, really simple little things that can change your mood because you're moving that emotion through your body. All right, so movement. Yeah, really key, that self-care category, first one. Second one would be to stay present from moment to moment. So when we are thinking too far ahead, which I'm sure as a mum, I can relate to this woman, that you actually going too far down the rabbit hole of things you should be doing and you're not really being present. So just catching yourself more frequently and then knowing that you can actually ask for help. The third one would be being realistic about your expectations and goals. So the third category is really takes courage. It actually means someone has to be a vulnerable to say, I'm not coping so well. I need some help. And to be able to express that before it's in the serious category of burnout. So getting it early on and... Being able to ask for help and also draw a line and be firm about it. Boundaries. Excellent. Yeah. You really want to know what is a priority of saying yes to and what really needs to be in the no category because we can't say yes to everything else. That's the whole point of burnout. We're not like a cup that just can be keeping on emptying. We actually need to notice these when the cup is emptying that we need to refill it with a combination of things. So food alone won't fix it and supplements won't fix it. But if you've got those three areas, so we've got self-care, being present from moment to moment and the third one, being able to ask for help and being realistic. Right. Really good tips here. And I think I know that you always emphasize that, you know, everybody is individual in their own way. But I think these are some really good ideas for people to try out for themselves and figure out what works best. And I'm appreciative of that. So that wraps up Health Matters for today. But stay tuned because we'll be back with more news.