It takes an average time of three months to a year to recover from burnout. How long your burnout lasts will depend on your level of emotional exhaustion and physical fatigue, as well as if you experience any relapses or periods of stagnant recovery.
Recovery from burnout is a slow journey; not a quick dash to some imaginary finish line. You need time and space to recuperate, so don't rush through this process. The recovery strategies that we've outlined below are all useful in different situations.
Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for people who are experiencing burnout [14,15]. It can be provided as a one-to-one therapy, in groups, or alongside other types of help like career counseling or working with employers.
Just as the impact of burnout stifles healthy professional growth, emerging research shows that the chronic psychosocial stress that characterizes burnout not only impairs people's personal and social functioning, it also can overwhelm their cognitive skills and neuroendocrine systems — eventually leading to ...
You may also experience burnout at a higher rate if your job requires a heavy workload, is understaffed, has conflicts in the workplace or doesn't reward work when there is a job well done.
It's essential to replenish your physical and emotional energy, along with your capacity to focus, by prioritizing good sleep habits, nutrition, exercise, social connection, and practices that promote equanimity and well-being, like meditating, journaling, and enjoying nature.
Trouble concentrating is one of the mental signs (along with things like forgetfulness) that could tell you burnout is approaching. Some studies suggest more than 100 symptoms for it. They include motivational symptoms like disillusionment and a loss of idealism.
Habitual Burnout. The final stage of burnout is habitual burnout. This means that the symptoms of burnout are so embedded in your life that you are likely to experience a significant ongoing mental, physical or emotional problem, as opposed to occasionally experiencing stress or burnout.
Your brain on burnout
“One of the most striking (effects) is thinning of the gray matter of an area of the brain called the prefrontal cortex,” Arnsten said. “It helps us to act appropriately. It gives us insight about ourselves and others. It gives us perspective.
While quiet quitting may help ease burnout in the short term, it is not a long-term solution, workplace experts tell CNBC Make It. Here's what they say you can do instead.
A life coach has revealed that it can take up to three to five years of active recovery to bounce back from burnout, explaining that chronic stress changes the chemicals in the body.
Burnout symptoms are usually temporary and disappear after you address them. If not addressed, these can also affect your physical health and cause heart disease, obesity, high cholesterol, and even type 2 diabetes. Depression symptoms, on the other hand, can get in the way of your daily life and are longer-term.
Making the decision to step away from a job is not always easy or feasible. But when your physical or emotional well-being is suffering and your stress isn't eased by the occasional mental health day, experts say it's generally best to start looking elsewhere. Just be sure to give it some thought before rage quitting.
Common causes of burnout include: lack of adequate social support; taking on more than one can handle at work, school, or interpersonally with family and friends; and poor self-care. Burnout is a serious matter.
Burnout is when a person reaches a state of total mental, physical and emotional exhaustion and it has some similar signs and symptoms to a nervous breakdown. Your doctor can prescribe medicines for many mental health conditions, and refer you to other healthcare professionals, such as psychologists or psychiatrists.
Two types of people, however, are at a greater risk of burning out than everyone else: women and workers under 30. Nearly half (48%) of 18-to-29-year-olds said they feel drained compared with 40% of their peers aged 30 and up, while women (46%) reported higher levels of burnout than men (37%).
Emotional signs and symptoms of burnout
Detachment, feeling alone in the world. Loss of motivation. Increasingly cynical and negative outlook. Decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment.
Studies in mice show it's possible, and a 2018 study in people found cognitive behavioral therapy for burnout reduced the size of the amygdala and returned the prefrontal cortex to pre-stress levels," reports CNN. Other activities beside therapy can help your brain recover too.
The problem with burnout, then, is that our bodily systems become deprioritised for too long, and as a result we can experience additional physical symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, fainting, heart palpitations and chest and muscle pain, among other things.
Habitual Burnout. This is when you don't manage to recover from burnout and the state and the symptoms become a part of your life (3). Attempts to bring yourself back to normal is more challenging than it has ever been.