Stress · 4 min read ·
Your head keeps saying it's just a busy patch. Your body has been sending signals for a while, and it tends to send them in order.
If you have 30 seconds
- 1The signs tend to come in order: nervous energy, scattered complaints, then an engine that only idles.
- 2If coffee and willpower have stopped working, your body may be protecting itself.
- 3Start with your evenings, morning light, regular meals and lighter training.
The physical symptoms of burnout usually show up long before the day you say, 'I can't do this any more.' For months you've closed every quarter at a sprint. Then comes the third cold of winter, and on Monday your legs feel like lead on the office stairs.
I see it often in the business owners and managers I work with. The signs had been there for months, but one at a time they looked like nothing. Tests and diagnosis are for your GP and a psychologist.
What are the physical symptoms of burnout?
Three groups: nervous energy that won't switch off, scattered complaints, then tiredness out of all proportion. They usually come in that order, and nearly everyone mistakes the first for a good run.
- First: always wired. Lots of energy, almost a high. You sleep little and chase one challenge after another.
- Then: scattered complaints. Headaches on tense days, bloating, light sleep, a fast pulse first thing.
- Finally: the engine idles. A slump after lunch, sweet and salty cravings, cold after cold, old aches flaring up, light-headedness when you stand.
Burnout or ordinary tiredness?
Ordinary tiredness usually has a cause and an end: a heavy week, then you recover. Here you work more and get less done. A minor hitch feels unfair. You crash in the early afternoon and rally in the evening, when you should be winding down. These are clues, not a diagnosis.
At first, stress gives you energy. Cortisol, the stress hormone, raises your blood sugar and fires you up. It was built for short emergencies. With endless deadlines it can stay switched on.
Then your body protects itself. After months it can act like a car that senses a fault. It limits the revs. You floor it and the car won't pick up. That's why a fourth coffee and willpower often aren't enough.
And the regulators slip. Cortisol keeps your blood sugar steady and holds inflammation back. With too little around by day, you may get mood swings, sharper aches and bug after bug.
When your body cuts the revs, it's often trying to protect you.
Burnout: what to change from this week
To your body, too little sleep, too much training and too much work all go on the same bill. Lighten the load where you can, starting with one commitment you can drop.
Protect your evenings. The energy that returns after dinner is a loan. Late stress demands a big push, and by morning there may be less left. In the last hour, no work emails or calls. Then a dark bedroom, with an eye mask if need be, for seven or eight hours.
Light as soon as you're up. Ten minutes outdoors within an hour of waking. Bright mornings and dark nights help cortisol run high by day and low by night.
Meals at regular times. None skipped, with a savoury breakfast. Your blood sugar tends to stay steadier, and your mood with it. Last coffee straight after lunch.
Training that doesn't drain you. Many let off steam with a brutal session at 8pm. For a body on reserve, that's more stress. Keep your two strength sessions, in the daytime, shorter and lighter, and walk ten to fifteen minutes after meals.
Try this
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Test yourself
It's 9pm. After a wretched day, your energy is suddenly back. What do you do?
Start with your evenings. If the signs don't ease, take them to your GP in writing: what they are, since when, what time of day. A dated list is more use than 'I'm shattered'.
