Taking breaks and avoiding burnout

Burnout is very real, especially amongst students and people who are working. Burnout is simply mental, emotional and physical exhaustion caused by prolonged stress, for example that from a very stressful job or going to school full-time. Humans are not built for large, continuous amounts of stress and burnout can spill over into all parts of your life, including your emotional and mental health, your physical health and your social life. So how can we avoid and treat burnout?

The first thing to do is understand the difference between burnout and stress. All of us have been stressed at some point in our lives, and remember the feeling of drowning under responsibilities. When someone is stressed, they are usually emotionally over-reactive, but most people who are stressed often feel that without all their responsibilities they would be fine. In contrast, burnout is about feeling mentally empty, a complete lack of motivation and emotional numbness. People with burnout often see no light at the end of the tunnel, and can often not even realise they are burnt out. It can be caused by your lifestyle, being overworked or even certain type-A personalities are more likely to be burnt out. 

Preventing burnout is actually rather simple - it is simply listening to your body and taking breaks. Your mental health comes above all other responsibilities, so taking breaks often is necessary. There is a reason the school year is split up into short half-terms of 6 weeks and we have weekends as a time to relax. Things like doing some exercise daily, prioritising yourself, managing time better, eating well and sleeping enough can all play huge parts in preventing overexertion and too much stress which leads to burnout.

Treating burnout is similar - the idea is to deal with the stress and counter the things in your life that cause stress. When you’re burnt out, everything seems impossible and you lose all motivation to even try, so the best thing and easiest thing you can do is simply reach out to others. Humans are naturally social, and talking to someone is not going to instantly ‘cure’ your burnout, but it will release the burden on you, and means that they are then better able to help and support you whether it’s simply being a supportive friend or physically helping you with your responsibilities. It is also important to treat the root cause. Doing some reflection can help you to try and figure out what you can cut from your life that is stressing you out, whether it is responsibilities or toxic people. Re-evaluate your priorities and make sure that your mental and physical health are always your largest priority. 

Burnout has been on the rise through the pandemic as people have been stuck at home for extended periods of time and lost a large social aspect of our lives. Although everyone is in a different situation, the world is slowly opening up, and so make sure that you are socialising safely with friends and rebuilding those connections as they are so important for your mental health. Students have holidays coming up, so make sure to use them to catch up on sleep and actually rest as much as possible, as working all year round is a recipe for stress and burnout! And finally, talk to people about anything that is troubling you, even if it's just venting to a friend on the phone for a few minutes. Having a strong support network makes everything so much easier.