Transcript
Hi, Dr Cris here with the Ask Dr Cris Show. Today’s question comes from Paul and he wants to know ‘how do I avoid burnout?’
Great question, burnout, is a big problem in our society. You know you are headed for burnout if you feel tired all the time despite getting enough sleep, if you feel anxious or depressed, if your fuse is getting shorter and shorter, if you’re starting to lose motivation for the things that you used to find enjoyable. So they are some key features of burnout. How do we avoid it?
First recognise that it is here or it’s on its way and pull back. Create some margin in your schedule, create some breathing room so that you are not backing up one appointment after another feeling frazzled and exhausted at the end of the day and then backing up with another day just like it, day after day after day, because that will burn you out even if you love your job it will burn you out.
Number two, avoid a lot of coffee. Coffee will ramp you up and although it will get you through the day unfortunately the side effect of coffee is that it will deplete your energy long term so you feel more and more and more tired as you go on. So do reduce the amount of coffee, even eliminate it for a few days and see if your energy levels actually, in fact, pick up.
The third thing is address depression or anxiety. Sometimes we are driven by an underlying mental health illness that’s driving our burnout because we are feeling tired for X, Y, Z emotional reasons. Do get that looked at, there are some key features of anxiety that are prevalent and that’s worrying about things, overreacting to things, and stressing about things that haven’t come to pass. Do look for coping strategies and mechanisms for that such as deep breathing, meditation or yoga. The fourth thing that I would say is that there are some supplements on the market that may be able to help. They will only really make about 5 percent difference to your health if you haven’t addressed your lifestyle factors and they are B vitamins, magnesium and zinc. So they are the key nutrients that are often depleted during times of stress. So those are just some tips to avoiding burnout.
Thank you so much for your question, and if you have got any other questions please leave them below. I hope that you are loving the Ask Dr Cris show and if you would like to see more of the Ask Dr Cris Show please press subscribe.
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Dr Cris
Holistic Medical Doctor, Author ‘Healthy Habits, 52 Ways to Better Health‘
