Most of us experience some degree of unhealthy stress, overwhelm, even burnout at times.
Healthcare professionals can be especially vulnerable, but people in various careers and professions also have these experiences.
In this article, coaches, psychologists and others provide information and suggestions to help us manage physical and emotional health better.
[The image above is from article Getting past overwhelm and distraction as a highly sensitive person.]
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What is Burnout? by Zarya Rubin, MD
Zarya Rubin, MD: “Okay, so what is burnout? There’s this cute little infographic, Venn diagram that shows the intersection between exhaustion, cynicism, inefficacy – kind of the perfect storm of different elements combining.
“Now I pulled the W.H.O. Definition cuz people are like, ooh, the W.H.O. Is recognizing burnout. But I gotta admit I don’t love it.
“According to the W.H.O, it’s classified as a workplace condition and not a medical condition, not a disorder. I really disagree with that.”
She adds in a podcast interview: “It’s not just work-related stress that can contribute to feelings of burnout. The household chores, long shifts, and a lack of much free time can also play a role.”
Dr. Zarya is a Harvard trained MD turned functional medicine health coach.
Continued in article (with podcast episode) How to manage emotional exhaustion and burnout with Zarya Rubin MD.
Brief clip of Dr. Rubin audio: Burnout is not just from job stress
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What is Burnout? by University of California Television, with Dr. Larissa Thomas.
“There’s actually a formal definition of burnout. It’s an intuitive definition but it has three domains: Emotional exhaustion, Cynicism and depersonalization, Feelings of ineffectiveness.”
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Coping with Stress and Burnout
“Stress can produce harmful conditions if it becomes a constant in our life. When under constant stress, the body’s ability to rest and recuperate is minimized and even nullified. If you find yourself in a perpetual stress mode (chronic stress) a completely different result occurs, it’s called burnout.
“While burnout is technically a form of stress, it is important to note a clear distinction between the two.
“With stress, various short-term solutions can help a person navigate through and recover quickly.
“However, once a person experiences burnout, their body faces complete exhaustion and fatigue that cannot be “cured” by resting alone. Those who suffer from burnout can experience issues such as:
Insomnia
Inability to concentrate
Lack of emotion regulation
Brain fog …
See article for more, including TIPS FOR COPING WITH STRESS AND BURNOUT :
Coping with Stress and Burnout By Sofia Schuringa, BA Psych, ADMH, RHNC, Online-Therapy.
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How to improve your memory under burnout and stress
Burnout and memory
“Based on Muse’s 2022 Brain Health Report, Americans ranked memory as the most important aspect of brain health.
“If you’ve been experiencing burnout, you might be inclined to believe that it’s detrimental to your memory. On the other hand, you might recall moments of high stress or pressure when you surprisingly performed better and succeeded.
“As it turns out, both cases of the effects of burnout on memory are true.”
Read “7 tips to improve your cognitive abilities and combat burnout and stress” – and more – in post by Stephanie Hsu on the Muse Brain Sensing Headband site: How to improve your memory under burnout and stress.
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Burnout At Work
In her article on this topic, Stephanie Hsu writes:
“Difficulty concentrating. Low motivation. Not wanting to pull yourself out of bed as the morning rays peak through your window. Getting a bad case of the Sunday Scaries before Monday rolls around.
“If you’ve experienced burnout from chronic stress at work, research suggests you’re not alone.
“According to a report published by global management consulting company McKinsey, 49% of workers reported feeling at least some occupational burnout.” [1]
She notes that although the pandemic “saw increasing levels of burnout as work/life boundaries became blurred, this is by no means a “pandemic problem.”
She points out the term “burnout” was used in 1974 by psychologist Herbert Freudenberger, who said burnout is “the extinction of motivation or incentive, especially where one’s devotion to a cause or relationship fails to produce the desired results.” [2]
7 Practical Approaches to Manage Burnout
“When it comes to managing burnout, there are two approaches to consider: personal and organizational. Often, burnout can not be addressed only by taking a personal approach. Burnout is rooted in an organization’s structure, culture, and how it takes care of its employees.”
Continued in article Burnout At Work: 7 Practical Approaches To Managing Burnout by Stephanie Hsu, Muse.
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Many creative people are highly sensitive – a temperament or traits that can include emotional challenges of anxiety and overwhelm.
Julie Bjelland, LMFT is a psychotherapist and author specializing in the trait of high sensitivity (sensory processing sensitivity), and a highly sensitive person herself.
She explains how our brain function can lead to overwhelm: “We’re taking in so much information in our brains, if you think about it.
“Maybe a non-HSP, someone who doesn’t have this trait, might be taking in just a few tubes of information throughout the day, and as HSPs we are taking in fifty to a hundred tubes of information.
“We also have to process things very deeply – that’s part of how our brain is.”
See longer video and much more in article: Why can we feel overwhelmed and tired as a highly sensitive person?
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Michaela Chung writes about this topic: “When you’re an introvert like me, you spend a lot of time feeling overwhelmed.
“Who can blame you? Introvert overwhelm is a natural side effect of being an introvert in an extrovert’s world.”
Psychiatrist Joseph A. Annibali notes how highly sensitive people may have evolved during human history, and some of the positive aspects of the trait:
“Easily overaroused individuals would be better able to detect and warn of potential danger, better monitor animals and other humans, and more able to pass along cultural wisdom.”
Read their suggestions on coping in article How To Deal With Overwhelm.
Chung is author of The Irresistible Introvert: Harness the Power of Quiet Charisma in a Loud World.
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Overwhelm can be based on having too much input to deal with, and so many inner and outer ideas and sensations.
Heather Dominick is a coach and mentor for Highly Sensitive Entrepreneurs.
She writes: “One of our many Highly Sensitive Entrepreneur (HSE) Strengths is the ability to be Visionary.
“The Shadow side of this awesome Strength is massive distraction.”
Read more and hear audio podcast in article How to deal with distraction and overwhelm as a highly sensitive person.
Here is an excerpt from the podcast:
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How to deal with worry – often part of emotional overwhelm
Disrupt Worry
“Worry tries to convince the mind that it has some value, but in reality it has never solved anything.
“To disrupt the worry habit you need to not only interrupt it, you need to replace it with something productive to establish a pattern change.”
See more in article How to Disrupt Worry on the HeartMath site – technology to enhance mental & emotional well-being.
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Neurofeedback for stress and burnout reduction
An article reports that a 2023 study from the Mayo Clinic “showcased significantly reduced stress and burnout by 54% and improved quality of life and cognition among Health Care Professionals when using Muse [EEG feedback headband] to support mindfulness techniques.
“In this 26-week study, 40 dedicated HCPs were equipped with Muse S devices…that provide real-time feedback on brain activity, promoting focus and centering during meditation practice.
“The study revealed that Muse S significantly reduced stress levels (P<.001) and markedly improved resilience (P=.02), quality of life (P=.003), and cognition (P<.001) among the participating healthcare professionals.”
Read more: New Study: Mindfulness Using a Wearable Brain Sensing Device for Healthcare Professionals During a Pandemic to Manage Burnout by Summer Martin, Muse, May 29, 2023.
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Biofeedback and neurosignaling devices can support physical and emotional health by helping you meditate, relax more deeply, relieve anxiety and stress, and enhance focus.
Read more and see videos in article:
Biofeedback and Wearable Tech for Stress, Meditation and Fitness
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Worry and anxiety can fuel overwhelm
Paula Prober specializes in counseling and consulting with gifted adults, youth, and families.
In an article she notes:
“Perhaps you thought that if you were smart, you wouldn’t be a worrier. If you were smart, you’d know all of the answers.
“You wouldn’t have to be anxious because you could think your way out of any problem.
But, she continues, “Your very active rainforest mind is able to dream up so many things to worry about. Less complex minds may worry less because there isn’t as much thinking.
“With you, there’s lots of thinking. And if you’re highly creative? Watch out. Even more worries.”
From my article Gifted, Talented, Creative, Anxious.
Prober is author of Your Rainforest Mind: A Guide to the Well-Being of Gifted Adults and Youth – “Do you long to drive a Ferrari at top speed on the open road, but find yourself always stuck on the freeway during rush hour? Do you wonder how you can feel like ‘not enough’ and ‘too much’ at the same time?”
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Therapist Sharon M. Barnes works with creative, sensitive, intense, intelligent people.
She comments about some of the qualities and challenges she sees in her practice of many years:
“Creativity and creative expression can be fun but can also be a great burden. Creative ideas show up whether we have time to pay attention to them, or do anything with them or not.
“They also often arrive in tandem or multiples, and the creative person has to choose which idea gets to see the light of day.”
See more in article Emotional Health for Creative, Gifted, Highly Sensitive People.
Sharon Barnes says in an article on her site:
“It’s crucial to stop pretending that you’re keeping up, doing fine when you’re not – and admit it as soon as possible.”
“Do you feel stretched too many directions at once?
“Have too many demands on your time and energy?
“Get impatient with your CASIGY (Creative, Acutely Aware, Super-Sensitive, Intense and/or Gifted You) body because it is so sensitive, so reactive?
“Get tired of having so much creativity that no one person could EVER carry out all your ideas?”
“Do you find yourself feeling overwhelmed when life gets hectic-and that’s much too often?”
She continues, “Is creative expression essential to your sense of well-being?
“Is daily time alone crucial to your inner balance? Do you quickly get overwhelmed when there’s lots of noise and activities going on?
She assures us that our “creativity, sensitivity or intelligence are gifts that the world sorely needs, not anomalies to be obliterated, and declares “It IS possible overcome your overwhelm without losing your creativity or your sensitivity.”
Dr. Barnes notes, “As elementary as this sounds, we often try to skip over it. It is essential to admit it when you’re overwhelmed.
Read her article “Seven Steps To Overcome CASIGY Overwhelm” (MAY 18, 2018) and others in the blog section of her site:
Sharon M. Barnes, Therapist For Sensitive And Gifted
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Douglas Eby (M.A./Psychology) is author of the The Creative Mind series of sites which provide “Information and inspiration to help creative people thrive.”
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