There’s nothing better than a good night’s rest, especially after a long day. But there is a big difference between being tired and feeling burnt out. It is important to not normalize feelings of burnout. While tiredness is a normal part of your body’s daily rhythm, burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion.
Prolonged and excessive stress is typically the cause of burnout, and work-related burnout is especially common. To successfully mitigate it, you must commit to long-term changes in lifestyle, work habits, and mindset. As Black women continue to deal with record levels of stress, it’s important to cultivate healthy and protective habits that support rest and self-care.
If you are constantly feeling exhausted throughout the day, you might be experiencing burnout.
Tiredness Versus Burnout
It’s important to distinguish between tiredness and burnout. On the surface, you could describe both as feelings of sleepiness, but they are quite different. Research shows that adults should typically sleep between seven and nine hours a night. Signs of sleepiness include heavy eyelids, blurred vision, nodding off, difficulty thinking or making decisions, irritability, and frequent yawning.
However, burnout is something more. It typically involves feelings of high emotional fatigue, as well as physical and mental exhaustion. You might feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands for extended periods of time.
When you are experiencing burnout, you might find it difficult to care about things that were once important to you or to engage in meaningful activities. You might also begin to experience an increasing sense of hopelessness.
Indicators to Look Out For
There are physical, emotional, and behavioral effects of burnout. Physical exhaustion can look like frequent headaches, stomachaches, fatigue, and changes in appetite or sleep. You might also experience frequent illness. You might find yourself constantly bedridden or catching colds.
Emotionally, burnout might look like decreased satisfaction. You might experience feelings of helplessness or cynicism toward work or daily habits. You may also feel a sense of failure or self-doubt. Common questions you ask yourself include: “What is wrong with me?” “Why am I failing?” “Why can’t I handle this?”
Behavioral effects might include feelings of detachment, withdrawal, isolation, or loneliness in the world. You might experience a lack of motivation, increased procrastination, or a reduced performance in everyday tasks.
What Causes It
It might not come as a surprise, but work-related stress is the most common cause of burnout. Any person with prolonged levels of chronic stress and pressure that creates overwhelm might experience burnout.
In the workplace, you might have little or no control, not receive proper recognition, and face overly demanding job expectations. Work might be monotonous and unchallenging or chaotic and high-pressure.
Studies show that new moms, caregivers, and people with demanding household responsibilities are also more likely to experience burnout. Burnout is also common in people with perfectionistic, conscientious, and reliable personality traits. Other common personalities likely to experience burnout are people who have a pessimistic worldview, who need to be in control, or are high achieving.
How to Deal With It
Adapt Destressing Strategies
It is important to rest and calm your brain. Actively pursue rest and respite. This might look like taking a daily break from screens, setting aside time for “quiet” hours, and setting boundaries. Learn to say “no” more. A candle cannot light the darkness if its wick is burned down to the bottom.
Reframe Your Perspective
It is important to address the root of burnout, which is often work-related stress. Evaluate how you think about work and your home life, and choose to reframe. Separate your personal sense of value from what you do while also finding the meaning in your work.