Burnout is quickly becoming a more evident problem for workers in the modern age. What signs should you look out for and can CBD help?
The Burnout Epidemic – How to Avoid & Does CBD Help?
With the events of recent years, burnout has become a staggering problem.
If you find yourself constantly stressed, feeling overwhelmed and exhausted, disillusioned, and helpless, you very well could be on the road to burnout. Most often nowadays, burnout is thought to be just a problem generated by the workplace, but in truth, burnout can be caused by a variety of things including everyday life. Find out what some of the signs of burnout can be and how you can try to avoid or help lessen them.
What is burnout?
Burnout is a state of exhaustion that affects our mental, physical and emotional health, often caused by excessive and prolonged periods of stress. It can occur when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demands. For this reason, it's commonly associated with work where you are most likely to be in demanding situations.
The problem with burnout is it has a tendency to not only make you feel negative effects but impact your everyday life. Not to mention the potential physical problems that can occur after long periods of experiencing stress and burnout.
Differences between stress and burnout
Although burnout can be caused by experiencing a lot of stress, there is a difference between being over-stressed and being burnt out. The act of being over-stressed usually involves ‘too much’. This could be too many pressures, and too much demand on you physically and mentally, but stressed people can often imagine that if they can get control over the situation, they’ll feel better.
Burnout, however, is more about ‘not enough’. Not having enough energy and feeling mentally exhausted, not caring enough, and feeling empty or devoid of motivation. Those that experience burnout often don’t tend to see a positive change in their situation. You are also more likely to notice that you are under a lot of stress than you are to notice burnout feelings.
Some of the early signs of burnout to look out for
One of the most common early signs of burnout is a loss of enthusiasm for work. Everyone gets stressed and frustrated at work from time to time, but when it's increasingly negative to the point you start feeling cynical and resentful towards work, you could have burnout.
Another is exhaustion and we’re not talking about just feeling tired, but being persistently tired which remains even after resting, is a sign of being mentally and emotionally drained. If you feel low on energy and frequently overwhelmed you are likely to notice physically, you also feel run-down all the time.
Because of all these factors, you may notice that you have difficulty concentrating and are less efficient. You have work assignments that end up being repeatedly turned in late or find them harder to do than normal, or perhaps you have grown forgetful. These are just a few more common signs that could mean you have burnout.
Other potential signs include worry and anxiety, sleep problems, physical problems like headaches and muscle aches, plus irritability and mood swings.
What to do if you think you may be burnout
One thing you should certainly do if you feel like you may be suffering from the effects of burnout is to seek expert advice. Contacting your local GP or mental health practice will help you deal with the issues and learn ways to combat them in the future.
For the early stages of burnout, you can try a few pointers for helping stop or deal with the early signs.
1. Set boundaries – start and finish work at a reasonable time and be regular about it. Take breaks throughout the day. Set aside some time each day to completely disconnect from technology (see our article on unplugging for more tips on this). Make sure to take your holidays and switch off from work on evenings and weekends.
2. Maintain a healthy work/life balance – if you’re stressed it's easy to forget about spending time with loved ones or friends. Make sure to set yourself time for these quality interactions be that either taking a day off work or schedule in a relaxing evening.
3. Perfectionism isn’t healthy – if you try to be a perfectionist, you’re more likely to suffer from burnout as it puts high demands on yourself. Does everything need to be perfect? Often the answer is no. Think through what it is that you’re trying to do perfectly; what is the worst possible outcome if you don’t and how likely is that to be? If you’re struggling with this however then talking with a therapist could help you.
4. Look after yourself – this could be from the above by setting out time for yourself and leisure time, it could be eating healthy after all good food can help benefit mood, and exercise is a great way for releasing stress.
CBD use and burnout
There has been some research conducted on CBD for use with burnout with some promising results. Although more research will be necessary to gauge all the benefits and potential problems, the possibilities are promising. Regardless, CBD in the UK is sold solely as a supplement, vape or cosmetic product and should not be used as a treatment for any medical conditions. What we do know though, is that CBD is well tolerated within our bodies and works with our ECS (Endocannabinoid system).
Some users claim to note the beneficial effects of using CBD for things such as relaxing and unwinding, but it should not be used as a means for dealing with issues such as burnout.
You may, however, alongside therapy that is a great way for learning to deal and cope with burnout, wish to try CBD. If you have any experiences with CBD and/or burnout, let us know in the comments below.
