5 Mistakes People Make When Recovering from Burnout (And What To Do Instead)
Why the usual advice doesn’t work
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Why the usual advice can be dangerous ❗️
A reason I got burned out was because I ignored my body and intuition for so long. In order to start to trust my gut again and regain a sense of an internal compass, I had to rest. A few weeks after my first burnout episode I decided it was time to take a solo trip back to the U.S. and see family until I felt better and could get my head on straight. Honestly, it wasn’t much of a decision. It got to the point where I couldn’t function in daily life.
The longer you ignore your body’s warning signs, the longer the recovery period is going to be. If you've just gone through a burnout episode, the best thing you can do is rest. Doing nothing and relaxing is possibly the best antidote to recovering from burnout, where you were likely always in the process of doing something that you didn’t want to. That could mean a few days to a week, or like in my case more than six weeks of leave.
The usual advice tells you to get therapy, get plenty of exercise, and take lots of supplements. Perhaps if you are having more severe symptoms to even get prescription medication. Some people might even suggest you continue to work and “manage your burnout symptoms” while slowly recovering. This advice is well-intentioned, but it can be misguided. In fact, there are times when some advice out there can be dangerous.
Why? First, it’s usually better to do less, not more. Adding lots of different treatments and supplements can actually put more stress on your body. Second, the type of recovery protocol to follow depends on where you’re at in your burnout journey, along with other factors like your age, sex, and medical history. It’s important to keep all of that in mind before trying a bunch of stuff.
Here are a few common mistakes people make when trying to recover from burnout, how to avoid them and alternatives you can consider.
Mistake #1: Exercising too often 🏋️♂️
Exercise is good for you, right? Not always. When you’ve been severely burned out, it can actually make things worse. It’s counterintuitive, but studies show that aerobic exercise either had no effect on burnout recovery, and in some cases actually prolonged recovery time!
The reason exercise is not effective is because your body needs to recover, and adding more physical stress through exercise doesn’t actually help. Your body is very much like an athlete who’s over-trained – depleted in vitamins and exhausted (Ever heard of an athlete “pushing their adrenals?” Same thing). Specifically, there can be some dysregulation in your adrenal glands and HPA-Axis. These things need time to rebalance.
Note: This recommendation is for people who feel drained and depleted, who are likely at the latter stages of burnout or already burned out (see the 12 stages of burnout here). The time this advice doesn’t apply is when you feel extremely stressed and overly anxious (earlier in the burnout journey) – in which case more exercise can be beneficial.
What you can do instead:
Go for walks. Hippocrates, the Greek physician, described walks as “man’s best medicine” and often prescribed walks to his patients. As a serious runner, at first I found it a little bit disheartening that I would be too tired to run. But I could plug in an Audiobook or podcast during my walks and feel pretty energized afterward. Try walking barefoot as an added bonus to make your feet happy. 🙂
Play! At a very basic level, one reason I got burned out was because I was taking life too ‘effin seriously. Getting in touch with my inner child was an important part of healing. That could be painting, dancing, making music (strumming a ukulele, like I did for a month), cooking, flying kites, bowling, coloring books, legos, woodwork, pottery, and whatever else you did as a kid.
Relaxation techniques. You can try hatha yoga and simple breathing techniques like box breathing or Tummo. Get a massage. Try acupuncture. Chiropractors can be great, too, and I found myself both recovering physically and emotionally, releasing a lot of emotions during my weekly chiropractic sessions.
Mistake #2: Taking a Bunch of Supplements 🌿
It can be tempting to read about burnout and then go out and buy a bunch of supplements that are supposed to “fix you”. I would tread carefully. First of all, all of our bodies respond differently. Personally I am more sensitive to certain supplements and have to take small doses. And I found out that I am allergic to Lion’s Mane mushrooms, which sucked. Second, you don’t really know if you need those supplements, and there are times when they can make you feel worse.
In fact, I remember at one point I was taking 7 or 8 supplements a day that were recommended to me by a naturopath, but not feeling better. When I stopped taking them, the next day I immediately felt my body relax. That’s not to say there isn’t a place for supplements. I have used them and they can be useful for recovery. What I would recommend is going to a clinic to get some basic blood and hormone tests. This will point you in the right direction, instead of shooting blindly and taking a bunch of random supplements. (My zinc and B vitamin levels were low, so I started eating oysters and supplement in pill form)
What you can do instead:
Get tested. Schedule an appointment at your clinic. You can use an online service like Wellness.fx to get a comprehensive blood and hormone panel. Speak to a clinician for their recommendations and interpretation of the results.
Try to go natural. If you do find any imbalances, which you probably will, I would recommend trying to get these nutrients and to rebalance with your diet. You can really find everything you need from whole foods, it’s going to be a lot more fun than popping a bunch of pills.
Prioritize sleep, sunshine and nutrition. Get plenty of sunshine every day, and if you can’t then get a red light therapy device like the Joov or a 10,000 LUX light. Eat whole foods. Get as much sleep as you can and forget about the alarm. These three tactics, if done consistently, should reduce the need for extra supplementation.
How does stress mess with your nutrients? 💡
During periods of prolonged stress, it’s very common for your body to experience depletion of essential nutrients. When I took further tests with another doctor, they found that I had low levels of zinc and B vitamins. Other nutrients that typically get depleted are magnesium, iron, niacin and calcium.
Lower magnesium and zinc concentrations have been confirmed in people with other disorders including depression, of which stress can be a major trigger. Magnesium and zinc have antidepressant and anti-stress effects, as I quickly discovered when I received a vitamin-IV injection loaded with magnesium – I felt incredible for the rest of the day and more balanced during the week.
Before you start to supplement, it’s important to establish what’s depleted, so see a clinician to get these tests ordered.
Mistake #3: Low-Carb Diet and Fasting 🥑
I am a huge fan of ketogenic diets (high fat, low carb) and long-term water fasting. In fact, every year I do multiple 5-day water-only fasts, and most of the time maintain an intermittent fasting schedule with a low-carb diet. The health benefits of these strategies are well-documented, and include sharper thinking, DNA repair, and improved immune function, to just name a few. But…
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