Anxiety and Burnout

Burning Out Matches
Anxiety and Burnout
It’s common to experiencing anxiety at a time of feeling burnt out because your stress hormone, cortisol, gets dysregulated. Cortisol is produced to help you deal with stressors in your life. When it is produced in higher levels, you will feel more stress and perhaps more anxious.

September stirs up various emotions; with school beginning and summer ending excitement, stress, and possibly some anxiety can come up. The possibility for burnout will skyrocket at different times of the year depending on what profession you are in. As a student, September is where the pressure begins, especially with students returning 'back to normal' and possibly being on campus for their first in-person classes since the pandemic. Cam's Kids Expert Panel Naturopathic Doctor, Dr. Lynne Racette, has stepped in to give us some very timely and educated answers that we encourage everyone to consider implementing. Overworking can lead to excess stress and possibly anxiety, which will leave us completely burnt out and unable to function mentally or physically. Let's prevent this together so that we can all have a successful rest of the school or work year! 

What is burnout, and are anxiety and burnout commonly found together?

Burnout is a real problem in our society and is the result of chronic stress. When you’re in a state of burnout, it’s hard to function well at school, at a job, or to show up and be fully present with friends and family. This can lead to feelings of exhaustion, irritability, decreased productivity, and feeling negative about your situation.

It’s common to experiencing anxiety at a time of feeling burnt out because your stress hormone, cortisol, gets dysregulated. Cortisol is produced to help you deal with stressors in your life. When it is produced in higher levels, you will feel more stress and perhaps more anxious. It seems that people who are prone to having anxiety are more prone to also developing burnout or experiencing burnout, and that feeling burnt out can exacerbate anxiety.

 

How common is burnout, and how can we cope in high-workload situations (school or work)?

We live in a very busy, stressful, on the go society trying to juggle school, work, and home life balance. Over time, this can affect us and lead to burnout if we aren’t careful and overcommit to things. The best strategy to cope with high workload situations is to establish a routine in advance that will help prevent or decrease the likelihood of being burnt out. Here are some suggestions for a good routine:

  • Go to bed and wake up at the same time every night, even on weekends if possible. This should include between 7-9 hours of sleep.
  • Set good boundaries for yourself by saying no when you’ve reached your limit
  • Eat on a regular basis, 3 meals per day, ensuring protein with every meal
  • Do something relaxing that fills your cup every day. This will look different for every person but might include: deep breathing, meditation, warm bath, journaling, listening to your favourite song, etc.
  • Reach out to someone you trust if you feel overwhelmed or burnt out. As humans, we are made to have connection and getting help or at least reaching out and talking to someone can really help prevent or decrease burnout.

 

Are there specific supplements you recommend for someone prone to anxiety & burnout?

Prevention is key for burnout. Being able to identify when you are heading into burnout or early-stage burnout will help stay on top of it. There are lots of natural health products available for both the support of burnout and the prevention of it. Selecting the right one will depend on symptoms and your specific situation, but some of my favourites for anxiety and burnout are adaptogenic herbs. These herbs help the body deal with the physiological changes that happen due to stress. They can also calm down the nervous system and help with anxiety. A lot of what these herbs have in common is that they restore the normal tone and function of what’s called the HPA axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis). Because of this, they help with some of the common symptoms such as improving fatigue, the immune system, improving sleep and concentration as well.  As with anything, please check with your healthcare provider before taking any new natural health products.

-Rhodiola:

  • Good balancing herbs that helps bring up energy levels while not being too stimulating. It helps improve the body's resistance to stress and can impact neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine.

-Ashwagandha

  • It tonifies the nervous system, has some calming properties as well. Is typically used to help improve energy, memory, and stamina.

-Theanine

  • Great at calming the mind and decreasing feelings of stress and anxiety. It creased both a sense of relaxation yet focus and wakefulness. It works through impacting and increasing alpha brain wave activity, the type of brain waves created during meditation.

-Lion’s mane  

  • As a functional mushroom, it is highly antioxidant but has been shown to improve memory, concentration as well as decrease impact of stress on the body.

To wrap up, we want everyone to have a successful and enjoyable school year. Burnout prevention will drastically create a positive experience throughout a quite often heavy workload in postsecondary studies. We hope you found this Expert Blog Feature by Dr. Lynne Racette helpful and encourage you to check out her contact information below or reach out via our Expert Panel page if you have any further questions. We are always happy to help; you are not alone!



Dr. Lynne Racette, ND

15930 Old Simcoe Rd. Unit 3, Port Perry, Ontario L9L 0A2

Phone: (905) 985-0444 

Website: drlynne.ca

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