Burnout and Your Health: Recognizing the Signs and Restoring Balance

Key Takeaways

• Burnout is a state of chronic physical and emotional stress and overwhelm that can negatively affect your mental and physical health. 
• Symptoms of burnout often include fatigue, trouble sleeping, mood changes, digestive issues, and reduced motivation or focus.
• Recovery and prevention strategies, such as rest, setting boundaries, practicing self-care, and seeking support, can help protect you from future burnout, as well as your health and happiness.

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If you’ve been feeling constantly drained, emotionally checked out, or just not yourself lately, you may be experiencing burnout. While burnout isn’t a diagnosable medical condition, it’s a state of physical and mental exhaustion that's becoming increasingly common in today’s fast-paced, always-on world. 

In the American Psychological Association’s 2023 Work in America survey, 57% of American workers reported negative impacts of work-related stress associated with burnout.¹ Whether you’re juggling a demanding job, managing a busy household, or both, prolonged stress can take a serious toll on your overall health. 

In this article, you’ll learn what burnout is, and how it’s different from other mental health conditions, how it impacts your mental and physical health, what you can do to recognize the signs, and steps you can take to start feeling better. 

What Is Burnout?

Burnout is more than just feeling tired or overwhelmed; it’s a syndrome resulting from chronic stress, often related to work, but can include other stressors like trauma, caregiving, or the accumulation of all of life’s responsibilities as well. It’s identified by feelings of exhaustion, mental detachment from the stressor, a lack of motivation to perform well, and negative feelings related to your job, caregiving, or life in general. 

Burnout typically results from prolonged stress related to work, caregiving, or trying to juggle too many responsibilities simultaneously. When that stress goes unmanaged for too long, your energy, mood, and performance can take a serious hit. While it’s not a diagnosable medical condition, burnout is recognized in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) as an occupational phenomenon, often related to job burnout and unsupportive work conditions.²

At the start of the pandemic, burnout became significantly more prevalent across all job categories, with teachers and healthcare workers experiencing the highest rates related to overwork, shortages, and high stress from a rapidly changing healthcare system and working environment.³ 

Several years later, workplace stress and burnout remain alarmingly high. Not only does burnout impact productivity, but it can also have significant and serious impacts on your health, well-being, and overall quality of life. 

Mental Health Implications of Burnout

Burnout doesn’t just leave you feeling tired and worn out; it can deeply affect your mental health if you let it go on for too long. Research shows that people experiencing burnout are twice as likely to develop depression and face a significantly higher risk of anxiety as well.⁴  

In one study, over 37 percent of social workers (a career with high levels of burnout) reported moderate to severe anxiety, with many also struggling with depression and low overall mental well-being.⁵ Other careers often prone to burnout include healthcare professionals, firefighters and other first responders, delivery drivers, and laborers, who also experience high rates of anxiety and depression.⁶

The emotional exhaustion associated with burnout has been linked to difficulties with memory, focus, and even decision-making.⁴ Over time, this ongoing stress can make it harder to cope with all of life’s stressors, leading to a cycle of worsening mental health. 

Without the right support, burnout can increase the risk of long-term mental health conditions, taking time off work, or leaving your job. But with early recognition and coping strategies, you can recover and get back to feeling like your motivated, joyful self. 

Metabolic Health Consequences of Burnout

Burnout doesn’t just affect your mood and mental health. It can also take a serious toll on your body. When you’re under constant stress, your metabolism, digestion, and hormone balance can get thrown off, leading to significant and sometimes chronic health problems. 

Hormone Imbalances

Chronic stress from burnout can disrupt your hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the system that controls your body’s stress response. This imbalance may manifest as low morning cortisol levels, altered hormone ratios, or a blunted stress response, thereby affecting your body’s ability to manage energy, inflammation, and recovery.⁷ These hormonal shifts can then make it more difficult to cope with stress, fueling a cycle of burnout. 

Increase Risk of Chronic Disease

Research shows that burnout raises the risk of several chronic conditions, including hypertension, heart disease, and can even increase the risk of type 2 diabetes by 84 percent.⁴ One meta-analysis found that burnout increases the risk of heart disease by up to 27 percent and has a significant link to prehypertension and hospitalizations related to heart health.⁸

Physical Symptoms

Burnout can show up in the body in surprising ways. Common symptoms of people experiencing burnout include fatigue, trouble sleeping, digestive issues, such as nausea or bloating, back pain, and headaches.⁹ In fact, people with burnout are two to nine times more likely to report these symptoms, even when accounting for anxiety or depression, which can each lead to similar physical symptoms on their own.⁹ The catch is that the more physical symptoms someone experiences, the more likely they are to experience burnout, perpetuating the cycle once again. 

Recognizing the Signs of Burnout

If you’re used to pushing through stress, burnout can sneak up on you, as the early signs often feel like just another symptom of stress or overwhelm. Be on the lookout for low energy, feelings of exhaustion, and increased irritability. As burnout builds, the symptoms begin to differentiate from stress, as you may start to experience ongoing fatigue, sleep problems, a lack of motivation, brain fog, a disconnection from work, responsibilities, and activities you usually enjoy, along with physical symptoms such as headaches or stomach issues.¹⁰ Emotionally, you might feel detached, cynical, or like you’re just going through the motions. Catching these signs early can help you take action to recover before the situation worsens. 

Strategies for Recovery and Prevention

Recovering from burnout begins with giving yourself permission to slow down and prioritize your mental and physical well-being. That might mean taking breaks, setting firm boundaries around work or caregiving, and asking for help when needed. Rest, good nutrition, regular movement, and quality sleep are all essential strategies for healing and recovery. 

Mindfulness practices, therapy, and stress-reducing techniques, such as deep breathing, can also make a significant difference and should be incorporated into your recovery and prevention plan regularly. Being consistent with your self-care and prioritizing a healthy work-life balance with activities that fill your cup will help build resilience during high-stress or busy seasons. 

The Bottom Line

Burnout is more than just stress. It’s a serious health concern that affects your mental, emotional, and physical well-being. By learning to recognize the signs early and taking intentional steps to rest, recover, and prevent ongoing stress, you can protect both your mind and body. Remember, burnout isn’t a sign of weakness; it’s a sign that something needs to change. 

Learn More With Signos’ Expert Advice

Burnout and metabolic health are closely linked, and understanding how your body responds to stress, including changes in blood glucose levels, can help you better care for yourself. See how Signos can help you take charge of your health with real-time information on how your body responds to food, stress, movement, and sleep.