Is social distancing getting in the way of your social engagement and facilitating a profound level of burnout? Studies have shown that burnout, not just work-related burnout, but burnout in general, has a lot to do with a lack of social engagement.
Having experienced burnout myself, and hearing a lot about it in recent months, I decided to do a little investigating and try to get some guidance on what exactly burnout is and how we can counteract it. Most of the research that I found talked about mindfulness and various other forms of meditation, and how helpful they can be for burnout, but that is not the guidance that I received. Based on this guidance, I have found that while burnout is a form of stress, it is also much more complicated to address.
Like I mentioned above, burnout is a form of stress and does have a physiological component as well as mental and emotional components. It is true that mindfulness and other forms of meditation can be extremely helpful in reducing overall stress, reducing the sympathetic nervous system reaction, and activating the parasympathetic response. And any conversation about stress has to include at least a basic understanding of the autonomic nervous system and how we understand this autonomic nervous system to break into two components, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic. The sympathetic nervous system directs the body’s rapid involuntary response to dangerous or stressful situations. The parasympathetic nervous system is the opposite. It slows everything down to normal to conserve energy. The way that the nervous system carries out these messages is through the vagus nerve. “Vagus” means “wandering,” and is an appropriate name for this nerve because it wanders through the body and sends signals between the brain and the rest of the body. There is much to know about this vagal nerve and how critically important it is in how we handle stress. If stress in general is of interest to you, I encourage you to do a deeper dive, as I did, and research this topic for yourself.
My intention in writing this blog is to speak about burnout in particular, and how it is a very specific form of stress that may even be considered traumatic stress. What seems to be impacted when we become “burned out” are our levels of oxytocin. Oxytocin is very important in bonding and sustaining bonds with other people and animals. It was interesting to me to discover that social engagement is extremely helpful in reducing burnout, and that, for many, social engagement can activate something called “eustress,” which is a positive attribute of stress.
This eustress can counteract the negative stress of burnout. Negative stress can be thought of as fight, flight, or freeze. When we get to the point of burnout, we are actually in the freeze response, which can also be thought of as shock. Shock has many detrimental qualities that can negatively impact the physical body. This is why burnout can mimic depression, extreme fatigue, confusion or lack of focus, apathy, and a general feeling of unease. I like an explanation that I heard about the fight, flight and freeze response which compared it to a traffic light. Yellow is fight or flight, because yellow can mean stop or go, and the freeze response is red. Yellow and red represent parts of the sympathetic nervous system. Green is the parasympathetic response—when we feel safe—and this is where we can most effectively engage socially, which allows us to heal from burnout.
I am encouraging all of you to reach out as best as you can to each other during social distancing to try to avoid burnout. Try to connect with each other in different ways. Meet with your family and friends on Zoom or Google Hangouts. Go to a park with friends, but put your chairs in a circle six feet apart, and wear your masks. Try to eat at a restaurant to support a local business, either outside, or get take out if they cannot allow onsite dining yet. Try to feel a deeper connection with nature by hiking and camping. Do things you love and enjoy; for example, gardening or creating art.
Whatever you do, be sure to protect your mental and emotional health as well as your physical health during this very stressful time. In this week’s newsletter, I recommended the stone kyanite and the essential oil bergamot for the stress of burnout. I also recommend the stone rose quartz and the essential oil cardamom for facilitating a greater feeling of connectivity with people, animals, and nature.
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