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Table of Contents
Definition
Symptoms
Burnout vs. Depression
Take the Burnout Quiz
Risk Factors
Effects
Prevention and Treatment
Next in How Stress Impacts Your Health Guide
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Is your job making you exhausted? Does the thought of dragging yourself to work fill you with dread? Or have you reached the point where you just don’t care about your job anymore? If so, you might be experiencing burnout—a type of work-related exhaustion that can bleed over into other areas of your life.
Burnout is a type of exhaustion that can happen when you faceprolonged stressthat eventually results in severe physical, mental, and emotional fatigue.
Excessiveworkplace stressfor prolonged periods can lead to burnout.However, it can also happen in other areas of life where you face too much stress for too long, such as when dealing with caregiving, relationship, parenting, or financial challenges.
So, what does burnout look like, exactly? Symptoms of burnout include feeling exhausted, empty, and unable to cope with daily life. If left unaddressed, your burnout may even make it difficult to function. Keep reading to learn more about the physical and mental symptoms of burnout, factors that may increase your risk, and a fewrecovery strategies.
Verywell / Brianna Gilmartin
Signs You’re Burning OutRecognizing the signs can help you better understand whether the stress you are experiencing is impacting you in a negative way. Here are a few to look for:Gastrointestinal problemsHigh blood pressurePoor immune function (getting sick more often)ReoccurringheadachesSleep issuesConcentration issuesDepressed moodFeeling worthlessLoss of interest or pleasureSuicidal ideationFatigue
Signs You’re Burning Out
Recognizing the signs can help you better understand whether the stress you are experiencing is impacting you in a negative way. Here are a few to look for:Gastrointestinal problemsHigh blood pressurePoor immune function (getting sick more often)ReoccurringheadachesSleep issuesConcentration issuesDepressed moodFeeling worthlessLoss of interest or pleasureSuicidal ideationFatigue
Recognizing the signs can help you better understand whether the stress you are experiencing is impacting you in a negative way. Here are a few to look for:
What Does Burnout Mean?
More simply put, if you feel exhausted, start tohate your job, and begin to feel less capable at work, you are showing signs of burnout.
Most people spend the majority of their waking hours working. So, if you hate your job, dread going to work, and don’t gain any satisfaction from what you’re doing, it can take a serious toll on your life.This toll shows up via burnout symptoms.
Symptoms You Might Be Experiencing Burnout
Burnout isn’t adiagnosable psychological disorder, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be taken seriously. Burnout symptoms can affect you both physically and mentally. Feeling burned out can contribute to mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, and the ongoing stress you are experiencing can take a massive toll on both your physical and mental health.
Physical Burnout Symptoms
When you experience burnout, your body will often display certain signs. Research indicates that some of the most common physical burnout symptoms include:
Chronic stressmay be felt physically in terms of having more aches and pains, low energy levels, and changes in appetite.All of these physical signs suggest that you may be experiencing burnout.
Health Risks of BurnoutChronic stress is associated with a wide range of negative health complications and outcomes, including heart disease, weight changes, depression, high blood pressure, and irritable bowel syndrome.Researchers have also connected stress-related disorders to an increased risk of death.
Health Risks of Burnout
Chronic stress is associated with a wide range of negative health complications and outcomes, including heart disease, weight changes, depression, high blood pressure, and irritable bowel syndrome.Researchers have also connected stress-related disorders to an increased risk of death.
Mental Burnout Symptoms
Burnout also impacts you mentally and emotionally. Here are some of the most common mental symptoms of burnout:
If you are having suicidal thoughts, contact theNational Suicide Prevention Lifelineat988for support and assistance from a trained counselor. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.For more mental health resources, see ourNational Helpline Database.
If you are having suicidal thoughts, contact theNational Suicide Prevention Lifelineat988for support and assistance from a trained counselor. If you or a loved one are in immediate danger, call 911.
For more mental health resources, see ourNational Helpline Database.
Burnout shares symptoms with some mental health conditions, such as depression.Depression symptomsalso include a loss of interest in things, feelings of hopelessness, cognitive and physical symptoms, as well as thoughts of suicide.How can you tell if what you are feeling is burnout versus depression?
The key differences center on where and when you experience symptoms. Burnout symptoms tend to be focused on work (or the specific challenge you’re dealing with), while depression tends to affect all areas of your life.
If you are depressed, you’ll experience negative feelings and thoughts about all aspects of life, not just at work.
If this is how you feel, a mental health professional can help. Seeking help is important because individuals experiencing burnout may be at a higherrisk of developing depression.
Are You Feeling Burnt Out? Take the Quiz
Try our fast and freeburnout quizto find out if some of the things you’ve been feeling may be a sign of burnout.
Factors That Put You at Risk of Burnout
People who work in certain stressful professions sometimes have a higher risk of burning out, but having a high-stress job doesn’t always lead to burnout. You may not experience these ill effects if your stress is managed well.
However, some individuals (and those in certain occupations)are at a higher riskof having burnout symptoms than others. It often comes down to how you manage your stress and the support you have in your life.
For instance, a 2019 National Physician Burnout, Depression, and Suicide Report found that 44% of physicians experience burnout.Of course, it’s not just physicians who are burning out. Workers in every industry at every level are at potential risk.
According to a 2018 Gallup report, there are fivejob factors that can contribute to employee burnout:
The stress that contributes to burnout can come mainly from your job, but stressors from other areas of life can add to these levels as well. For instance, personality traits and thought patterns such asperfectionism,neuroticism, andpessimismcan contribute to the stress you feel.
Other Causes of Burnout
Other factors that can contribute to burnout include:
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Burnout Can Have Serious Effects
Chances are, you probably have a pretty good idea of whether you are burned out or not. So what happens if you don’t take steps to address those feelings of exhaustion, disconnect, and distress? If left untreated, burnout symptoms can lead to:
You Might Feel Alienated From Your Work
Individuals experiencing burnout view their jobs as increasingly stressful and frustrating. You may grow cynical about your working conditions and the people you work with. You might also emotionally distance yourself and begin tofeel numbabout your work.
You May Become Emotionally Exhausted
Over time, untreated burnout symptoms can cause you to feelemotionally drainedand unable to cope. You might find it harder and harder to deal with problems at work and at home. When you get home from work, you may be so fatigued that you don’t have the physical or mental energy to engage in other activities that are part of your home life.
Your Performance at Work Can Suffer
Burnout affects everyday tasks at work, or in the home if your main job involvescaring for family members. Individuals with burnout symptoms feel negative about tasks, have difficulty concentrating, and often lack creativity. Together, this results in reduced performance.
How to Prevent and Treat Burnout
Although the term “burnout” suggests that this may be a permanent condition, it is reversible. If you arefeeling burned out, you may need to make some changes to your work environment.
How to Deal With BurnoutDiscuss work problems with your company’s human resources department or your supervisor.Explore less stressful positions or tasks within your company.Take regular breaks.Learn meditation or other mindfulness techniques.Eat a healthy diet.Get plenty of exercise.Practice healthy sleep habits.Consider taking a vacation.
How to Deal With Burnout
Discuss work problems with your company’s human resources department or your supervisor.Explore less stressful positions or tasks within your company.Take regular breaks.Learn meditation or other mindfulness techniques.Eat a healthy diet.Get plenty of exercise.Practice healthy sleep habits.Consider taking a vacation.
Approaching human resources about problems you’re having or talking to a supervisor could be helpful if the company is invested in creating a healthier work environment. In some cases, a change in position ora new jobaltogether may be necessary to begin to recover from burnout. If you can’t switch jobs, it may help to at leastswitch tasks.
It can also be helpful to develop clear strategies to help you manage your stress.Self-care strategieslike eating a healthy diet, getting plenty of exercise, and engaging in healthy sleep habits may help reduce some of the effects of a high-stress job.
A vacation may offer you sometemporary relieftoo, but a week away from the office won’t be enough to help you beat burnout. Regularly scheduled breaks from work, along with daily renewal exercises, can be key to helping you combat burnout.
Social support is also critical. This can come from various sources, including coworkers, friends, family, and mental health professionals. If you are struggling to find the type of support you need, consider joining an in-person or online support group where you can talk about your challenges and get encouragement from people with the same type of experience.
If you are experiencing burnout and are having difficulty finding your way out, or you suspect that you may also have a mental health condition such as depression, seek professional treatment.Talking to a mental health professionalcan help you discover the strategies you need to feel your best.
How to Prevent Burnout
12 Sources
Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
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