A Leaders Coping Strategy: A Holistic Approach To Burnout That Can Dramatically Decrease Physical And Mental Stress Symptoms With In 30 Days

Burnout is not simply excessive stress. Rather, it is a complex human reaction to ongoing stress, and it relates to feeling that your inner resources are inadequate for managing the tasks and situations presented to you.

If the stress you are experiencing is headed toward burnout, you may be experiencing feelings of hopelessness, powerlessness, cynicism, resentment and failure — as well as stagnation and reduced productivity.

Leaders who see their jobs as intense, highly demanding, and stressful might try to push themselves even harder once they feel the effects of burnout. They will try to balance numerous roles, multitask, and respond to a variety of changing and challenging situations often at the expense of their own well-being.

Initial responses to burnout include heightened feelings of anxiety followed by a need to do more by stepping up the pace—working harder, longer, and faster. They feel like they're running on a treadmill that won't stop.

To prevent or treat burnout, you must become familiar with its symptoms and identify possible causes. Once the causes are identified, developing a holistic approach which gives you physical, mental, emotional and spiritual coping strategies can alter how you experience stress.

If these strategies can be easily woven into the fabric of your daily life, it is possible you can dramatically reduce stress from this point forward. People suffering from burnout, however, often need assistance identifying the causes and taking the appropriate actions. This is where a medical evaluation and a competent leadership coach can be of value.

Physical Strategies: Exercise, Nutrition and Sleep

Physical strategies are those actions you can take today that will change how your body experiences stress. Exercise, nutrition and sleep are three strategies that when employed together short circuit the stress cycle.

Here’s how:

Exercise 30 minutes or more a day

Exercise is good for both the body and the mind. Therefore, by exercising you can also include it as a mental coping strategy and receive a double bang for your effort because it provides a way for the body to release tension and pent-up frustration.

According to a report printed in the Journal of the American Medical Association, whenever we encounter a stressful event, our bodies undergo a series of hormonal and biochemical changes that put us in ‘alarm mode.’ Our heart rate increases, adrenaline and harmful hormones rush through our blood stream, and our digestive and immune systems temporarily shut down. If the stressors continue and we stay on high alert for a prolonged period of time, we experience exhaustion, more illnesses due to a weakened immune system and burnout.

Recent research on aging identifies cortisol as the body’s stress hormone. The more of it you have, the more stressed you feel and the more susceptible you are to a host of burnout-related symptoms. Cortisol is naturally produced by the adrenal glands. It interferes with learning and memory and is, in general, bad news for your resistance to disease and your well-being.

Aging researchers have also identified an important stress coping hormone called Dehydroepiandrosterone or DHEA. DHEA is also produced by your adrenal glands and is a precursor, or source ingredient, to virtually every hormone your body needs. DHEA level is a key determinant of physiological age and resistance to disease. When levels are low, you're more susceptible to disease; when they're high, the body is at its peak—vibrant, healthy, and able to combat disease effectively.

DHEA acts as a buffer against stress-related hormones such as cortisol, which is why as you get older and make less DHEA you are more susceptible to stress and disease. DHEA levels increased when cortisol levels decreased. Therefore, by exercising to reduce cortisol levels you are also naturally boosting the DHEA levels you have without supplementation. In this way you are helping your body to rebuild and repair itself naturally.

Nutrition

Eat well
Reduce caffeine and sugar
Avoid alcohol and drug use

Healthy eating and taking a daily well-rounded and complete multiple vitamin fuels your mind, as well as your body. So again, this is strategy that will give you double impact.

When your stress levels are high, be mindful of what you put in your body. Take time to eat breakfast in the morning, and consume small snacks between meals that supply around eight grams of protein and under 15 carbohydrates per snack. The goal is to maintain level blood sugar.

The stress hormone cortisol spikes hunger and disrupts another important hormone, insulin. This is why many chronically stressed people seem to gain weight. And they notice that their weight gain is around their middle showing up as stored belly fat.

Likewise, eating several balanced, nutritious meals throughout the day will give you the energy to think rationally and clearly. Well-nourished bodies that receive 10 to 12 servings of brightly colored fruits and vegetables and adequate protein a day are better prepared to cope with stress and fend off illness.

Another nutritional strategy includes avoiding caffeine and sugar. In excessive amounts, the temporary “rush” they provide often results in fatigue later and a weakened immune system.
In the book, Caffeine Blues, the author explains that caffeine punches your already exhausted adrenal glands to produce more cortisol. He says drinking coffee is like stepping off a curb in front of a bus. Sure you wake up, but at what cost?

By drastically reducing your caffeine intake or eliminating it altogether, you’ll feel more relaxed, less jittery or nervous, and you’ll sleep better. In addition, you’ll have more energy, less heartburn and fewer muscle aches. The simple solution for a burned out coffee drinker is to cut back to one cup a day and supplement with proven products that help your body produce its own energy from the inside out.

So if you feel tired, take a walk. Refresh yourself by breathing deeply. And, reach for a protein and carbohydrate balanced snack like half an apple and a handful of walnuts with a tall glass of water. Drinking a minimum of fifty ounces of pure water daily will help neutralize the excess acid your body produces when stressed. And the balanced snack will keep your blood sugar level.

Finally, don’t self-medicate with alcohol or drugs. While consuming alcohol or drugs may appear to alleviate stress, it is only temporary. When sober, the problems and stress will still be there. Don’t mask the issue at hand; deal with it head on and with a clear mind.

Sleep

Helps your body make more DHEA
Helps your body recover from stress

Your body has a sleep cycle. Too much alcohol, poor eating habits and not enough exercise disrupt your precious sleep cycle. When you are unable to reach the deep brain wave patterns below your dreaming sleep cycle state, your body is not able to restore your DHEA levels and other important body rebuilding and repair hormones like melatonin.

Melatonin is a hormone that helps to create restful sleep. And since we make less of it as we age and during episodes of high stress, the inability to sleep soundly can dramatically decrease the quality of your life and greatly accelerate the aging process and lead to burnout. New research also reveals that melatonin is a powerful antioxidant that helps to defend the body from a weakened immune system.

During sleep your body is recovering from the stress of life. Without adequate and proper sleep, (approximately 7 to 8 hours a night) you may not fully recover from each day’s activities. You may feel fine on a few hours sleep, but this does not mean your body is not stressed by lack of adequate and proper sleep.

So to dramatically improve your state of health whether you are overstressed or experiencing burnout sleep well, exercise and eat right. These three physical strategies can halt your slide into burnout.




A Leaders Coping Strategy: A Holistic Approach To Burnout That Can Dramatically Decrease Physical And Mental Stress Symptoms With In 30 Days - To learn more about this author, visit Dianne Crampton's Website.

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