Looking after your mental wellbeing

Stress can build up and its effects can be devastating. Liggy Webb looks at identifying the warning signs of burnout and how to take action.

Stress can build up and its effects can be devastating. Liggy Webb looks at identifying the warning signs of burnout and how to take action.

We are living in a busy age. Everyday pressures can build up and affect your stress levels and mental health without you being aware that it is even happening. This is especially true for people who have high-pressure roles.

Burnout can be insidious and have a detrimental effect. Burnout essentially is a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when people feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained and unable to meet constant demands.

While elevated stress isn’t a mental health problem in itself, it can often lead to anxiety and depression, as well as causing physical health issues, such as cardiovascular disease and joint and muscle problems.

How does stress affect you?

Understanding your own relationship with stress is fundamental in terms of your personal wellbeing.

What are your stress triggers?

Stress management starts with identifying your sources of stress and developing strategies in order to manage them better.

Lack of control, interruptions, frustration with technology, an overwhelming to-do list, changing priorities, information overload and other people’s behaviour are all common triggers. A constructive way to identify your triggers is to make a list of the situations, concerns stress response.

Take time to identify and write down some of the top issues you are experiencing in your life right now. You may notice that some of your stressors are events that are actually happening to you, while others may be your mind creating scenarios before they have actually happened.

What happens to you?

Too much stress in the body can trigger a range of physical and psychological responses. Everyone is unique and stress affects people in different ways – palpitations, headaches, energy dips and mood swings, to highlight just a few examples.

It is important to understand what happens to you so that you can identify the warning signs of burnout and do something about it.

How are you managing your stress levels?

Everyone has a different way of managing their stress levels. Some of the approaches you choose may not be helpful, such as alcohol, smoking, or comfort food. Focusing on healthier ways to manage your stress levels will be far more effective in the long term.

It is easy to make excuses and give in to reduced willpower. The first step to eliminating unhelpful coping mechanisms is to be aware of them and to start replacing them with something healthier. Exercise, getting some fresh air, drinking water, spending time with friends, taking up hobbies, having pets, mindfulness and music can all be effective and positive alternatives.

Here are a few ways that you can avoid burnout:

Establish healthy boundaries

Personal boundaries are essential to healthy relationships and managing unnecessary stress. Having healthy boundaries is about knowing and understanding what your limits are.

To set healthy boundaries you need to know where you stand by identifying your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual limits. You must consider what you can tolerate and accept and what makes you feel uncomfortable or stressed.

Boundaries are a sign of a healthy relationship and also a sign of self- respect. Putting yourself first also gives you the energy, peace of mind and positive outlook to be more present with others and be there for them. It is essential to give yourself the permission to set boundaries and work to preserve them.

Embrace mindfulness

The concept of mindfulness comes from Eastern spiritual and religious traditions. It is a key part of Buddhism and also appears in Hindu writings.

A great deal of scientific research shows that the mindful approach to stress, anxiety and mental health is a very helpful and popular way of dealing with and diffusing high levels of stress.

Mindfulness refers to being completely in touch with and aware of the present moment, as well as taking a non-evaluative and non- judgmental approach to your inner experience. It is essentially about noticing what is around you. So often, if you are not careful, you can find yourself racing through life and not taking the time to stop and relish the experience! What is the point of that kind of existence?

Take a technoholiday

It is becoming increasingly obvious that our world is developing an unhealthy attachment to technology and mobile devices.

FOMO, or ‘fear of missing out’, has been recognised as an emerging psychological disorder brought on by the advance of technology. This describes that feeling of anxiety, which many people experience when they discover that other people are having fun together or are being successful at something.

Subsequently, people make unhealthy and unrealistic comparisons to others. FOMO can manifest itself in various ways, from a brief pang of envy through to resentment and a real sense of self-doubt or inadequacy.

Almost everything social media or tech-related will work again if you unplug it for a while, including you!

Sleep well

Lack of good-quality sleep can affect your memory, judgment and mood. Stress levels can increase when the length and quality of sleep decreases. Sometimes you may find yourself lying in bed worrying and feeling anxious, which can make it almost impossible to relax enough to fall asleep.

The brain chemicals connected with deep sleep tell the body to stop the production of stress hormones. When you don’t sleep well, your body keeps producing those hormones. The next day, you may end up feeling even more stressed and then the following night you find it harder to fall asleep, and so the cycle continues.

Poor-quality sleep can take its toll on both your physical and mental health so it is essential to understand how to invest in quality sleep.

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Liggy Webb is a resilience and behavioural skills specialist, as well as an international consultant, including for the United Nations.