HealthyLife Articles

Tag: burnout

Prevent Burnout 2

Work Life

You can get burnout from work or anything that takes more energy than you can give. Burnout is not a one-time event. It builds up over time.

To prevent burnout:

* Reduce long work hours, if you can.

* Delegate tasks at work and at home to lessen your load.

* Take regular 5-10 minute relaxation breaks during the day.

* Do regular physical activity.

* Eat healthy foods at regular times.

* Get enough sleep.

* Plan one or more vacations during the year.

* Don’t work on your vacation.

Discuss, with your family, friends, and coworkers, problems you are having. Talking helps to ease feelings of frustration that feed burnout.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Know The Red Flags Of Stress

SUCCESS OVER STRESS

Everyone has stress in their lives. But when high levels of stress go on for too long, it takes a toll on the body. Is stress taking a toll on your health? If it is, don’t ignore it. This is a chance to find healthy ways to tackle stress before the problem becomes worse.

The following are some “red flags” or signs that your stress levels may be too high.

* Muscles feel tense and sore. You have a sore back or neck. You are getting tension headaches or migraines.

* Your heart feels like it’s beating faster. Your palms are sweaty.

* You are breathing shallow, quick breaths.

* You have more heartburn or acid reflux than usual.

* Your stomach feels upset or you have vomiting or diarrhea.

Other effects of stress are harder to notice. Stress can affect reproductive hormones, which can disrupt a woman’s period. In men, it can cause reduced fertility. Both men and women may have lower sexual desire. Stress can also raise your risk of a heart attack if it’s ignored for too long.

If you notice warning signs of stress, it’s a sign that you need some extra care. Talk to someone you trust, your doctor or a mental health professional.

Self-harm or thinking of suicide

Wanting to hurt yourself is a medical emergency. Go to a hospital, call the National Suicide Hotline or call 9-1-1 right away if you have these feelings. If someone you know says they want to die or talks about suicide or hurting themselves, get them help right away. Most people who commit suicide tell someone about it before they attempt to do it.

National suicide hotline: 1-800-273-TALK

Sources: American Psychological Association, National Institute of Mental Health

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Why You Need A Vacation

WORK LIFE

If your time off is accruing year after year, you might be missing out on one of the secrets to being a good employee.

It’s time to take a vacation! While many people are reluctant to be away from their jobs, a vacation can make you a better employee.

Vacations are refreshing

A week off can leave you feeling rested and energized. You’ll be ready to dive into work with renewed vigor.

Good for mental health

Taking a break from your daily routine allows your mind to let go of stress and anxiety. When you return to work, you might find you have a better mental outlook.

Increase productivity

Studies have shown that people who take regular vacations are more productive when they return. Time away might be just what you need to become even better at your job.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Prevent Burnout

Stress Management

Recognize and treat early signs.

Burnout isn’t something that happens overnight. It occurs over time from repeated and unresolved frustration or constant pressure to perform or achieve. With burnout, you feel exhausted, worn out, and detached from others. You feel as if you have nothing more to give and simply do not care about anything. Burnout puts your job, your relationships, and your health in jeopardy.

Ten tips to prevent burnout:

1. Set career and personal goals that can be achieved.

2. Follow healthy eating and sleeping habits.

3. Exercise daily – At least 30 minutes most days of the week.

4. Try not to spread yourself too thin. Delegate tasks at work and at home.

5. Reduce long work or study hours, if you can. The more you do and the less you rest, the more likely burnout will occur.

6. Take regular five to 10 minute relaxation breaks. Take mental breaks from stressful situations, too. Learn to meditate. Practice relaxation techniques.

7. Make time for leisure activities that you enjoy and look forward to.

8. Get creative with a hobby or activity that has nothing to do with work.

9. Manage stress through meditation, yoga, or therapy.

10. Plan a vacation one or more times a year. Leave your work at home!

Signs on the road to burnout:

* Too much work, not enough relaxation

* Feeling as if you have no control over your job

* Anger

* Fatigue

* Sleep problems

* Escaping through alcohol, drugs, TV, eating, or gambling

* Avoiding making decisions

* Negative view of yourself and the world

Also, some traits increase the risk for burnout. These include the need to be in control, wanting everything to be perfect, and being a workaholic.

Action Step

Discuss feelings and problems you are having with your family, friends, and coworkers. Talking helps ease feelings of frustration that can feed burnout. If things do not get better, get professional help.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Manage Job Stress

Work Life

Job stress causes a worker to feel overly taxed both mentally and physically. It affects both workers and employers.

What Causes Job Stress?

* Too much work to do. Conflicting expectations.

* Lack of support from co-workers and bosses.

* Crowded, noisy, unsafe work conditions. Infrequent rest breaks.

* Rapid changes for which workers are not prepared. Job insecurity.

If not dealt with, job stress can lead to health problems.

Signs & Symptoms of Job Stress

* Hard time concentrating. Headache.

* Sleep problems. Stomach problems.

* Short temper.

* Job dissatisfaction. Low morale.

* Increase in being late for work or not going to work.

Ways to Manage Job Stress

* Schedule your time and tasks to be done. Use a calendar, planner, “TO DO” lists, etc. Rank order tasks. Break tasks down into steps. Check off items that are done.

* Organize your work space to make it easier to find things. Get rid of items and e-mails that you don’t need.

* Ask for help from your boss and co-workers, as needed. Ask your boss for the order in which your job tasks need to be done.

* Take breaks. Get enough sleep.

* Leave work at work. Try not to take work home. If this is not possible, take as little work home as you need to.

* Plan for and take vacations that give you a rest from work.

* Relax as much as you can.

Resources

National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

800.CDC.INFO (232.4636)

www.cdc.gov/niosh

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

800.321.OSHA (321.6742)

www.osha.gov

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Stress Relief For Caregivers

Mature Health: Over Age 50

If you’re the primary caregiver for a spouse, parent, or other relative, you face a tough challenge. Here’s what you can do to make the workload easier.

* Set up the sickroom on the main floor, so you don’t have to continually go up and down stairs.

* Purchase or rent equipment that will make caregiving easier. Examples include an electric hospital bed, an over-bed table, and a walker or wheelchair.

* Keep clean bed linens, towels, washcloths, hand lotion, drinking cups, and other supplies in or near the sickroom.

* Develop a daily schedule and stick to it.

To reduce the stress of your ongoing responsibility:

* Delegate some tasks to family and friends.

* Investigate community services that provide transportation, deliver meals, and provide other kinds of help.

* Enlist the services of a home health care agency. The social service or discharge planning department of your hospital, Social Security Administration, local agency on aging, county public health department, or your physician, can refer you to an agency in your area.

* Plan to get out of the house to shop or socialize at least one day a week.

* Find out if the cost of hiring help to care for someone at home is covered by your medical insurance provider, Medicaid, or Medicare. The Veterans Administration may be able to provide financial assistance for veterans’ medical or nursing care.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Are You Driving Yourself To Burnout?

SUCCESS OVER STRESS

Commuting length, distance, and means are stress factors that can lead to burnout, said Annie Barreck of the University of Montreal’s School of Industrial Relations.

By car:

No surprises: the bigger the city, the more stressful the commute, at least for people traveling by car. Passengers are more likely to be stressed out than drivers because carpooling reduces the passenger commuters’ sense of control, which causes them more stress before they’ve even arrived at work.

By public transit:

People with long commutes from rural areas via bus or train connections are stressed about uncontrollable delays. The stress carries over into the workplace. But transit users in major urban areas are less likely to have symptoms of burnout.

By bike or on foot:

Biking is also a mixed bag that is determined by the area the commuter is working in. Commuting by bike in the suburbs is more stressful than biking in the city where cyclists and walkers have access to safety features such as cycle paths and pedestrian crossings, which increase their sense of control over their commute.

Study findings show that the risk of burnout increases significantly when a commute lasts more than 20 minutes. Above 35 minutes, all employees are at increased risk of cynicism toward their job. Barreck believes this should lead employers to adopt flexible commuting arrangements.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Caregivers: Take Time For Yourself

FAMILY LIFE

There’s no doubt: caregiving is a stressful job. If you help take care of an aging, ill, or disabled loved one, you are a caregiver. And although caregiving may take up a lot of your time, you need to make time for yourself too, says the Family Caregiving Alliance.

If you’ve been trying to juggle caregiving with your other commitments, it’s time to take a moment and think about your own needs. If you keep doing things for others without taking time for yourself, your health and entire life could suffer. Caregivers of all ages can be prone to the following problems:

* Depression or anxiety

* High stress levels

* Poor quality sleep or not sleeping enough

* Unhealthy diet choices

* Lack of exercise

* Not getting needed health care for themselves

* Financial problems

* Feeling isolated and alone

These factors together can create health and personal problems. Before you reach the point of burnout, try to find a way to get a break from caregiving. Think about what would relax you and help you recharge. Is it a lunch date with a friend? An aerobics or yoga class? A walk through the park? A soak in the tub? Whatever it is, you deserve the time to do it.

How to find the time

Not sure how to find time for yourself? Talk to others who can help out. Ask friends, neighbors, or family members to step in for just an hour or two so you can have a break. Or, if you can, have your loved one spend some time at an adult day care or respite center. If others have offered to help in any way, learn how to say, “Yes, that would be great,” and accept their offer. Many caregivers mistakenly think they need to do it all themselves – don’t!

Many people feel guilty leaving their loved one for even a short while. But remember, you need to recharge yourself so you can be the best caregiver possible. You’re doing it for others just as much as for yourself.

Talk to others

Many caregiver support groups are available online and in local communities. Connecting with others who understand can go a long way in helping you feel better. The local Area Agency on Aging (AAA) is a good place to start. Some support groups are online, while others offer in-person meetings. Choose what is right for you.

Remember:Taking time for you is not being selfish. It’s a necessity. You deserve some time to take care of your own needs. It will allow you to be the best you can be in all areas of your life.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Enjoy Every Moment

SUCCESS OVER STRESS

The idea of enjoying each moment may be good for your health, say scientists at NIH. Yes, but how? The idea is called mindfulness. This ancient practice is about being completely aware of what’s happening in the present.

Becoming more mindful-instead of going through life on autopilot-requires commitment and practice:

*Take some deep breaths.Breathe in through your nose to a count of 4, hold for 1 second, exhale through the mouth to a count of 5. Repeat often.

*Enjoy a stroll.Notice your breath and the sights and sounds around you. As thoughts and worries enter your mind, note them but then return to the present.

*Practice mindful eating.Be aware of taste, textures, and flavors in each bite. Listen to your body when you are hungry and full.

*Find mindfulness resources.Yoga and meditation classes, mindfulness-based stress reduction programs, and books are helpful.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026
Go On An Email Diet

SUCCESS OVER STRESS

Each day, 55 billion emails are written. How many of those do you receive? Email can be extremely useful for work and socializing but managing the never-ending electronic stream can cause anxiety and even legal problems and financial risk. “It has taken over our professional lives in many ways,” said Marty Siegel, associate dean of the Indiana University School of Informatics and author of The E-Mail Diet Book. “That’s really the danger, that we’re spending so much time just reacting to the next email message rather than focusing on what’s most important to do to move our work goals forward.”

Siegel offers these tips to help you shed unwanted emails and take control of your emailing habits:

* Don’t respond to everything right away. Allocate certain times during the day to look at email and stick with the plan. “Some people think it’s only polite to respond to email immediately, or they need to instantly respond to appear on top of things,” Siegel said. “This is where the addiction begins.”

* Use spam filters. Spam filters come with most email programs and services. If used, they can help prevent unwanted emails and potentially dangerous phishing attempts from clogging inboxes and claiming our attention.

* Have at least two email accounts. He recommends having one email account for work and another for personal use. This will help reduce spam on the work account if this account is never disclosed during online shopping or in other instances when email addresses are requested.

* Read it or move it. “There’s something incredibly powerful about getting down to the point where you have no messages in your inbox,” Siegel said. He suggests creating an “unread messages” folder in your email program. Move most of your email into it. Then, go through the remaining emails in the inbox and respond or delete them.

* No “thanks.” Don’t send needless email responses. Like just saying “thanks” for an email. It just adds to other people’s email problems.

* Never send email when angry. “That’s the worst thing you can do,” Siegel said. Email sent in anger can be misread, sound sarcastic or rude and might be intentionally mean. This can create bigger problems by providing something in writing that can be recorded and end up in court. If you have to respond, suggest a live meeting so nothing is in writing, or send yourself a draft of the email first and then read it 24 hours later. “Often when you look at these, you think, ‘This is so silly,’ and you delete it,” Siegel said.

© American Institute for Preventive Medicine

January 23, 2026