Habits That Can Help You Recover From Burnout And Fatigue?

You are here:

The year may have felt like a slow start (because January never ends), but we are pretty much in May and we’re left wondering how time has flown by! Getting to the summer months, however, does not mean we would have had a smooth year until now… We love bringing up a health topic occasionally because we think it’s the most important thing in life, and of course, it would affect your decision making for your housing concerns.

One of the craziest things about stress, you may not notice it in a person just by looking at them. And most traditional doctors wouldn’t even determine anything is wrong. That’s the worst part about stress; you know you feel off, but you don’t always get answers or validation from doctors or even people close to you. So how do you get yourself to start feeling better, when it all feels like it’s crashing down?

As completely counterintuitive as it sounds, extreme cardio and intense workouts can actually cause you to gain weight when you’re chronically stressed or suffering from fatigue, according to holistic health experts. Plus, they can leave you feeling completely depleted and exhausted—the opposite of what you’re hoping to feel after a workout.

When your already elevated cortisol levels due to chronic stress combine the cortisol spikes from daily cardio sessions (especially long, steady-state cardio), you’re essentially creating a ‘fat trap’. These intense workout sessions make your body to think you’re in fight-or-flight mode, constantly. So in response, it holds on to extra calories and stores fuel as body fat; a good thing when you’re trying to survive in the desert, but not in today’s North America.

Start taking long walks and doing more strength training and yoga. This will help balance your energy and as a positive side effect, it won’t make you crazy-hungry like you may feel after a tough cardio session.

Speaking of yoga, chances are you’ve heard that it helps you conquer stress. It’s true more often than not! But how? Getting your body into those weird twisty poses and breathing through the discomfort teaches you how to deal with discomfort and stress in real life situations. Amazing, huh?

And to the least fun part: you may need to have a serious audit of your diet. This may include lots of fruits, veggies, fish, lean protein, healthy fats, while cutting down on sugar and empty carbs as much as possible.

Going out with friends and events regularly can also induce stress, because you want to see everyone and not miss out on anything… but it can burn you out. The older you get, the more time you’ll need to rest and stay at home, to save energy for the important stuff! Depending on your personality, it can be mentally draining to be out and about all the time.

Did we mention sleep yet? It’s just as important as all the above (and the last paragraph). Getting to bed early enough is probably the most important factor in getting a good night’s rest. Even with the busy lives we lead, calling it quits by 9.30pm with technology and social activities and in bed by 10 can help us get up at a good time in the early morning and feel good about ourselves. After all, a good night’s sleep will get you going with ease the next day, which in itself will allow you to finish early enough to repeat the cycle!

And to finish off, this brings up one more important topic – self care. This does not mean using crazy products to make you feel relaxed, but also the necessary alone time to just be yourself, rest your mind and body, and maybe plan the few days and weeks ahead. And this can surely happen days in a row, it’s not just an occasional thing.