LGR Holistic Wellness

Burnout is a physical and emotional problem that many people deal with today. Regardless of what you do in your day, whether you are employed or running your own business, or you are a stay-at-home parent, burnout can strike anyone.

If you experience burnout you may feel overly tired, get sick a lot, have tension headaches, experience muscle pain, and have trouble sleeping. Burnout can also cause self-doubt, lack of motivation, and negative thoughts.

You can overcome or prevent burnout in several ways, but if you feel overwhelmed about where to start, here is a tip for you – exercise!

How Exercise Can Help With Burnout

Aside from keeping you physically fit, exercise induces the release of feel-good hormones (your endorphins), which can lift your mood and ease feelings of anxiety and depression. Exercise also helps remove toxins from the body and that helps you gain more energy.

Here are some of the benefits of exercise for combating burnout.

Exercise Helps In Reducing Your Stress Levels

Exercise is one of the best ways to practice self-care and reduce stress. It helps protect the body from the harmful effects of stress. When the stress response is triggered, the body releases stress hormones that increase heart and respiration rates and shut off body functions that are not immediately critical, such as digestion.

These functions happen to make the body better able to physically respond more dynamically. When you exercise you are fulfilling the natural stress cycle and doing so uses up and dissipates the stress hormones as nature intended.

When you don t, the stress hormones stay in your bloodstream and continue to adversely affect your body. If you experience subsequent stress triggers without respite, you are setting up a cycle that becomes chronic stress. So exercise benefits stress release in multiple ways by using up the stress hormones and pumping up your endorphins, making you feel good, improving your mood, and helping you relax. It is like relaxing while you are in motion.

As you repeat your exercise movements, it releases the tension and helps you stay calm and focused on the activity rather than the irritations you may have felt throughout the day. Exercise also helps you sleep better. When you get quality sleep at night, you wake up feeling good. You are in a better mood and feel energized, so you are more capable of managing any stress.

Exercise Enhances Your Sense of Well-Being

Exercise can help boost your mental health. Some of the common symptoms of burnout are feeling unmotivated, lacking self-confidence, and feeling depressed. Exercise can give you a substantial amount of rejuvenation well after your workout. You will feel better and more motivated to do the things you enjoy.

Regular exercise also helps you to feel more in control of your life, which can boost your self-esteem and coping ability. It also boosts your mental resilience, so you are more equipped to tackle the challenges of burnout.

Exercise Boosts Your Energy

Exercise gives you more energy, allowing you to tackle your daily chores and prevent burnout. It helps deliver oxygen and nutrients to different parts of the body, aids the cardiovascular system in working more efficiently, and improves muscle strength and endurance.

When you have good physical strength, you have an edge in battling fatigue, which is a common sign of burnout, and remember that your physical health and mental well-being are interconnected. Whatever you are feeling physically can manifest in your mental and emotional well-being and vice versa. You may be familiar with the mind-body connection!

What Exercises Can Help You Combat Burnout?

There are various exercises that you can do to stay fit and healthy. When dealing with burnout, it is recommended that you do aerobic exercises, strength training, and mind-body exercises.

Aerobic exercises, such as running, swimming, and jogging can help the brain prevent and overcome burnout and mental exhaustion. It helps your brain recover, allowing your cognitive processes and nervous system to function more efficiently. Try to get at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercises throughout the week.

Strength training, such as weight lifting, push-ups, and resistance training can increase muscle strength and endurance, promote heart health, and improve brain health. Aim to do strength training exercises that target all major muscle groups twice a week.

Mind-body exercises, such as yoga, tai chi, and meditation are also effective in reducing burnout. They can help improve your mental resilience while strengthening your body, improving your flexibility, and building your confidence.

In Summary

Burnout happens gradually, and exercise can help you combat the negative effects of burnout by making you healthy, both physically and emotionally. However, don t rush or stress yourself further. Exercise when and where you can. Give your body time to adjust to increased physical activities.

Once you have, make sure you incorporate exercise into your daily routine as staying healthy is one of your best defenses against burnout.