\n<\/p>\n
O<\/span>nce, after surviving yet another round of redundancies in a former job, I did something very odd. I\u00a0turned off the lights in my room and lay face-down on the bed, unable to move. Rather than feeling relief at having escaped the axe, I was exhausted and numb. I\u2019m not the only one. <\/strong>Fatigue, apathy and hopelessness are all textbook signs of burnout, a bleak phenomenon that has come to define many of our working lives. In 2025, a report from Moodle found that 66% of US workers had experienced some kind of burnout, while a Mental Health UK survey found that one in three adults came under high levels of pressure or stress in the previous year. Despite the prevalence of burnout, plenty of misconceptions around it persist. \u201cEverybody thinks it\u2019s some sort of disease or medical condition,\u201d says Christina Maslach, the psychology professor who was the first\u00a0to study the syndrome in the 1970s. \u201cBut it\u2019s actually a response to chronic job stressors \u2013 a stress response.\u201d Here we separate the facts from the myths.<\/p>\n FALSE<\/strong> Exhaustion isn\u2019t the only key symptom \u2013 another is depersonalisation, or a sense of emotional detachment and cynicism. In medical staff, that might show up as compassion fatigue (leading to diminished empathy and increased irritability). For those not in healthcare, \u201cthey may find that it\u2019s hard to care as much about their colleagues\u201d, and their work, leading to feelings of irritation, says Claudia Hammond, the author of Overwhelmed: Ways to Take the Pressure Off. The\u00a0third sign is decreasing productivity and competence \u2013 whether real or perceived. \u201cYou get\u00a0less and less done, which can often result in feelings of great shame or guilt,\u201d explains burnout coach Anna K Schaffner.<\/p>\n TRUE<\/strong> The World Health Organization (WHO) doesn\u2019t consider burnout a mental health condition or illness. Having said that, \u201canxiety and depression can be signs of burnout\u201d, says Hammond, \u201cbut not everyone with burnout will be feeling as hopeless as people feel when they\u2019ve got depression.\u201d<\/p>\n FALSE<\/strong> While the WHO classifies burnout as an \u201coccupational phenomenon\u201d related to long-term, badly managed work stress, scientists are now expanding their research to include parents and caregivers. \u201cIt\u2019s a job that is incredibly emotionally draining, taxing and physically demanding,\u201d explains researcher and Burnout Immunity author Dr Kandi Wiens. \u201cRegardless of whether you\u2019re getting paid for it, that can all lead to burnout.\u201d<\/p>\n FALSE<\/strong> \u201cIf working hard cured burnout, so many of us would be cured,\u201d says Amelia Nagoski, the co-author of Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, who was hospitalised twice by stress-induced illness from their high-pressure musical conservatory. The syndrome can actually be an indication that you are overinvested in a job, notes Wiens. \u201cWe see this a lot with people who work for mission-oriented institutions or nonprofits. People who feel very passionately about their job will overly emotionally commit themselves; that can create emotional exhaustion.\u201d Paradoxically, loving your job can make it harder to recover from burnout. \u201cPeople often struggle to step away \u2026 If you didn\u2019t care, you wouldn\u2019t burn out,\u201d explains Prof Gail Kinman from the Society of Occupational Medicine.<\/p>\n <\/span>Set design: Millar Models. Michelangelo\u2019s David candles: Candle Monkey.<\/span> Photograph: Tal Silverman\/The Guardian<\/p>\n TRUE<\/strong> \u201cIt isn\u2019t the job itself that causes burnout,\u201d Kinman says. \u201cIt\u2019s often the way the organisation is managed and the support that people get.\u201d Research on healthcare workers has found that organisational factors play a much bigger role in burnout than the person themselves. These include intense workloads, long hours and lack of support and agency in decision-making. Maslach points out that any meaningful response involves re-evaluating work conditions. \u201cToo often the response is to figure out how to deal with burnout \u2013 rather than addressing chronic job stressors.\u201d<\/p>\n FALSE<\/strong> \u201cOne myth is that a very short break will make a difference,\u201d says Hammond. You need \u201ca\u00a0reasonable amount of time away\u201d, advises Kinman, but the length depends on the severity of the burnout. Most of Schaffner\u2019s clients recover with three to six months off work. While physical rest is important, she cautions against going into hermit mode and swerving social connection: \u201cDon\u2019t let your life shrink \u2013 make sure you reintroduce good things.\u201d If you can\u2019t take time out, try to build \u201cmicro-recoveries\u201d into each day to regulate your nervous system and stress levels. Avoid scrolling mindlessly on your phone \u2013 try listening to music, doing some chair stretches or looking at family photos. \u201cIt could be something as simple as a walk outside for two to three minutes,\u201d Wiens suggests.<\/p>\n FALSE<\/strong> \u201cPeople used to talk about type A personalities who worked all the time and had heart attacks in their 40s,\u201d says Maslach. We now know why. Soldiering on can mean gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal and cardiovascular problems. The Harvard physician and author of The 5 Resets Dr Aditi Nerurkar experienced this herself when she developed heart problems during medical training. \u201cI thought: \u2018Stress doesn\u2019t happen to people like me, I\u2019m resilient.\u2019 Now we know that that\u2019s scientifically untrue \u2013 resilience, while protective, is by no means preventive for burnout.\u201d<\/p>\n FALSE<\/strong> \u201cBurnout has become a buzzword,\u201d Nagoski acknowledges, but decades after it was first observed by Maslach, \u201cthere\u2019s overwhelming evidence that burnout is becoming more and more common\u201d. According to TUC research, a\u00a0\u201cperfect storm\u201d of factors is to blame, including intensifying work demands, chronic staff shortages, worsening work-life balance and the use of surveillance tech to monitor productivity. People are\u00a0also feeling the effects of an economically and politically unstable, screen-obsessed world, says Schaffner: \u201cWe live in worrying, wearing times.\u201d The\u00a0idea that burnout has been weaponised to avoid work is one Maslach strongly rejects: \u201cIt\u2019s easier [for\u00a0employers] to say there\u2019s something wrong with staff, they\u2019re weak and lazy, and they don\u2019t want to work, rather than saying: \u2018What would make the work more doable?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n FALSE<\/strong> You can experience physical side-effects such as muscle tension, headaches, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure and more. That\u2019s because stress is an age-old biological response designed to help escape emergencies like running away from a\u00a0predator. The problem is when the body is placed under chronic stress, explains Kinman: \u201cThese adaptive responses tend to become maladaptive and\u00a0cause all kinds of problems.\u201d<\/p>\n FALSE<\/strong> Not necessarily. Broadly speaking, Schaffner says, you have three options: leave; improve your working conditions; adapt by prioritising your wellness \u2013 or a combination of the last two. That can\u00a0mean tackling perfectionism, putting down boundaries or scheduling downtime. \u201cStudies have found that even just 10-minute breaks can make an incremental difference in your brain and your body,\u201d says Nerurkar. But don\u2019t beat yourself up if it doesn\u2019t work. \u201cSometimes people are in horrific working environments that are making them ill,\u201d Schaffner explains. \u201cThey can have all the self-mastery skills in the world and it won\u2019t help. If I discover that [with my clients], they need to get out.\u201d<\/p>\n FALSE <\/strong>\u201cThe data right now shows that about 76% of people experience burnout,\u201d says Nerurkar. <\/strong>That doesn\u2019t mean that everyone has it severely enough to need months off work. \u201cProper burnout is a really serious and existentially threatening condition,\u201d says Schaffner, in which sufferers \u201care chronically tired, but continue to be high-functioning at work at a really high cost\u201d. At its worst, she says, those with burnout \u201csometimes can\u2019t even get out of bed and suffer brain fog, meaning they can\u2019t read or write any more\u201d.<\/p>\n TRUE AND FALSE<\/strong> This depends. If your case was related to work hours, then reducing them may alleviate early symptoms \u2013 though not if it comes with the expectation that the same amount of work still needs to be done. \u201cReducing workload may help a\u00a0little bit if they\u2019re able to use that time to reconnect to the things and people they really love,\u201d cautions Wiens, \u201cbut not if they\u2019re just getting thrown back into a work environment that\u2019s not healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n TRUE AND FALSE<\/strong> If, by \u201cthe same job\u201d, you mean the exact same work environment, then no. People can make a full return, but adjustments such as tweaking your job spec, seeking occupational health support or a gradual ramp back up to work may be necessary. If that\u2019s not possible, it may be time to wave goodbye. \u201cOne woman I interviewed said it very well: she finally realised that she could not recover in the place that was making her sick,\u201d says\u00a0Wiens.<\/p>\n FALSE<\/strong> Practices such as yoga or breathwork may help calm a stressed-out nervous system, but no amount of savasana will compensate for a toxic workplace. \u201cBurnout is a very complex phenomenon,\u201d says Nerurkar. \u201cFocusing on a little bit of breathing is not going to do it.\u201d Other than eliminating the chronic stressors in your job, there are some smaller things you can do: protect your sleep; minimise screen time; introduce some form of movement into your daily life. Wiens encourages her clients to revisit the people and experiences that made them happiest. \u201cPositive reconnections help people change their perspective on the work environment,\u201d she explains. \u201cThey suddenly start to see they have options that they might not see when they\u2019re immersed in it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Once, after surviving yet another round of redundancies in a former job, I did something very odd. I\u00a0turned off the lights in my room and lay face-down on the bed, unable to move. Rather than feeling relief at having escaped the axe, I was exhausted and numb. I\u2019m not the only one. Fatigue, apathy and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44538,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[12843,4986,37,613,4072,364,11913,6200],"class_list":{"0":"post-44537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-burnout","9":"tag-facing","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-heres","12":"tag-meltdown","13":"tag-people","14":"tag-suffer","15":"tag-wellbeing"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=44537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/44538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=44537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=44537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=44537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Burnout is just tiredness<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Burnout is different from depression or\u00a0anxiety<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Only weak or unmotivated people get burnout<\/strong><\/h2>\n
It\u2019s not a personal failing<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Taking a holiday will fix burnout<\/strong><\/h2>\n
You can push through if you try hard enough<\/strong><\/h2>\n
People <\/strong>use burnout as an excuse to\u00a0avoid work<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Physical symptoms aren\u2019t part of burnout<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Burnout is a sign you need to quit your job<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Everyone\u2019s a little burnt out<\/strong><\/h2>\n
You can fix burnout by reducing your work\u00a0hours<\/strong><\/h2>\n
You can\u2019t return to the same job if you\u2019ve already burnt out<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Breathing exercises\/meditation\/yoga will solve burnout<\/strong><\/h2>\n