Burnout is an emotional overload, often mistakenly seen as a mental illness, which occurs mainly after or during a sustained overload. Many patients describe a burnout as “someone pulled the plug from outside”. Every person’s mental and physical capacities are limited, but every person has his or her own limit at an individual non-measurable value.
During long lasting stress the human body has to adapt to this “extreme situation”. This results in a change in the hormone balance, a changed sleep rhythm and a changed immune system. Stress hormones such as cortisol, norepinephrine or glucagon are produced in greater quantities and ensure a faster heartbeat, increased fat burning to provide more sugar for the stress.
The human body is able to maintain and endure this permanent stress for a certain period of time without suffering any damage. However, if the continuous stress continues, it can lead to a collapse, a burnout. In order to prevent burnout, there are, however, various prevention measures that can be taken.
Prevention in general
In general, there are various forms of precautionary measures (prevention) to prevent burnout. A burnout can occur when a patient has too idealistic views and wants to enforce these at all costs. If this then leads to mistakes or setbacks, the patient feels very offended and reacts again and again with callousness and aversion (apathy).
Here the most important prevention is that the patient admits to himself that no human being is infallible and that everyone makes mistakes, even if they take on different proportions. Another very important prevention for patients at risk of burnout is to set goals for oneself that one knows one can achieve. Often patients who suffer from burnout have set themselves very high goals beforehand, for example, the attainment of a managerial position in their company.
If then someone else got the position although one has made an effort, this can lead to a breakdown, the burnout. Therefore it is good and important to have goals and wishes, but they should not be achieved with too much ambition and especially setbacks should not be seen as a personal defeat but rather one should try to deal with these setbacks professionally. Another important prevention to avoid burnout is a proper compensation.
Some patients rush to their jobs and work far more than 40 hours a week, overtime is not celebrated but accumulated more and more. Or other patients become fully absorbed in their family and do everything to ensure that the sick mother or little child is well for 24 hours and lacks nothing. This leads to a permanent overload, which can then lead to the patient getting a burnout at some point.
In order to avoid this, it is extremely important to find a balance. This balance looks very different for each individual patient, but it is one of the most important preventative measures against the burnout syndrome. For example, a painting course, a visit to a church choir, the weekly Zumba training or the evening forest walk can all contribute to the patient having a few hours of physical and psychological relief during which he thinks only about himself and not about work, family or other problems.
This time for oneself is very important as a prevention for burnout. It is also important that no feelings of guilt arise during this time. Every person sometimes needs some time for himself and during this time the job or family has to get along without the patient. This admission that one cannot work 24 hours a day around the clock is also an important prevention against a burnout syndrome.
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