Why You Stil Feel Burnt Out

We all feel stress,

yet there is a group of us that continue to feel stress chronically and it becomes something that needs to be addressed. We begin to feel incredibly burnt out over time & now we are stuck not knowing where to go from here.

Here are some reasons WHY you’re still feeling burnt out:
•You can’t just deal with the stressor.

Stressor = trigger, event, a task that brings stress to the body

Stress = physiological & neurological process that your body goes through

It does not matter if that stressor is a lion chasing you or a project at work. Your body feels the same thing regardless of the situation. You have to start healing your burnout by starting to complete your stress cycle. Otherwise your body never fully recovers from the blood pumping all that extra blood to your muscles- this is what leads to heart disease.

What happens when our bodies go into a stress response?

• Epinephrine acts instantly to push more blood into your muscles

• Endorphins help you ignore the discomfort

• Your heart beats faster=blood pumping harder (blood pressure increases)

• Breathe more quickly

• Muscles tense

• Sensitivity to pain diminishes

• Attention is on alert- focusing on short-term, here-and-now thinking

• Senses heightened

• To maximize your body's efficiency in this state, your other organ systems get deprioritized: digestion slows, immune function shifts, growth & tissue repair decreases as well as reproductive functioning
  

  We want to make sure that when we are done with a stressor that we tell our bodies to “be done”. This naturally used to happen when we were being chased by a lion (and survived). Today we tend to get stuck in physical stress because many of our stressors are purely emotional situations (for example: a work confrontation or helping your kids with their homework).
  

  Complete Your Stress Cycle
  1. The most effective & efficient way to do this is 30-60 minutes of physical exercise/ movement. It doesn’t have to be crazy strenuous. It can be a walk, a swim, a run, dancing, yoga, whatever helps you feel like you moved your body. *If that feels like too long, try a 10-minute run or walk. Truly it's just starting to get your body moving and allowing it to fully move through the neurological, physiological process.

  2. Other ways to complete your stress cycle (less effective but still effective):

  •Breathing

  •Positive social interaction

  •Laughter

  •Affection

  •A big cry

  •Creative expression.

  WHY DO THESE WORK?  It is helping to cue to the brain that you are safe. They are allowing you to move through an emotion completely and let that lizard part of your brain chill out. 

  Love,
  Marisa