Burnout treatment: meditating for faster recovery

How does burnout occur?

Although about 1 in 7 Dutch people struggle with burnout symptoms, burnout does not just happen. It is a consequence of extreme and prolonged stress.

And fundamentally, stress is not bad. It is a natural reaction of our body to cope with extreme situations. Just think of our distant ancestors. When they went hunting and chased a hungry saber-toothed tiger, quite a bit of the stress hormone cortisol was pumped into their bodies. This caused their heart rate to go up, blood pressure to rise and they became extremely alert. All the adrenaline allowed them to react with lightning speed if they suddenly found themselves face to face with that tiger.

We still use that stress hormone today. Just think of times when you have to perform optimally, such as during an exam, presentation in front of a large audience or during crisis situations.

Very handy, that stress hormone. But in many cases we humans do have cortisol in our bodies, but we are not in a situation where we need to use it. In other words, we experience stress without needing it.

Do you experience long-term stress in this way? And do you never or very few moments in between to recharge? Stress can start to build up in your body, which can eventually lead to overwork or burnout.

Symptoms of burnout

But how do you recognize burnout?

The first symptom by which you can usually recognize burnout is fatigue - extreme tiredness. You feel burned out, exhausted... The simple, everyday tasks are already too much trouble, such as going to work, shopping or taking the children to school.

This extreme fatigue can then cause other physical and mental complaints. For example, it is very likely that you will have poor sleep, little focus, suffer from headaches, muscle aches, hyperventilation and feeling agitated.

Some symptoms of burnout:

• Restless sleeping
• Headache
• Muscle pain
• Migraine
• Hyperventilation
• Poor resistance
• Stomach complaints
• Intestinal complaints
• Concentration problems
• Restlessness in your head
• Panic attacks
• Rapid breathing
• Feeling agitated
• Gloom
• Irritability

Of course, if you're feeling tired for a week or having trouble concentrating at work, it's not like you're going to burn out immediately. However, it is important to keep a close eye on yourself. These are signs that you need to slow down or change your current situation. Perhaps you should take more rest or think about whether you still enjoy the tasks you perform at work.

Burn-out treatment with a specialist

Do you suspect that you have a burn-out or near-burn-out? Then it is important that you talk to a professional, such as your company doctor or family doctor. He or she can determine whether you actually suffer from burnout and he or she can guide you through burnout treatment or refer you to a physician or psychologist.

Together you can look for appropriate solutions and work towards burnout treatment. After all, burnout is not the same for everyone and not everyone benefits from the same approach. The causes are different for some and recovery takes longer for some than for others. However, it is certainly possible to recover well from burnout.

There are no medications that help you recover faster from burnout. In most cases, the best remedy is rest. Get plenty of sleep, put good structure in your day, avoid too many stimuli, eat healthy food and above all take lots of rest.

Furthermore, it is important that you work on the cause of the burnout, because otherwise - when you are finally fully recovered and resume "normal life" - you can easily fall back into old patterns.

Ask yourself good questions. What caused you to experience so much stress and how can you avoid it in the future? And how can you cope better with (future) tension and stress?

Meditating as burnout treatment

Meditating is one of the ways to find peace within yourself again during a burnout and can therefore be an important part of your burnout treatment. By scheduling a meditation moment for yourself every day, you learn to relax better and better. Meditating helps against the restlessness in your body, but also helps you to experience more clarity and calmness in your head.

And you really don't have to be a meditation guru to do this.Anyone can meditate.You don't need any special tools, prior knowledge or an Indian robe.

All you have to do is find a quiet spot in your home, schedule a meditation moment (for example, in the morning after you get up or in the evening before you go to sleep) and quietly sit or lie down with your eyes closed.

The minutes that follow are all yours and you use them to quietly breathe in and out and settle completely in the moment. You don't have to do anything. At some times you will have had it after just 2 minutes and at other times you will sit in complete peace and tranquility for half an hour. It's all good.

Treating a symptom or a cause?

The more often you meditate, the more positive effects you will experience. Therefore, meditating is a fine way to integrate into your daily life. This way, you don't just meditate when you need it (because you are very stressed or burnout, for example) but use it to prevent these moments. And that is enormously powerful! That way it doesn't just work as symptom relief, but you really tackle the cause with it.

Especially with burnout, it is important to look for the cause and actually address it. In fact, it happens that people who have had a burnout also get it for the second or even third time. This can only happen if the cause is not addressed and the person simply falls back into his or her old pattern after recovery.

Burnout prevention

Burnout prevention? Meditating is a really great way to do that.

Are you just wondering how to get started? Then the meditation app Meditation Moments can help. Here you can find meditations for every moment of the day, with or without guidance.

Almost all meditations allow you to choose between different lengths. For example, do you want to meditate for 5, 10 or 15 minutes? Then just indicate that and the meditation will automatically stop after the specified minutes. This way, you never meditate shorter or longer than intended.