 Hey Psych2Goers, welcome back and thanks for taking a breather with us. We know we could all use one. Burnout. It's finally getting recognition as an actual thing. It's not just a buzzword, it's not something made up. It's real and it's more common than you may think, affecting people worldwide regardless of age or gender. Burnout. You might think of a candle's blackened shriveled worn out wick. If you feel how that wick looks, you can likely relate to burnout. These here are some ways to hopefully keep that candle wick conditioned, helping to avoid burnout. The best way to deal with it is to not get to that point in the first place. So number one, figure out what is stressing you. We're going to use the word avoid and just clarifying, avoiding a stressor is not the same as avoiding responsibilities. A responsibility needs to be done, but you don't have to go about doing it in a stressful manner. See what we mean? The best way to reconfigure this stressful process is whittle down and figure out what it is that's causing the stress. Here's a simple example. It's easy to say, this assignment is my stress. Getting it done is stressing me out. But when you step back, you realize the situation is more I'm stressed because I feel tight on time and I'm tight on time because I repeatedly chose other activities until there were only 24 hours left to get this done. So yes, you may require some time to practice self awareness as much as we never like to admit it. We sometimes build a whole lot of unnecessary stress for ourselves. So please don't do this to yourself. Number two, complete the cycle. I know this sounds like we're suggesting you allow yourself to get more stressed, but we're not. Trust me, we're not. Burnout occurs because of prolonged unending stress. It's essentially constantly treading water in the worst spot and never swimming to shore for rest. This is what we mean by complete the cycle. The book Burnout by PhD and DMA Nagoski twins describes the cycle generally as enter the stressor, like tight turnaround times. Then cortisol and adrenaline production are triggered from the stressor. This activates the survival response of fight, light or freeze. Impulsive reactive behavior happens to stop the feeling of which can be binging, eating or streaming. We're not judging. And then completion is taking the step of meditative breathing, connecting with others or other forms of emotional release. Burnout happens when you get stuck at the binging step. That impulsive action provides temporary superficial relief, just enough to fool many of us into thinking, oh, we're all good now. Truthfully, the stress is still there under now, allowing it to continue frying and smoldering within. Number three, sleep. If you had nap time in kindergarten, don't you wish that was still a normal part of your day? Sleep. Sleep is wonderful. Sleep is also important. A solid, healthy stretch of nighttime sleep is essential to overcoming or avoiding burnout. Humans are generally not nocturnal by nature. We know this, yet we seem to be all too willing to sacrifice sleep as the first bartering chip when dealing with stress. We tend to think of sleep as a reservoir easily refilled with catching up on the weekend or sleeping in on vacation. Unfortunately, sleep just does not work that way. You can't retcon the past sleep you lost by sleeping more in the future. So get a good sleep in the now. What is good sleep anyway? It's not that time you zoned out while reading then woke up with a start when your forehead hit the desk. It is completing a full sleep cycle, including REM sleep. The result is you wake feeling refreshed and renewed. If you wake up still groggy or wanting to throw down in anger, you did not have a good night's sleep. To help you reach this fabled good sleep, employ sleep hygiene and prep. Hygiene is basically a condition conducive to maintaining health. So sleep hygiene is good sleep practices. Like no screens 30 minutes before bed and the room being dark, cool and silent. Prep is what happens before the hygiene, setting yourself up physically and mentally. So no nomming shortly before bed and perhaps a short session of meditation to quiet your mind. Your route is yours. These are just components. Find ones that groove with you. And number four, release the oxytocin. Perform activities that help produce oxytocin. Yes, oxytocin, the love jug. Well hormones really. It's been found that various activities such as giving to others, dancing, working out or cuddling with your pet all trigger oxytocin production. Know why we suggest this? Basically because the activities not only make you happy, but many of the activities can help others be happy too. Oxytocin is one of the big three happy hormones after all. It's been found too that this hormone can decrease stress and anxiety. So it gives happy and ducks stress and anxiety. Win, win. And number five, know that you're worth it. Those old shampoo commercials at a point. You are worth it. Yep. Our last tip for today is to practice self love. Self love can help you extend compassion towards yourself, allowing you to perform self care free of guilt or adding more stress. Never feel that tending to your own health is a waste of time or that you could be doing something more important. You are the most important thing to you. Your existence depends on it. Burnout can happen to anyone. It does not matter if you're in school or at a job or trying to get your own business going or a mom or a dad. Burnout is a creeper that can pounce when you least expect it happening to the seemingly healthiest of us. We mean you're not alone or defective or inept. Burnout essentially means that your own personal care has been sacrificed in pursuit of outward rewards, whether that pressure has been put on you by yourself or by a boss. Take a moment to realize that nothing is worth your health and that you deserve to be happy no matter how much the bottom line is going to affect quarterly profits. You got this and we're with you on that. Did you see or hear something that could help you or someone you know? Comment below and give us a like. Take a break and reach out to Weathers for help and we hope you found something helpful here. Maybe we'll take a breather together again next time. Thanks for watching.