If someone you care about is suffering from burnout, you may be wondering: How to Help Someone with Burnout?
- Talk
- Don’t judge them
- Ask how you can help
- Ensure they have support at home
- Do some simple gestures
- Allow some time for themselves
- Focus on physical health
- Get a weighted blanket
- Suggest visiting a doctor
- Regularly check how they are feeling
Now let’s learn more about how those things can help someone with burnout!
how to help someone with burnout?
Burnout is not a permanent or untreatable condition. Rather, there are several steps that can help alleviate and reverse burnout.
Dr. Elena Touroni suggests: “No matter how busy you are, it’s really important to make time to do the things that nourish you and bring you a sense of wellbeing”.
There are many things you can do to help someone with burnout, some are very simple caring acts, while some others require a small investment.
1. Talk
If you suspect that someone you love or a colleague may be suffering from burnout, one of the best things you can do is to take the initiative and talk with them.
Start a conversation by telling them that you noticed that there seems to be something wrong and asking how they feel. For example, you could tell them something along those lines: “You seem very tired, how do you feel?”.
Talking with the person will allow you to better understand the situation and their problems. But having someone to talk with and open up also helps the person to release some of the stress and tension that may be causing their burnout.
2. Don’t judge them
When you try to help someone with burnout it is essential to talk with them in a non-judgmental way.
Don’t assume that you know their problems and don’t suggest possible solutions (at least initially). Just let them talk and explain how they feel and what the problems are. Simply listen to them, and show that you care without judging them.
This by itself will already help to relieve their burnout and at the same time, it will give you a better understanding of the issues the person is facing.
3. Ask how you can help
Instead of suggesting possible solutions to their problems, try to ask them how you can help. Let them tell you what kind of help they would appreciate.
The key is again to just listen and understand their concerns. Ask them open questions without leading, and let them lead you to what they think could help relieve the problem.
4. Ensure they have support at home
If you are their co-worker or their boss, make sure that the person suffering from burnout has the right support network at home.
Having someone they love taking care of them is essential to speed up the recovery from burnout. Make sure that their loved ones are aware of the situation and have a helpful attitude.
5. Do some simple gestures
Simple gestures like cooking or ordering dinner can help to relieve stress for the person suffering from burnout.
It also shows them that you care, making the person feel loved and important to you.
6. Allow some time for themselves
Yes, allowing a person suffering from burnout to have more time for themselves can help reverse their condition.
Try to reduce their responsibilities, this doesn’t necessarily make them any less productive or efficient, but it can help reduce their stress.
7. Focus on physical health
Stimulate the person with burnout to focus more on their physical health:
- Drinking more water
- Eating more vegetables
- Exercising regularly or just going for a walk
Those simple things will help them get back on track and relieve their burnout syndrome.
8. Get a weighted blanket
To solve the problem of insomnia and excessive stress associated with burnout, suggest they try a weighted blanket. Those special blankets are one of the best gifts for someone with anxiety and have been specifically designed to improve sleep and help people to cope with stress and anxiety.
These blankets leverage “Deep Pressure Stimulation” on the entire body, allowing complete relaxation and improving sleep.
The feeling when using a weighted blanket for anxiety is similar to a gentle hug and can be very comforting for a person suffering from burnout. The resulting feeling of interior peace and safety will definitely help someone with burnout.
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9. Suggest visiting a doctor
The symptoms of burnout, like fatigue, are non-specific and as such, they may be the sign of some other underlying condition. This is why it is essential for them to see a doctor early on to check if they have any other illnesses that could be causing their symptoms.
Once they are sure to have just burnout, you can encourage them to visit a mental health professional or a life coach to help them recover more quickly.
10. Regularly check how they are feeling
One last thing you can do to help someone with burnout is to regularly check how they are feeling and ask if there was any improvement.
Having a proactive approach can be very helpful because it can be difficult for them to come to you and start a conversation to update you about their problems. If you want to help, be proactive and ask them how they feel regularly.
What is a Burnout?
Dr. Elena Touroni, a clinical director and consultant psychologist, defines burnout as “a state of exhaustion – experienced mentally, physically and emotionally.”
This state of exhaustion comes about when one spends too much time giving out to others than taking time for themselves.
Burnout causes a person to feel helpless, resentful, hopeless, and cynical. Eventually, these negative feelings make the victim feel like they have nothing more to offer.
This attitude further spills over into other aspects of life, reducing one’s productivity and efficiency at work, at home, and in social life.
Therefore, it is crucial that you learn how to prevent burnout, as well as how to deal with it.
However, the big question is: how can you tell if you suffer from burnout?
5 Significant Signs Of Burnout
What are the main signs of burnout?
Here are the main symptoms and signs of burnout:
- Constant Fatigue
- Constant Fatigue
- Insomnia
- Frequent Headaches and Stomachaches
- Being Cynical and Easily Irritated
If you have all of those, you may be suffering from burnout and you should consult your doctor.
1. Constant Fatigue
Having burnout makes you feel so tired, such that even moving a muscle feels like lifting a box that weighs a ton.
You no longer wake up in the morning as easily as you did; rather, you constantly drag yourself out of bed. And the 8-hour work shift feels like an eternity.
The kind of exhaustion associated with burnout is both physical and mental.
In addition to feeling physically weak, people with burnout also feel worn out emotionally and mentally due to all the stressful situations that they undergo in their personal life.
2. Lack of Concentration
Do you have trouble concentrating? It could be in class, at work, or even when listening to others talk.
Having trouble concentrating, as well as regularly forgetting things, can indicate that burnout is fast approaching.
Reduced concentration and constant forgetfulness not only make your job feel unmanageable, but they also make it more difficult for you to complete simple tasks.
The more you experience distraction, the more you lose interest in your work, in turn reducing your overall productivity.
3. Insomnia
When one is exhausted, you would expect that they would fall asleep very quickly. Yet, the very opposite is true about a person with burnout.
In addition to feeling exhausted all day, burnout also brings with it insomnia.
Even while you might be exhausted all day and need as much rest as you can get, you just can’t sleep at night.
When you finally fall asleep, you can’t seem to stay asleep all through the night. This insomnia is usually caused by overwhelming feelings of too much workload and responsibilities.
A weighted duvet can help to relieve insomnia and get the good night’s sleep everybody deserves. Given how these weighted blankets work, they are a natural remedy for insomnia and sleepless night as well as anxiety and stress.
4. Frequent Headaches and Stomachaches
Herbert Freudenberger, a German-born American psychologist, cited having regular headaches as a major characteristic sign of burnout disorder.
The same case applies to constant nausea and unexplained stomachaches.
This is because burnout comes with chronic stress, which weakens your immune system, causing physical symptoms and sicknesses.
However, note that unexplained headaches, nausea, and stomachaches can also indicate other underlying medical conditions or mental health issues. Therefore, before concluding that you have burnout, it is crucial that you first get checked by a doctor if you have any of these symptoms.
5. Being Cynical and Easily Irritated
A person who is cynical has very little interest in their work. In addition, they tend to have a negative attitude, which is usually shown in how they deal with others at work or at home.
Cynicism also causes the victim to become easily irritated, such that they constantly feel as if friends and colleagues are always getting on their nerves.
The cynicism, irritability, and impatience are caused by too much stress and anxiety, both aspects associated with burnout.
Finally, the more cynical a person gets, the fewer friends they have and the lonelier they become.
Conclusion
Those are the steps to follow to help someone with burnout:
- Talk
- Don’t judge them
- Ask how you can help
- Ensure they have support at home
- Do some simple gestures
- Allow some time to dedicate to themselves
- Focus on physical health
- Get a weighted blanket
- Suggest visiting a mental health professional
- Regularly check how they are feeling
Take care of your colleagues and people you love by following the steps above to relieve their signs of burnout and help them get back to their best!
