How to Recover and Avoid Burnout in Work and Training
Samuli Murto
Hyvinvointi & Suorituskyky | Valmennan toimistoty?n suorittajasankareita parempaan suorituskykyyn ja hyvinvointiin arjessa, juoksuradalla ja kuntosalilla.
The biggest challenge in balancing work, daily life, and physical training is ensuring proper recovery to prevent burnout. We are starting this newsletter with a story that might be relatable..
Antti works as a Sales director in an IT company, and the workload fluctuates significantly throughout the year. He also has two toddlers, and his spouse works in a demanding leadership position as well. Antti started a gym training program 2.5 months ago, which includes training four days a week.
When he started the program, his work situation was calm, and the workouts went really well week after week. After some time, work began to be more stressful, and his exercise routine also started to stall, even though Antti was following the plan exactly.
In the evenings, he had to work for a couple of hours to stay on top of work, so his sleep also suffered. After a couple of months, Antti began waking up in the middle of the night and couldn’t fall back asleep. He didn’t realize that training was contributing to his overall stress load, as it felt good to release some mental pressure with exercise.
This story might resonate with some of you. It certainly resonates with me, even though I’m not Antti, but I’ve dug myself into a similar hole by not considering overall stress and recovery.
A large portion of people doing demanding knowledge work and training frequently are not recovering enough. This means they are also training too much relative to their recovery capacity.
Understanding the recovery and fatigue continuum from the world of sport & exercise (Meeusen et al., 2013) can help professionals in demanding jobs to understand their capacity for stress and recovery.
The more stress we have in our lives, the more time we need to find for recovery.
Our body is not able to distinguish between psychological and physiological stress. The longer we spend on the fatigue side of the continuum, the more time we need on the recovery side - no matter if the stress was mental or physical.
We are able spend short periods on the fatigue side, but after prolonged periods, the stress accumulates, and the risk of burnout increases. See the image below.
You have to make sure that you recover so you have resources for work demands, spending time with family and pursuing your physical training. Your recovery is influenced by your own stress factors, and it’s challenging to provide generic advice regarding them. My tip is following:
Stop and reflect on whether you can influence your external stress factors or whether you need to change your habits to ensure sufficient recovery.
Outside help can be extremely powerful because we are easily blind what it comes to there things. Also, a Firstbeat measurement can be a valuable tool for visualizing your recovery and energy levels, helping you grasp the bigger picture. With this information, you can make data-driven decisions and changes to your behavior to avoid burnout and continue progressing with your exercise routine.
If you've been struggling with this like Antti (and myself) in the story in the beginning go a head and book a consultation below, and let’s discuss your recovery and how to ensure it.