Feel Better, Live More with Dr Rangan Chatterjee - 7 Early Signs of Burnout and 10 Simple & Practical Tools To Help with Dr Rangan Chatterjee #329

Episode Date: January 22, 2023

Burnout is a type of chronic, unmanaged stress that has significant consequences for our physical and mental health. It’s characterised by feeling exhausted all the time, with no energy for everyday tasks, and little enjoyment in everyday activities. A survey by YouGov for the charity Mental Health UK in 2020 found one in five people felt unable to manage pressure and stress levels at work. Other research found that 88 percent of the UK workforce has experienced burnout since 2020.   It’s staggering statistics like these that led me to record this bonus episode. It’s a different format from usual: rather than a conversation with a guest, this is my take on what burnout is, why we often don't recognise it until it is too late – and why I believe it’s so important that each and every one of us is aware of it. Many of us think we can keep pushing day after day, week after week, without any consequences. But we can’t. What I have seen time and time again is that this constant pushing always come back to bite, it is just a case of when. Many of us are on the road to burnout without even realising it. In the past, we might have thought of burnout as a phenomenon that only affected high-flying CEOs. But it’s fair to say the world of work has completely transformed over the past few years. Pressures on everyone are through the roof, no matter what your paygrade or level of responsibility. Add to that the rise in home working, the cost-of-living crisis and the fact that boundaries between work and home have become increasingly blurred means that it is something that more and more of us are experiencing. In this podcast, I outline 7 signs that may indicate you are on the road to burnout: things to look out for in your mood, your behaviour, your habits and your health. I then walk you through 10 practical tools you can think about introducing into your life that will quickly start to help. I truly hope you find this episode helpful and, of course, if you know someone in your life who could benefit from listening, please do share this episode with them. PLEASE NOTE: the signs I mention in this episode are very common and are not exclusive to burnout. If you have the odd sign and it is short lived - please do not worry - we all will experience some of these signs from time to time. Just be mindful if these signs are becoming longstanding. Also, please note that some of these signs can also be found in a variety of other conditions, for example, depression. If you have any concerns, please seek advice from a qualified healthcare professional *** ***DISCLAIMER: The content in this podcast is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your doctor or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard in this podcast. Support the podcast and enjoy Ad-Free episodes. Try Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/feelbetterlivemore or https://fblm.supercast.com for all podcast platforms. Thanks to our sponsors: https://www.calm.com/livemore https://boncharge.com/livemore Show notes https://drchatterjee.com/329

The problem is with burnout, a lot of people don't realize they're going through it until it gets really, really bad. And I want to stop that from happening to you. So now I want to walk you through seven key signs that I found time and time again indicate that someone is either burnt out or on the road to burnout. And then once I've gone through these seven signs, I'm going to give you my own 10-step action plan that you can start to put into practice over the next 30 days, which is going to start to make a difference immediately. Hey guys, how are you doing? I hope you're having a good week so far. My name is Dr. Rangan Chatterjee and this is my podcast, G, and this is my podcast, Feel Better, Live More. So I've decided to try something a little bit different as a bonus episode this week. I wanted to record a solo podcast about the topic of burnout, and I just want to briefly explain why. Burnout is a state of physical and emotional exhaustion. It can occur when you experience long-term stress in

your job or when you have worked in a physically or emotionally draining role for a long time. Now a survey by YouGov for the charity Mental Health UK in 2020 found that one in five people felt unable to manage pressure and stress levels at work. That is a lot of people. Other research found that burnout among UK workers almost doubled from 2021 to 2022. And that's a staggering 88% of the UK workforce have experienced burnout since 2020. Now it's statistics like these that led me to record this bonus episode where I share some of my thoughts and practical insights on this really important topic. Now many of us think we can keep pushing day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year without any consequence. But we can't. What I have seen time and time again in clinical practice

is that this constant pushing always comes back to bite. It's just a case of when. And I really do think that many of us are on the road to burnout without even realizing it. Now, I think in the past, we might have thought of burnout as a phenomenon that only affected high-flying CEOs, but it's fair to say the world of work has completely transformed over the past few years. Pressures on everyone are through the roof, no matter what your pay grade or level of responsibility. Add to that the rise in home working, the cost of living crisis, the strain on public services, and the fact that boundaries between work and home have become increasingly blurred means that it's something that more and more of

us are experiencing. So in this podcast, I outline seven signs that may indicate you're on the road to burnout, things to look out for in your mood, your behavior, your habits, and your health, I think some of those signs you may find a little surprising. I then walk you through 10 simple things that you can think about introducing into your life that really will start to help. Everything I recommend is pretty much free of charge to do, and I'm absolutely not suggesting you adopt them all right away. and I'm absolutely not suggesting you adopt them all right away. As always, my advice is to start small in manageable chunks. Now, it's really important for me to say a few things before we get going. Firstly, some of the signs I mentioned in this episode are very common and are not exclusive to burnout. If you have the odd sign and it's short-lived, please do not worry. We will all experience some

of these signs from time to time. The thing to look out for is when the signs are becoming long-standing. Some of these signs can also be found in a variety of other conditions. For example, depression. The content within this podcast is not intended for you to make a diagnosis. The intention is to simply raise awareness. If you have any concerns at all after listening, please do consult with a qualified healthcare professional. I really do hope you find this episode helpful. And of course, if you know someone in your life who could probably benefit from listening, do of course share this episode with them. listening, do of course share this episode with them. So here it is, seven signs that may indicate you're on the road to burnout. One of the worst things in life is when you've got no energy,

right? Sometimes you don't want to get out of bed. You're struggling to get through that to-do list. You feel trapped. Every day feels like you're on a treadmill. You don't have the time or really the energy to connect with your friends, with your partner, with your kids. And I've got to say, I've been a medical doctor now for over 21 years and this is one of the commonest complaints I see People feel knackered, they feel tired, they're really really struggling with their day-to-day lives And one of the big problems is that they feel the problem is them They feel that they're being lazy, that they don't have any motivation or willpower Have you ever felt like that?

Maybe you feel like that at the moment. Maybe someone close to you feels like that. You know, the truth is, for pretty much everyone, the problem is not them. They do not have a laziness problem or a willpower problem or a motivation problem when they're complaining of this kind of low-grade fatigue. No, this is a sign that you are on the road to burnout. Burnout is very, very common these days. And I've got to be honest, it's getting more and more common as the pressures from work, from society start to mount up. And I've seen this. I've experienced it myself. I've seen it in so many patients. But what I do know is that if I can help you identify the signs of burnout early, you can take some very simple steps that will make a big difference. So what I want to do is walk you through seven

common signs of burnout. And do stick around for these signs because I think a couple of them are going to really surprise you. Then what I'm going to do is I'm going to walk you through my own 10-step action plan that you can put into practice over the next 30 days. And if you do it, I know it's going to make a big difference because these are the steps I've taken in my own life before, and these are the steps I've helped my patients take in their lives. And all of the things I'm going to recommend are simple to do, and they're completely free. Now, before we get to the first sign that I think it's really important for you to look out for in yourself and in the people around you, I just

want to make the point that burnout is not something that happens overnight. Burnout is chronic, unmanaged stress that goes on for days, weeks, months, and often it goes on for years. It's insidious. It creeps up over time. And the problem is with burnout is a lot of people don't realize they're going through it until it gets really, really bad. And I want to stop that from happening to you. You may well be on the road to burnout now. I want to help you identify it, stop it in its tracks so that you can actually make some changes. Now, I think it's really important to understand how stress and your body's stress response system fits with burnout. Stress is not all bad. You need a little bit of stress to perform well, right?

Let's say you're at work and you've got a presentation to give, right? You want a little bit of stress. It's going to help you perform better. Your brain's going to be sharper. Your memory's going to be better. Your focus is going to be improved. These things are fantastic, right? They're going to help you in that meeting. And if you have time afterwards to chill, rest, recuperate, you become more resilient over the time. The stress starts to tune up your nervous system. That's a good thing. That's how you build resilience, right? But that's not what happens in burnout. In burnout, you're getting stressed. You're getting these doses of stress regularly, but the problem is you're not getting time to

recover and reset. So your nervous system starts to change. Think of it like an elastic band. You have an elastic band, you pull it a little bit, and then you let it go, but it comes back to its normal shape. That's great. That's what you want with your stress response system. But if you keep pulling it several times a day, day after day, week after week, what happens? The shape of that rubber band starts to change. It doesn't go back. That's kind of what's happening with burnout. And a lot of the signs that I'm about to go through, if you think about that elastic band, I think you'll really understand why they're happening. So now I want to walk you through those seven key signs that I found time and time again

indicate that someone is either burnt out or on the road to burnout. And then once I've gone through these seven signs, I'm going to give you my own 10-step action plan that you can start to put into practice over the next 30 days, which is going to start to make a difference immediately. So do stick around for the action plan at the end. The first sign is one that I don't hear enough people talking about, and it's disconnection. Disconnection from the people around you, right? So when you're on that road to burnout, when that elastic band is starting to change shape, you go inward. You don't want to be with other people. You don't want to be with your

partner. You don't want to be with your kids, your work colleagues. You just want to stay by yourself and often engage in some quite unhelpful behaviours. And this is really, really toxic for a variety of reasons. I mean, number one, we now know from the scientific research that the feeling of being lonely is as harmful for your health as smoking 15, that's one five cigarettes per day. Why would that be? Right? Let's think about it. Let's say you were around 100,000 years ago. If you didn't have a supportive tribe around you, you were vulnerable to attack. That is a threat and your body knows it. So your body's very clever. If you're feeling isolated, your body reacts as if that's a threat because it is. If something was to happen, you

don't have your tribe around you. So it's going to activate your stress response and that's going to lead to all kinds of problems. High blood sugar, fatigue, low mood, anxiety, weight gain, all kinds of things simply from feeling lonely, right? So there are some real biological changes that happen in your body when you disconnect from the world around you. And of course, it has a detrimental effect on your relationships. And of course, it's those relationships that are going to play a key role in getting you out of burnout. The second sign I want you to look out for, again, is one that I don't think people are talking about enough, and that's emotional exhaustion. We're going to get to physical exhaustion shortly. That is something people talk about all the time, and it's important.

But emotional exhaustion is something slightly different, and often this is a really good telltale sign that you're on the road to burnout. So what does this look like? Well, this could be the small things start to bother you. Little requests from your partner start to really, really agitate you. You know, your partner asks you to make her or him a cup of tea and, you know, it bothers you. You don't want to do it. Let's just think about that. If you're feeling good in yourself and life is good, why would the small act of making a cup of tea for your partner bother you? It wouldn't. So when it does start to bother you, when you start to get agitated at these small things, it's a very, very good sign that, wait a minute, something's wrong here. I may need

to address something. This also shows up with cynicism. We become cynical. We become cynical about the world, about the people around us, about our colleagues. We see something online, we start to become really judgmental. We think the worst of people. This again comes under that umbrella of emotional exhaustion. And often this also shows up as little outbursts of anger. We can keep it together at work. We can keep a lid on it because we want to come across as professional. But when we come home, and maybe it's our partner there or our children, that's who bears the brunt of it, which of course is not how we want to be. So do pay attention to this emotional exhaustion because I think it's one of the most important signs to look out for. The third sign is a lack of creativity.

For some people, this is the telltale sign. And it often goes under the radar. So let's say you're at work. And if you are on the road to burnout, almost certainly your work performance will be starting to go down. And one of the ways this shows up is with a lack of creativity. You can't think of new ideas. You can't solve problems. Everything starts to mount up and get on top of you. But a lack of creativity can also show up in your home life where there are simple everyday problems to fix and solve and you haven't got a clue how to do it. This lack of creativity may well be a sign that you are on the road to burnout. The fourth sign to look out for is an inability to gain pleasure

from simple everyday things. Again, this is really, really common. The things that you used to enjoy, you used to get loads of pleasure from, now you find them mundane. You don't want to do them. You want to stay in bed. You don't want to do anything. I mean, have you felt like that before? Do you feel like that right now? Do you know someone in your life who does feel like that? You know, in medicine, we have a term called anhedonia. That basically describes this. We see anhedonia in all kinds of conditions, including depression, but I actually see it really, really commonly on the way to burnout. So do pay attention to this. The fifth sign of burnout is procrastination. When you go over the same thing over and over again, you know what you want to do,

you know what you should be doing, but you don't take action. And often this shows up as an inability to make decisions. You're weighing up five, six, seven, maybe 10 different options and you can't decide. This is procrastination. And this again is a really important sign to watch out for in yourself or someone close to you because it could indicate burnout. or someone close to you because it could indicate burnout. Before I get to the final two signs that I want you to start looking out for, I want to tell you about one of my patients who I saw a few years ago. It was a 37-year-old chap called Stuart. Now, what's interesting about Stuart is if you're looking at him from the outside, he was crushing life. Okay, so he works for himself. He was running his own business.

He'd work from home. He would work in the evenings. He would work at weekends. He was driving a sports car. He made good money. Honestly, from the outside, people thought he was crushing it. But one day he came into see me in my clinic and he said to me, Dr. Chastier, I'm concerned that I've got depression. I struggle to get out of bed sometimes. I feel exhausted. Little things are starting to bother me. I don't have that creative spark that I used to have. I don't want to spend time with anyone. And I'm also struggling to experience any joy in my life. So I had a chat with Stuart. We ran some tests. They all came back normal.

And as I started to get to know him and inquire about his life, it was really clear to me that he spent all of his time alone. I never saw anyone. I actually said to him, hey, Stuart, have you got any friends? Do you ever see your friends? And he said, hey, doc, yeah, I've got friends, but I don't have time. I'm running a business and I kind of see what they're up to on social media. I think that's one of the rather unusual things about life these days. Often, we don't have to see our friends in person, but we can see what they're eating from their Instagram page. We could see where they've been on holiday, who they spent time with at the weekends. We could see photos of this. We don't actually have to see them. That's what I said to Stuart is, listen, I think you need

to spend some time with your friends. And so the prescription I gave him was for the next four to six weeks, I want you to make sure that once a week you see at least one of your friends in person. And when you're with them, what I want you to do is put your phone away so you're really present for that interaction. Now, I'll be honest, it wasn't the prescription Stuart was expecting from me, but it was the prescription I felt would have the most impact in his life. Stuart goes away. He's desperate, right? So he's willing to try this. Six weeks later, he comes in to see me and he feels like a different person. He bounces into the room. I said, Stuart, how are things?

What's going on? He says, Doc, I feel like a completely different person. I've got energy. My mood's better. I've got my mojo back. Things are really, really good. And I said, Stuart, what happened? What's going on? And he said, dog, what I did was every Sunday morning, I went to my local cafe, right? I'd meet up with one of my friends or a group of friends and we'd catch up over coffee for about an hour or so. It was fantastic. And then over the next few weeks, actually, I realized that I was never doing any sports, right? And so with my mates, we decided to play five-a-side football after work every Wednesday night. That was all Stuart did, right? He didn't have depression. He didn't have

a deficiency of a medication. And what Stuart actually had was a deficiency of friendship in his life. Now, Stuart actually had his friends around him. He was lucky. His friends lived nearby to him, but he was so busy, he never saw them. And this is a really, really common thing that I've seen over and over again. And I'll be honest, I've experienced this myself before. I've worked so hard that I've actually neglected to spend time with my friends. And it's always come at a huge cost. Now, the reason I share that story is because I want you to know just how quickly you can start to make a change. And I'm coming very shortly to that 10-step action plan that's going to help you do just that. The sixth sign of burnout that I really want you to pay attention to is when our self-care

starts to disappear, right? Our food choices become progressively worse. We eat more takeaways. We often don't eat. We comfort eat more. We're often up late in front of the television. We're so stressed and wound up, we don't want to go to bed. So we watch another episode of that box set with a packet of crisps or some ice cream or some biscuits. And I understand why you might want to do that. In the moment, it feels good. But the problem is, it reinforces the problem that you have. It keeps you locked in that cycle and it makes it even harder to turn that ship around and get you away from burnout. So your food choices start to go.

Your movement. Often we stop moving. We literally go to work, come back and then slump at home in front of our computer or on the sofa. We don't do anything that gets blood pumping around our body. And again, that keeps you in a vicious cycle. Also, we think about self-care. What I've seen when patients are on this path is that they stop showering, stop shaving, brushing their teeth. These little things that actually are important for our self-worth and our self-esteem, those things start to slip as well. And this is really ironic, isn't it? Because actually it's those things, whether it's self-care, whether it's food, whether it's exercise, these are the things that we actually need the most in that moment. They're the things that start to go by the wayside.

And what's really interesting, that case study of Stuart I just mentioned, over the subsequent months after he got together with his friends, he started to bring back self-care. He realized when he was playing five-a-side football in his 30s that, wow, I have no fitness. I need to go to bed earlier. I need to eat better so I can perform better. It all started with just seeing his friends more. The seventh sign is I think the one we most commonly associate with burnout. Physical exhaustion. You have no get up and go to do anything, whether at work or at home. You've got no energy for your hobbies, no energy to see your friends, no energy to spend time with your children or your partner. And it's really, really debilitating.

Now, this kind of fatigue often shows up as feeling tired and wired, right? So you're tired, but you're all go in your mind. So you can't switch off at night, which starts to affect your sleep. So this is a very good sign that you are on the road to burnout, that you need to do something different if you want to turn that ship around. The other thing you often see here is brain fog. You have that haziness in your mind. You don't have that clarity of thinking and you start to lose self-awareness. This is huge. Often when people are in those final stages of burnout, they've lost self-awareness. They actually start to double down on all the things that they were doing that got them there in the first place. They work even harder. They stay up even later. They try and push through even more. So that lack of self-awareness is

something we really need to pay attention to. And that's exactly the main reason I wanted to make this, so that you can start to identify these signs in your own life. So now I want to walk you through this 10-step action plan that you can start to implement over the next 30 days. And remember, you don't have to do everything at once, right? In fact, if you try and do them all at once, it's probably going to feel overwhelming, which is the last thing you need at this moment, right? So just listen as I'm going through these 10 steps and think, hey, you know what? This is one I can introduce straight away, or that one I might want to leave for a few weeks. That's completely okay. What's the right thing for you is going to be unique to you and what's going on

in your life. But what I can tell you is I know this is going to work. How do I know that? I've been a doctor now for over two decades. I've seen tens of thousands of patients and these are the exact steps that I've used successfully with my patients to get them better. But I'm also a human being with the same pressures as you. You know, I'm a busy guy. I'm married. I've got two kids. I've got a busy job. For, you know, many years in my adult life, I was a carer for my dad. And in those years, I put my dad's needs first at the expense of my needs, at the expense of my relationship with my wife, at the expense of time with my kids. And I got to that place where life felt like a struggle and I was struggling with motivation. I'd let self-care start to drop,

all these kinds of things that I've already been talking about. I've been there, right? So I know how hard it is, but I also know how quickly you can change things. Just taking a quick break to give a shout out to AG1, one of the sponsors of today's show. Now, if you're looking for something at this time of year to kickstart your health, I'd highly recommend that you consider AG1. AG1 has been in my own life for over five years now. It's a science-driven daily health drink with over 70 essential nutrients to support your overall health. It contains vitamin C and zinc, which

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So the first step I want to talk about is awareness. Now, let me just pause on this for a minute. Everything I've been saying so far is about giving you an awareness of the problem. And people will often say, okay, great, Dr. Chastity, I've got awareness now, what should I do? And I say, wait a minute, just hold your horses. Do not underestimate the power of awareness, do not underestimate the power of awareness. Because the problem with burnout is that people often do not realize it until it's too late. I once spoke to this wonderful chap, Greg McKeown, on my podcast, and he's written these great books, Essentialism and Effortless. And he once put a tweet out. He said, there's two kinds of people in the world, those who are burnt out and those who don't know they're burnt out. Now, I think that's a very

powerful quote. Now, do I agree with all of that? Can we say that everyone in the world is burnt out? No. But are more people burnt out than currently think they are? Absolutely yes. A little while ago, this is exactly what happened to one of my friends. She didn't pick up on the signs until it was too late. And finally, when her husband took her in to see her doctor, he had to sign her off work for three months. She couldn't go to work because it was that bad. She had to slowly rebuild her life from scratch. But actually, looking back, all of those signs were there. Emotional exhaustion, physical exhaustion, little things were starting to get too much. Self-care was starting to go down. She was starting to stay up too late. She didn't want to go to bed. Netflix, binge watching, snacking, little outbursts of anger. All the things that

we mentioned were there, but she wasn't able to pick them up and the people around her weren't either. So I want to help you get to the point where you don't need to wait until that happens. Now, I'm pleased to say she's now thriving, right? All the things I'm about to walk you through with the things that she did. She didn't do them all together. She didn't do them all at once. She did them over a period of days, weeks, and months. And now, I actually think she's learned some very powerful lessons that will stop her going down that path again in the future. The second thing I want you to focus on is to intentionally engage with another human being. Remember the first sign I ask you to pay attention to, the

first sign that may indicate you're on the road to burnout is disconnecting from the people around you. And I've already explained how toxic that can be for our health and our happiness. You are simply very unlikely to get out of this rut by yourself. You have to share this with someone. You have to tell someone. In fact, you may be surprised when you share this with someone and tell them. You may be surprised how many people in your life have actually been through this before or who are currently going through it. been through this before or who are currently going through it. It doesn't need to be for long. It could be that you arrange to meet a friend on a Sunday morning at the local cafe like Stuart, who I mentioned already. That's all he needed to do. That one change led to all kinds of other positive ripple effect changes. So maybe that's something that's going to work for you.

ripple effect changes. So maybe that's something that's going to work for you. Maybe it's you diarying some time with your partner. Maybe it's a date night. If that term doesn't resonate with you, that's completely fine. But diary in something regularly with another human being, it's so, so important. Another tip you may want to think about that relates to intentionally engaging with another human being is to put some default things in your diary. One of my best mates in America, he realized that him and a lot of his friends were never seeing each other. So they put something in every Thursday called Man Thursday. Basically, there was a group of eight of them where they decided every Thursday morning for two hours early we're going to get together we're going to meet at a coffee shop grab a quick coffee

then maybe go for a walk or a hike or go to the gym whatever it might be and the beautiful thing about it being in the diary is is that you don't have to go every week. Some days you might be too busy. That's okay, right? But you know it's happening. It's a routine. Interestingly enough, I spoke to the incredible marathon runner Elid Kipchoge on my podcast recently. He is the fastest marathon runner in history. And he never trains by himself. Never. He said, we all run together as a group. So if I'm not showing up, people are going to text me and say, hey, Elliot, what's going on? Are you okay? Right? So there's something very powerful about putting something in the diary. This works if you're a woman, this works if you're a man, but I will say this kind of thing is something that we're seeing a lot of in men.

Men are often not prioritizing those close nourishing friendships that can really make a big, big difference. Another thing, certainly in the UK, that's helpful for people is something called parkrun. Parkrun is a community initiative in hundreds, if not thousands of towns and villages. Every Saturday morning, people get together to go for a five kilometre run or walk. And actually, it's not about running. It's about the community. And lots of my patients who are really struggling with their moods and their mental health, often they don't want to run. They go and volunteer. And it gives them a sense of purpose in their life. It gives them a sense that they matter. And it's important that they show up

to do their bit, right? So please do think about it. How can you start to intentionally engage with another human being? What's going to work for you? And if you think there's someone in your life who's struggling at the moment, who's stopped calling, who's not replying to your messages, who stopped calling, who's not replying to your messages, who you can't get hold of. Maybe that's what they're going through. So maybe you can reach your hand out and say, hey, look, I've not seen you for a while. You know, you're probably really busy with work like all of us, but what about next Wednesday? Do you fancy going for a walk at lunchtime or grabbing a coffee after work? Whatever it might be. But this is really, really important. Intentionally engage with another human being.

In fact, if that does sound like someone you know, why not take a pause right now and share this with them? The third thing I want you to focus on is your sleep. I want you to start prioritising your sleep. And we've heard already, haven't we, that when we're on the road to burnout, we often stay up later. We don't want to go to bed. Often we feel tired and wide, but that actually makes the problem worse the following day. So if you can actually get a little bit more sleep, I'm not talking about eight hours of unbroken sleep every night, that may not be achievable just yet for you. Even if you can get 15 more minutes a day, 20 more minutes a day, that will literally start to make a difference

immediately. Because when you sleep better, everything in your life is better. Your physical health, your mental health, and your emotional health. And one thing I just want to say, if you are that person who, I don't know, let's say at 10pm, you are thinking, yeah, you know what, one more episode of this box set, And you've got some of the signs I've already mentioned. You are making a trade in that moment that you may not know you're making. You're basically saying, I'm going to stay for an extra hour to watch this episode. But because of the impact that's going to have on my sleep, I'm basically saying tomorrow I'm going to be less creative. I'm going to be less able to solve problems. I'm going to have lower energy. I'm going to crave more sugar and more caffeine.

We know that sleep deprivation means that you're going to have less empathy the following day, right? So you're literally making a trade in that moment that you are prepared to sacrifice all of those things for that one-hour box set. And I get it. I've been there before, but I'm just trying to make you more aware of just how important that sleep is. There's all kinds of things I could say about sleep, but let me just walk you through some of the commonest things that I see and the commonest things that you can do that will start to make a difference. And remember, you don't have to do them all, but the more of them that you can do, the better. Number one, right, when you wake up in the morning, try and expose yourself to natural light, right? If it's

a cloudy day, you really want 20 to 30 minutes of natural light outside if you can. On a sunny day, you might get away with five to 10 minutes because that helps to set your body's circadian rhythm and that's going to help you sleep better that night. It's a really important point. People are thinking about their evening routine when they're thinking about sleep, but a good night's sleep starts in the morning. Second thing, caffeine. I get it. Many of us enjoy a cup of coffee or a cup of tea. I love my coffee, right? I'm not saying give it up. But the problem is in burnout is that you get stuck in a vicious cycle where because you feel tired all the time, you're using more caffeine to keep you going, which in turn

is making it harder for you to sleep at night. So I always say, enjoy your caffeine in the morning. Now, look, the truth is we all have different sensitivities to caffeine. It depends on our genetics. It also depends on how much stress is going on in our lives. And if you're on the road to burnout, by definition, you've already got a lot of stress in your life. Your stress load is very, very high. And I have found time and time again that with people like this, with patients like this, you've got to be really careful with your caffeine intake. So I would say enjoy your caffeine, but keep it to the morning. The third thing I want to say about sleep is if you're going to fall into a deep, relaxing, is if you're going to fall into a deep, relaxing, restorative slumber,

you have to start winding down about one hour before bed. One of the big problems these days is that our devices are our work devices and our pleasure devices. You know, you may have a laptop or a tablet and you may do all your work on it, but you also do all your chilling out on it in the evening. And what a lot of us don't realize is that our brain is an associative organ, right? It associates certain things and certain places with certain activities. So if, for example, you are used to doing emails on your bed, on your laptop, your brain starts to associate your bedroom with work and emails. And that's one of the big reasons why people really struggle to switch off and fall asleep, because their brain has been conditioned for a certain activity in a certain environment. So that's one thing to pay attention to. Can you change your environment?

I appreciate not everyone has space, but if you aren't working from home, are you able to work outside your bedroom? This is something that not enough people do, not enough people think about, but it makes a really big difference. The other thing to focus on in that one hour before bed is sending your brain a signal that you're no longer working. This is basically campfire time. If we think about us tens of thousands of years ago, hundreds of thousands of years ago, the evening is campfire time. It's for storytelling. It's a fun, laughter, dancing, connecting. So if you are not giving your brain that signal, if you're still on your emails after dinner, you've just got to be really careful. What signal are you sending your brain? So one thing that I find helpful and many of my patients

find helpful is you have a cutoff time in the evening. Maybe you want to set an alarm. We're used to the idea that we set an alarm in the morning, but maybe you should set an alarm in the evening. Let's say you want to go to your bedroom to fall asleep at 10. Maybe you set an alarm at 9 p.m. or even 8.30 p.m. and that's a signal to shut the laptop. Don't look at emails anymore. And then you can do some more relaxing activities like, I don't know, have a bath, read a book, you know, talk to your partner. If you do want to watch television, and I understand the temptation, find something relaxing to watch. Now, if you're watching the news just before you go to bed, whether on TV or online, and you can't sleep, is it really that much of a surprise? The news is by its very definition

these days, negative. All news channels are competing with other news channels. So you're going to see negative stories. If that's what you are infusing into your brain and mind in the minutes or hour before bed, it's no surprise really that your mind's going to be racing and you're going to be thinking about the worst possible outcomes, right? So pay attention to what are you consuming. If you want to watch something, watch something uplifting, relaxing, that makes you feel good. The fourth thing I want you to focus on as part of this 10-step action plan is to do something that you love every day. Now, what a lot of people don't realize is that regularly doing things that you love makes you more resilient to stress. But at the same time, being chronically stressed, particularly work-related stress,

means that you find it harder to gain pleasure in everyday things. And remember, that's one of those signs of burnout, an inability to get pleasure from those simple things. So one way around this is for five minutes a day, right? If you could do more, great, but even five minutes a day will make a difference. Five minutes a day, you're doing something for you, not for your boss, not for your work colleagues, not for your partner, not for your children. This is for you. This could be reading a book, okay? Could be listening to some tunes or some music that you really like. It could even be going onto YouTube and watching your favorite comedian for a few minutes,

right? It's so, so powerful. If you give yourself a daily dose of pleasure, you will find that little by little, day after day, you are going to start to feel more resilient, more engaged with life. It's going to have such a powerful impact. And all I'm asking for is just five minutes a day. For me, what do I do? There's all kinds of things I love doing. I love reading. I love listening to music, but I love playing my guitar. And so often in the evenings, especially if it's been a stressful day, I'll just sit with my guitar for a few minutes and sing. And it makes all the difference. If I go for a week or two without doing this, I can absolutely feel it. So what's it going to be for you? What is that thing

that you can do each day for only five minutes, but something that you're really, really going to enjoy? It's really easy to underestimate just how important doing something each day that you love is. But let me just tell you briefly about a patient I saw a few years ago. He was in his 50s, CEO of a company. He was married, had kids. He was doing well at work. He used to love his job, but he got to a point where he didn't really enjoy his work. He didn't really enjoy spending time with his wife. He didn't really enjoy doing that much with his kids. He felt flat. He came to see me and he was worried. And there's all kinds of things I could share with you here, but the essence of the story is, is that I asked him if he ever

did anything he enjoyed. And he said, no, Doc, I don't have time. I really don't have time. I said, what about weekends? Weekends, I'm just taking my kids from event to event. I just don't have any time for myself. I said, well, do you have any hobbies? He goes, Doc, I don't have time for hobbies. I said, okay, did you used to have any hobbies? Maybe when you were a child. He said, yeah, I used to love playing with train sets. I said, okay, great. Do you have a train set? And he said, hey, doc, you know, I do, but it's in my loft. It's in my attic. I haven't looked at it for years. So I said, listen, what I think would be really helpful for you is to go into your loft, get it out, and start playing with it. And again, I didn't see him for a few months. And three months later, I remember I

bumped into his wife in my clinic car park. I said, how's he getting on? And she said to me, Dr. Chachi, he's like a different person. He's got his mojo back. He comes home from work each night and he's tinkering around on his toy train set for hours. And then a few months later, when he came in for a well man check, I actually spoke to him. I said, how are you getting on? And he said, everything feels different. I'm happier. I feel I'm closer with my wife. I feel I'm more engaged with my children. Again, I feel like I've got my vibe back. And again, for him, it all started with his train set. So what's your equivalent of that train set? What hobby or passion have you let fall by the wayside? And which one do you think you can bring

into your life right now? The fifth step to start introducing into your life is about learning how to say no. Now this is easy to say, a lot harder to do in practice. It's something many of us struggle with. I've struggled with this for much of my life. We have to be able to say no. And often we're doing things that are helping other people, but it's coming at the cost of ourselves. Now, listen, I get it. It's nice to be there for other people. It's good to do things for other people. But if it's happening all the time and it's coming at the cost of your physical, mental, and emotionalbeing, I think it's time to ask yourself some questions. What's going on? Now, the truth is that for many of us, the reason we struggle to say no

is because we're people pleasers. Often we don't feel good enough in who we are. Often this started in childhood. We feel that in order to be liked and loved, we have to do things for other people's approval. And if we're not careful, that continues into adulthood. We put our own needs last and everyone else's needs first. And as I say, this often comes from insecurity. We don't feel good enough in ourselves. We feel that we need that other person's validation in order to feel good. But this is toxic and it is very, very problematic. So you're not going to change this overnight. Again, simply being aware that you may have some people-pleasing tendencies, which is getting in the way of your ability to say no, is really,

really powerful. Another thing you may find helpful when thinking about saying no is weighing up the consequences of your decision on both sides. Now, a lot of the time we just look at things from one side. Okay, I've been asked to give a meeting or let's say give a presentation at a weekend. And we might think this is a great opportunity for us. Okay, this is wonderful. But when you say yes to something, you're also saying no to something else. And what you're saying no to, you often don't think about. You just think about the pros of what you're saying no to, you often don't think about. You just think about the pros of

what you're saying yes to. Oh, if I do this, it will help me with my job. My boss will like me. Look, how does that play out in my own life? I get asked to speak at events a lot these days. And I used to say yes to a lot of them. I wanted to help. I wanted to go there. I wanted to speak to people, help empower them with information. But I realized a lot of the time this is happening at weekends. And I'm married. I've got two young children. They're at school in the week. Over the past few years, I've realized if I say yes to a weekend speaking invitation, I'm saying no to time with my children. I'm saying no to time with my wife. And again, look, we're all different. We've all got different pressures and different

requirements with our work. Sometimes taking that weekend invitation is going to be the right choice. Right? But for me, at this stage in my life now, at this stage in my career, at this stage in my life now, at this stage in my career, I've decided that I will not do weekend speaking engagements, or I won't regularly do them at least. It would take something really, really special for me to decide, yes, I'm going to do that. And so for me, I now have a rule. I don't speak at weekends. And that has simplified my life. If a weekend invitation comes in, it's almost certainly no. See, another thing you can think about here is make your default decision, at least in your brain, no. When you get asked to do things that are outwith what you are required to do, make no the default and then say to yourself, can I make a case for this to be a yes?

can I make a case for this to be a yes? It's just slightly tweaking things and perhaps that's a strategy you may find useful. The other thing to say about setting boundaries and saying no is that if you've never been able to do it before, it's going to feel hard at first, right? You're not going to feel comfortable doing it. But what I really ask you to do is think clearly about why you're saying no, and then try and be honest. Don't try and over-explain. Just be really clear to the point, explain your reasons, and you may be surprised at how well received they are. Maybe two years ago now, I got an invitation in July by a friend of mine to speak in August. And at that time, I had decided that I'd been working too much. I'd been neglecting some of the important things in my life. And I decided

in August, I'm not going to work. In August, I'm taking time off. I'm going to spend time with my family. Again, I appreciate not everyone has the luxury of being able to do that. At that time, I did. And the speaking invitation came in. Now, the only reason I even considered it, because this lady who invited me was a friend of mine, but I thought about it, and then I very clearly said to her, hey, listen, thank you so much for the invitation. It sounds wonderful, but I'm not taking on any work in August. I'm spending it with my family. I'm really sorry. If you'd like me to promote your event for you, I'm happy to do that, but I can't take part.

event for you. I'm happy to do that, but I can't take part. And you know what? At that time, I was a bit nervous about telling her. I was wondering what is she going to think of me? And she didn't think anything bad of me. In fact, she really respected that I was honest and told her the truth. And it also felt good for me. I feel I didn't lie. I didn't tell a white lie. I didn't make up some excuse. No, I just told her the truth. And actually, I find more and more being able to say no in a truthful, authentic way is a really, really good skill to acquire. And it's something you can work on and get better at with practice. The sixth thing for you to focus on is to schedule rest. Now, this relates a little bit to the last one, right? If you get better at saying no, putting up boundaries, you're going to have more time for yourself. But what are you going to do with that time, right? You need rest to fully recuperate. Remember what I said about that elastic band and burnout, right? You get

these little doses of stress. They're going to come. They're not going to stop, right? The stress helps us. It helps us perform better. But then if we intentionally have enough time to rest and recover, we grow back stronger, right? We become more resilient. With burnout, what happens is because we don't have that time to rest and recuperate, the elastic band starts to change shape. You know, we start to change shape internally, which is what causes all those symptoms and signs that I've already been through. So if you can put in the right amount of rest, you're going to find that you can deal with stress because you're recovering from stress. Now, one of the best things to think about doing is put it in the diary.

You know, in step number two, when I spoke about intentionally engaging with another human being, I shared that story about my friend in America who has Man Thursdays. It's in the diary. So it's going to happen more often than not. What can you put in your diary? Maybe it's a yoga class midweek on a Wednesday night after work. Maybe it's a relaxing Epsom salt bath every Tuesday and Friday evening. Put it in your diary. See, that's the interesting thing, isn't it? We put our work commitments in our diary because we're prioritizing them. And we know we have to do them.

But you also have to do rest. And let's just think about it for a minute. What does it really say about our priorities in life when all our work commitments are in our diary? All the commitments we have for other people are in our diary. But most of us don't think to put a walk in our diary or a bath in our diary, or maybe our yoga class in our diary. It's a very simple move that can be really, really effective. Now, I just want to quickly mention something about walking, because I go to a lot of companies these days. I speak to a lot of people about burnout and stress. And one of the most useful and effective things I recommend is a 15-minute

walk at lunchtime with no technology. Why is that so powerful? Well, if you have a walking break at lunchtime, you're going to come back, be more creative and better able to solve problems. That's the thing a lot of people don't realize. Burnout affects us at work, right? Our work performance goes down. And when we're feeling like that, we've got a problem to solve, we get stuck. We want to work through lunch. We think if we plow through, it's going to solve the problem. We don't realize that there's something in our brain called the DMN, the default mode network. And what does that do? Well, it does many things, but two things it does is it helps us solve problems and it helps

us be more creative. Now, the DMN only gets activated when you switch off, when you stop focusing on a task. This is why some of us have our very best ideas when we're out for a walk or when we're in the shower. I know for me, some of my best ideas come when I'm in the shower each morning because you've switched off. You don't have your emails. You're not focused on anything so your brain tries to solve those problems for you. So again, diary in that 10 or 15 minute walking break every lunchtime. In the moment, it will feel like nothing. But if you do that five days a week, even seven days a week, you will very quickly start to notice a big, big difference. The other thing I want to mention on

rest, let's say you like to watch documentaries, for example, as part of your relaxation. like to watch documentaries, for example, as part of your relaxation. I'm okay with that. I'm not saying don't do that, but start to pay attention to how you feel after particular genres, right? If you watch quite an agitating one with a lot of anger and judgment and cynicism in it, how do you feel afterwards? Do you feel as though you've rested or do you feel kind of agitated in your body? And then contrast that to when you're watching something relaxing, maybe something with nature in it, maybe a feel-good story. How do you feel in your body then? Because then you'll start to educate yourself on what the right kind of rest is for you. Now, I just want to mention something here that's relevant to some of the things I've just been

talking about. I recently spoke to a chap called Stephen Kotler. He's a human performance expert and he co-founded the Flow Research Collective in Canada. And him and his team have done some research and they have shown that it is almost impossible to burn out if you do three things. Number one, if you get seven to eight hours sleep a night. Number two, if you access flow one to two times a week. So what's flow? Well, flow is an altered state of consciousness. It's a state you get in when you're fully concentrating. You'll feel as though your perception of time is changing. Some people will say time just stood still. And it's usually those activities that you enjoy and that you're fully immersed in. Usually, it's when the focus that's required to do it is a little bit more than your ability level. So you have to stay focused.

But it's not so hard that you think this is unachievable and you switch off. And if you're struggling to know what your flow activities are, think about the sorts of things you used to enjoy as a child or as a teenager. Common examples are playing musical instruments, skiing, rock climbing, could be reading, all kinds of things. But again, Stephen says if you can access flow once to twice a week, it really helps prevent burnout. The seventh thing I want you to think about is movement. One of the problems when people are on the road to burnout, or even when they've got all-out burnout, is that they don't move. You know, I've already mentioned that one of the signs of

burnout is when we start to neglect our self-care. And because people feel lacking in motivation, low in energy, you know, they're procrastinating, they can't make decisions, they end up not moving their bodies. They often think, oh, I don't have energy to move And the interesting thing about movement is that it will change your state Guaranteed, right? Sometimes if we're feeling stressed and agitated and anxious Getting out there and moving our body, let's say with a walk Or even two minutes of skipping or jumping jacks Will calm everything down, you'll burn off that stress. But it also

works the other way. If you're feeling low energy, if you're struggling with motivation, sometimes movement will give you energy. Just think, think about the last time you couldn't be bothered going to the gym. Or perhaps you procrastinated for an hour. Shall I go for a walk? Shall I not go for a walk? Oh, it's raining. Not sure I've got time. But then you actually went. How did you feel afterwards? Did you regret it? Or did you afterwards feel, wow, man, I'm so glad I went. I don't think anybody has ever regretted going for a walk. We always feel better afterwards. So this is all about making sure you're moving your body every day. Even a 10 or 15 minute walk will make a big difference. Step number eight, pay attention to your food

intake. Again, this fits the theme of the last step, which is about movement. When people are feeling close to burnout or on the road to burnout, they stop looking after themselves and food, your nutrition is absolutely key here. If you're feeling bad and you start to have more sugar, more ice cream, more highly processed foods. You start snacking more. You're eating late at night. It's simply not going to help you. It's going to make matters worse. And I know in that moment where you can't be bothered to cook, the easiest thing in the world is to phone for a takeaway or go on an app on your phone, depending on where you live in the world, and actually get something delivered to you. But please try and make healthier choices as much as possible. Make sure you've got healthy food at

home. Make sure you've got things that you enjoy that are going to support your health and well-being at home. If you've run out of food, it's going to be easy to go and order that takeaway. food. It's going to be easy to go and order that takeaway. Try not to snack late at night in front of the television because we know that late night snacking for some people can really impact the quality of their sleep. And getting better sleep is on this 10-step action plan. We want you to get better sleep. And eating late will often get in the way of that. get better sleep. And eating late will often get in the way of that. Also do pay attention to comfort eating. I get it in those moments where you've got no energy and you feel low. You just think, I'm going to eat something to make myself feel better. And I get it. In the moment, it does make you feel better, but it comes with a long-term cost. And if you're doing this all the time, it's going

to keep you locked in a vicious cycle. So the next time you have that urge to open that packet of crisps or those biscuits, why don't you just try this? Just take a quick pause and ask yourself, what am I really feeling here? Is this physical hunger or emotional hunger? You know, a lot of the time that we turn to food, it's because there's something emotional going on. Maybe you feel lonely. Maybe you want to say hi to your partner or give a friend a call instead. Maybe you feel like you've had no time to yourself all day, right? And you've just been working, so this is your treat for you. Okay, but maybe you can treat yourself in another way. Maybe you can run yourself a bath and kind of enjoy being there for 20 minutes, looking after

yourself, right? So pay attention to the foods that you're putting into your body. It's going to make a big difference to your recovery. Step number nine is to define the end of your work day. Now, this is a really, really important step that I actually think you can start to implement immediately. Our to-do lists are never done these days because of modern technology, because of the way that we work. There's always something else to do, always. Let's say you miraculously clear all the new emails in your inbox, right? I don't know if that's possible, but let's say you manage to do that. The minute you finish, and let's say you go off somewhere for a walk or make yourself a cup of tea, there's a very good chance that other emails have started to arrive. You can't control that.

Emails are always going to come in. This is just one example, right? So you can constantly be working. And I've seen this in so many patients. They don't put up boundaries, so therefore they're still working after dinner, right? You couldn't do this 20, 30 years ago. You'd have had to have stopped and switched off, spent time, if you've got a family with your family, if you don't, spent time doing something enjoyable for yourself. But now you don't have to do that. You can keep plugging away. And of course, you keep doing this month after month, year after year, this is going to put you on the road to burnout. So a really helpful tip here is to say, what does done look like today? This is actually something that I discussed in a wonderful

conversation I had on my podcast with Greg McKeown, who I've already mentioned, right? Greg's got another phrase that I really, really like. If you don't prioritize your life, someone else will. In fact, I like that phrase so much, I've got it up on the wall in my house. And that's what this tip really is about. You've got to define what done means for you. Maybe it's at 5pm I'm going to stop working, or maybe it's I've got these 10 tasks to do today, but once I've done these six important ones, if that's the end of the day, that's the end of the day. If you don't do it, nobody is going to do it for you. It's about setting boundaries. It's about taking a moment to go, no, this is important today. Everything's not important. You may think it is, but it isn't. So why not at the start of each day define, if I get these things done today, that's good enough.

And this is something that's really simple, but really, really effective. And the final step, step 10 on this action plan, is a bit more about the bigger picture. A lot of the time we end up on the road to burnout and getting burnt out is because we're not living a life that's in alignment with who we really are. life that's in alignment with who we really are. Our daily actions are not aligned with our values. We're often in jobs that we don't really enjoy and there's elements of those jobs that don't really sit right with us. I think it's really important for me to say here that I get it sometimes you have to do a job that you don't particularly like because that's how you feed yourself that's how you feed your family and put a roof over your heads I understand that so this advice is going to be different

for different people at different stages of their lives. But even if that is you, it's still worth having a think about, what are my values? Is this still the job I want to be doing in two years and three years and five years? And I'd encourage you, maybe once a week, just sit down and write down, what are some of the core values that encompass who I am and who I want to be. It doesn't need to take long. Even just one value will start to help you. You know, I've done this many times over the years. What I would say right now is that my three core values are integrity, compassion, and curiosity. And those are the three values that I like to bring to every aspect of my life, my personal life, yes, but also my work life. And if I look back on my career at times when I was getting

frustrated and overworking and getting quite resentful about work, often one of those values was being violated. I think this is one of the most important things that you can spend time with. Yes, for how you're feeling right now, but also for your long-term health and happiness. You may not be able to change everything straight away, but if you've never spent a moment to think about what it is you truly want out of life, you're going to find yourself falling into the same traps over and over again. And if you're struggling with this, why not do this exercise of writing down some of your core values with a friend or maybe your partner. Some examples of values or things that you value, right? This is not an exhaustive list,

but just to get you thinking, things like solitude, nature, the environment, creativity, curiosity, compassion, honesty, integrity. You know, maybe you're hearing all of those ago. Yeah, I like all of them. That's fine. Just pick one, two, or three just to get you started. And maybe every Sunday you sit down with them and go, how much of my life this week did I live in accordance with those values? And how much of my life was in conflict with them? And I think you'll be surprised at how much you learn about yourself because these are the really, really important lessons that will help you get out of the jam that you're currently in, but will also help you

with your long-term health and happiness. I know that if you start to implement that action plan into your own life, you are going to start seeing results immediately. Remember, you do not have to do all of them at once. Pick one thing, start small and build up with time. all of them at once. Pick one thing, start small and build up with time. Really hope you enjoyed that bonus episode. As always, do think about one thing that you can take away and start applying into your own life. And please, this is such a prevalent problem.

If you know someone who you think would benefit from listening, please do take a moment to share this episode with them. Now, if you want further help on this topic, I have written five books over the past few years that I think can all be helpful in their own way. The two I would probably recommend specifically relating to this topic is my second book, The Stress Solution, which will help you identify where stress lives in your life, what impact it is having, and what you can practically do about it. Also, my latest book, Happy Mind, Happy Life, I think, will help you understand why we end up pushing ourselves so hard in the first place and how to address that. All of my books are available as paperbacks, address that. All of my books are available as paperbacks, ebooks, and as audiobooks, which I am narrating. Before you go, just wanted to let you know about Friday Five. It is my free weekly email containing five simple ideas to improve your health and happiness. I share exclusive insights

that I do not share anywhere else, including health advice, how to manage your time better, interesting articles or videos that I've been consuming and quotes that have caused me to stop and reflect in a world of endless emails. It really is delightful that many of you tell me it is one of the only weekly emails

that you actively look forward to receiving. So if that sounds like something you would like to receive each Friday, you can sign up for free at drchatagy.com forward slash Friday Five. If you enjoyed today's episode, it's always appreciated if you can take a moment to share the podcast with your friends and family or leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Thank you so much for listening. Have a wonderful week. And always remember, you are the architect of your own health. Making lifestyle changes always worth it. Because when you feel better, you live more.