How To Build Healthy Teams in a Healthy Body
A strong team doesn’t happen by accident, it is built with intention in the right…
Some people only pay attention to their mental health when their body gives up, while others are more in tune with themself and notice it before the body shuts off. And there is a group of people who are seen as strong and resilient, when in fact they are disconnected from their bodies, and only when they can’t get out of bed do they “notice” that something is very wrong with their health. This article is for those who pay attention only when the body gives up on them.
When I was first diagnosed with Complex PTSD, I was amazed to hear that my body actually tells me whenI need to rest, when I am getting a cold, or when I need painkillers.
For you to have an idea of how disconnected I was from my body, when I was pregnant with my youngest child, I went to the hospital for an appendectomy surgery by bike, after I let my kids go to school. I felt pain for 2 days, but I did not feel how bad it was, so I simply biked a little slower than usual to the emergency to see why it was not going away with painkillers. They operated on me 30 minutes after my arrival.
Later, when I studied to become a trauma coach, I learned why I was so disconnected and why my body felt like a house that wasn’t mine. It’s because, due to past trauma, my mind left the body so we can survive, and later, I did not know that I needed to invite her back. Today I listen and practice listening to the signs. So everything you read here is not because I know better from books, but because, like many of you, I know how much it costs to be disconnected and don’t know what to look for in my body.
The reason this article is more of a map for you is that you may know when to go to the doctor, seek a coach or therapist, and recognize that what you experience is a sign of burnout and that it’s time for you to stop before your body does it for you. So here we go.
Burnout keeps the body in chronic stress mode (fight-or-flight). Over time, cortisol, the stress hormone, remains high and doesn’t return to baseline anymore. This keeps the nervous system stretched and dysregulated, and the body no longer returns to rest-and-digest mode. This is why burnout feels not only mental and emotional but, at the same time, physically exhausting.
Because of the constant high cortisol levels, every organ in your body starts to suffer. The pressure that cortisol puts on the organs to constantly fight or fight leads to problems like:
If you feel tired even after you’ve been sleeping well, regular hours, or even more than usual, but your brain seems to refuse to function, and your body feels like it just survived a car crash, you know that this level of tiredness is more than just needing sleep.
Low energy throughout the day somehow became the norm. Well, it is not normal. If we sleep 7-8 hours a day, eat well, and move our bodies, we should have enough energy even without coffee (after we detox from coffee first). Coffee should be a treat, not a way to keep us standing and face life.
Do you find yourself having difficulty falling asleep, waking up during the night, waking up exhausted, or having light, restless sleep? If the answer is yes, this is your cue that you are experiencing a certain level of burnout. Your sleep is an indicator of a cortisol-pumped body and a full mind.
Sleep is the number one step to take in burnout recovery. When you sleep, your body flushes out cortisol, allowing your mind to rest and restore. Sleep restores your body and mind, making emotional regulation easier, relationships easier to keep healthy, and work more fulfilling rather than just a way to pay bills and make ends meet.
When you experience tension headaches, pain in your neck and shoulder, jaw clenching, and back pain, this is another sign that you are experiencing burnout. Due to high levels of cortisol in your body, the muscles don’t get to relax even when you sleep. Even going to sports can put your body in fight mode, releasing cortisol, and creating more tension and pain.
When your mind perceives danger, due to overwork, piled-up workload, stressful environment, relationship problems, bills that never end, responsibilities at work, and family, the muscles tighten automatically as preparation for danger. If stress isn’t resolved, the body doesn’t fully relax, leading to aches and pain.
Stomach aches, bloating, irritable bowel symptoms, and changes in appetite (overeating or loss of appetite) are not gastrointestinal problems when it comes to stress, although you will need to see them. The stress hormone cortisol puts a strain on your digestive system every time your nervous system does not go into rest-and-digest mode.
So next time when you experience those symptoms, start with sleep, walking in nature, nourishing food, and going out to have fun with your loved ones. You can also combine them so you don’t feel like it is another labour you need to perform; it actually allows your system to relax. You will be surprised to notice your digestive issues go away.
You are welcome! 😉
Have you noticed getting sick more often, frequent colds that take longer to go away than before, or a slow recovery after a mild virus or an injury? All of these are signs that your immune system has been overworked for far too long.
What helps is having more than one holiday a year and a few days off on weekends. You need to create a systematic way to not just recover, but to build a lifestyle that serves you and your entire body. Sleep hygiene and regular movement outside the house (walking, running, or simply biking to work). Nourishing food, and by no means food that stresses your immune system further. Think of the immune system as your baby. Would you feed and treat your newborn the way you treat yourself?
Increased heart rate, chest tightness, high blood pressure, feeling physically “on edge”, all symptoms of high cortisol for way too long. If you are 37 and already on blood pressure medication, that’s your cue that if you keep doing what you are doing, your heart will stop serving you eventually.
Want to have a healthy heart? Start adressing burnout systematically. Start by building up your body, healing your mind, learning to regulate your emotions, finding out who you are without work, making sure your relationships support your well-being, and being done with the ones that drain your energy. And last but not least, make your work work for you, not the other way around. You are not your work; work exists to serve you while building a good life for yourself.
Heavy eyes and blurry vision are not always a sign of you getting old (even though that might add to it). They are a sign that you forgot to “see” where you are and are burning yourself out. You don’t need new glasses, but you do need a different perspective on stress.
Difficulty concentrating, memory problems, focus problems, and brain fog are usually medicated with coffee, which only makes the matter worse. Those are signs your body shows telling you that you are burning out fast. Listen to them and ask for support so you can recover before your body and mind give up on you for good. It takes much longer to recover once you cannot get out of bed.
Have you ever experienced hormonal imbalance, irregular menstrual cycle, changes in weight, or low libido if you are a woman? And changes in weight, low libido, less energy, and loss of hair, as a man? Well, this is your hormonal system screaming for help.
And no, you don’t need hormonal pills to fix it, what you do need is healing your nervous system so it can regulate after stress, and go back to a rest and digest state. For that, you need systemic change, not just some pills. Although hormonal replacement therapy makes a big difference once women go into premenopause and menopause. Keep close to your doctor if you are a woman in perimenopause or menopause. Hormones are a serious business that messes up your financial business big time if they’re out of order.
In a fast-paced world, especially when it comes to business, and juggling balls between jobs, family, free time, and everything in between, we need to be equipped to recognise the signs of burnout early. Whether we like it or not, burnout rates are going up alarmingly and will not decrease unless we do something about it. And doing it means educating ourselves to read the signs, pause, rest, and reset before we burn out completely.
The cost of burnout is not just on those experiencing it, but also on their family and friends and on the workplace. When you burn out, especially as a parent or a leader in your organization, the entire structure under your authority is suffering.
The best thing to do today is to read these symptoms again, take a piece of paper and write them down, then go to your family doctor and talk about it. Make. Plan to rest and recover before you need a medical sick leave.
Do you see your teammates struggling, but they don’t see it yet? Book a clarity call and let us help you find a way to support them.
PS: Let us know what resonates most with you, and share this info with friends and family.
Until next time,
