While burnout was once viewed as a personal issue, we now understand it as a multi-faceted challenge often impacted by a combination of the workplace and life events that impact wellbeing, and productivity — and if you don’t treat burnout, it can have ripple effects on your company-wide culture. But where does burnout begin, and how can we address it before it spirals out of control?Signs of burnout Understanding the signs of burnout is the first step to getting ahead of it. The early stages often present mild fatigue or a sense of overwhelm, which can be easy to ignore. However, without intervention, these feelings can snowball into serious mental and physical health issues.Some common warning signs to look out for are: Chronic exhaustion: Feeling constantly tired, even after a full night's sleep.Detachment or cynicism: A growing sense of apathy or disconnection from work and social activities. Decreased productivity: Struggling to complete tasks or workloads that were once manageable.Physical symptoms: Headaches, stomach issues, and frequent illnesses.This is only the beginning — for a full list of potential burnout symptoms and how to address them, see our blog on the signs of burnout.It’s essential to recognise these symptoms early and take action before they escalate into full-blown burnout. But what’s even more important is to truly understand what the underlying cause of your burnout.The root cause of burnoutBurnout doesn’t happen overnight — it happens in stages. It often starts with a subtle imbalance between the demands of work and the resources employees have to meet those demands, and is often intensified by things happening in one’s personal life.An inability to manage excessive workloads, a lack of support, unclear expectations and an imbalance between work and life all cumulatively lead to burnout symptoms that can worsen if left untreated.But the main culprit behind burnout is unmanaged, chronic stress.This has lasting effects on productivity in the workplace and morale and can lead to severe business impacts as well as dangerous health impacts. Entrepreneur and former Dragon's Den judge, Steven Bartlett hosted a recent episode on his podcast, Diary of a CEO, where he interviewed The Mental Health Doctor Dr. Aditi Nerurkar who explained why people are getting so burned out in the modern age, how it's impacting productivity — and how you can get ahead of it. Addressing the causeThe most effective way to prevent burnout is to address its root causes rather than simply treating the symptoms. And, especially with workplace burnout, employers play a pivotal role in creating an environment where employees can thrive without being pushed to the brink of exhaustion.The way we look at things at YuLife is starting small. If you can identify, or help employees identify, daily habits that cause stress or find opportunities to help reduce stress, you’ll be able to beat burnout before it escalates. 1. Find where peak productivity sitsOver-producing or under-producing are both common causes of burnout. So, the first step to getting ahead of burnout is to understand how human productivity really works:“Human productivity functions on a curve, it’s not linear,” says Dr. Aditi. “There’s actually a bell-shaped curve for stress as there is a bell-shaped curve for human productivity.”When we are to the left of the curve, we’re bored and apathetic. As a result, we don’t have the energy, we become stressed, and we won’t be productive. The high right of the curve is where many people sit these days: highly stressed and anxious. In this position, you’re also going to be equally as unproductive and stressed out. But, right in the middle, there’s a sweet spot to human productivity and stress that creates optimal output. The key is finding where that is for each individual on your team. The first step? Think about what your people truly need to perform as their best selves, and produce the highest-quality work they can without hitting a point of overwhelm and chronic stress. It takes a combination of communication, individualised plans and support as well as customising workloads to fit each individual’s capacity.2. Stop multitasking “100% of people think they are excellent multitaskers,” says Dr. Aditi. “But in fact, the science shows that only 2% of human brains can effectively multitask.” Multitasking as we know it is a myth, and it doesn’t actually exist. Experts actually warn against the detrimental effects of trying to multitask all the time. It has been shown to increase cortisol levels because we are operating so quickly, and are never truy getting the sense of fulfillment that we do when accomplishing something. Instead, we often half-finish tasks or don’t fully execute them to the highest degree. We often mistake “multitasking” for what it really is: task switching. We are simply jumping from one task to another in rapid succession, and this actually decreases our ability to effectively solve complex problems, it affects our mood, overall engagement and more. And especially with the level of distractions and context-switching we do daily with our phones, televisions and media all around us — it’s no wonder millions of people are burning out! That’s why it’s important to emphasise and educate your team about monotasking — where you focus on getting one task done at a time using time-blocking tools like the Pomodoro method. This way, you’re actually protecting and strengthening your pre-frontal cortex and improving your memory as well as problem-solving, and you get the feeling of accomplishment that comes with it — which, ultimately, is a vital ingredient to deterring burnout. 3. Taking breaksIf you’re someone who has their days filled with back-to-back meetings and not a minute to breathe in between, this is for you: Dr. Aditi mentioned a study done by Microsoft Labs that showed taking as little as a 10-second break can be enough to make a difference in your cortisol levels and health. “Even just a 15, 5 or 2-minute walk can make a difference in your biology of stress,” she says. Of course, in a perfect world, taking a minimum amount of 3 or 4 10-minute breaks throughout the day is optimal. It can have a cumulative impact on your stress levels and help you improve the impact stress has on your body. But however much time you have: make it count.Breaks shouldn’t just be a “nice to have” throughout the day. They should be an intentionally planned-out part of your workday. Just like you block out time for focus work — block out time for intentional rest. This is even more important when attempting to retain information. Instead of jumping fro meeting to meeting or piece of content to another, take a few minutes to consolidate what you’ve learned and let it settle into your brain. Your memory will operate better, you won’t be as scrambled and you will feel less stress overall. 3. Don’t neglect your gut health You might notice whenever you get stressed over a long period, you start to experience gut issues and inflammation. This isn’t a coincidence! Now, what do the gut and burnout have to do with each other? Well, they’re actually more interconnected than you think. Much of the state of your stress and mental health is actually immensely influenced by the state of your gut health. Scientists have recently discovered that alongside the gut microbiome that we speak about which influences our immune health and overall physical health, there’s also a “psycho-biome”, whose sole function is to manage mood and other mental health. “Serotonin is the happy hormone [...] we call it a neurotransmitter or a ‘brain chemical’,” says Dr. Aditi, “When in fact, we have more serotonin, 3-5x more, in our gut than our brain. It’s truly our second brain.” If the gut isn’t being taken care of, our cortisol can increase. As a result, our body and minds react, which then causes a ripple effect back to the gut — and the cycle continues. This also explains why, oftentimes, early signs of burnout will be stomach issues and gut inflammation. The health of our gut microbiome is so important to our mental state and stress, and we are learning just how important it truly is — with new research consistently emerging every month. So, if we can reset the connection between our gut and brain, we can reset our stress levels too. Some ways to start: Prioritise sleep and hydration Eat pre and probiotic-rich foods Ensure you get adequate exercise Practise regular stress reduction techniques4. Diaphragmatic breathing Diaphragmatic breathing is another word for deep breathing, where we breathe into our stomachs rather than our chests. This is a breathing technique we know musicians use for optimal breath control, but it’s also a vital habit for stress reduction. As infants, we naturally engage in diaphragmatic breathing. Then, at some point throughout our adulthood, we forget how. However, this type of breathing is a key tool in preventing burnout — even taking 3 deep breaths when you start to feel yourself getting stressed can bring you back to the present, and activate your parasympathetic nervous system (also known as the “rest and digest” state). Here’s how it works:Breathing is the only voluntary and involuntary bodily mechanism — meaning it happens by itself without effort, and we can control it when we want to. Nothing else in our body can do that. It’s so powerful in mitigating stress response because when we are in fight or flight mode (meaning our sympathetic nervous system is activated), the breath involuntarily becomes rapid. But if we activate diaphragmatic breathing, we bring our body back into parasympathetic mode — and the two modes can’t be activated at the same time. In other words, you can work backwards into calming your fight or flight response and enter back into rest and digest. Here’s how to do it:Place your hand on your stomach and breathe in through your nose, letting your stomach expand into your palm. Then, exhale slowly through your mouth or nose. Use this as a tool when you start feeling overwhelmed throughout the day. 5. Support and recognition People need to feel a sense of recognition, purpose and a feeling of community in order to mitigate stress and be at peak performance in the workplace. When we lack support and appreciation, we can quickly succumb to burnout. That’s why it’s important to host regular check-ins, constructive feedback, and a strong support system are essential for maintaining morale. Additionally, recognising employees for their efforts, not just results, can go a long way in helping them feel valued and motivated.When employees feel recognised, and supported, they are more likely to feel as though their work is impactful and they are doing something purposeful — something Dr. Aditi mentions is vital to an overall healthy lifestyle and happy life. Moving from bad stress to good stressMany believe the key to avoiding burnout is to remove stress. But in fact, stress is necessary for survival — we can’t, nor do we want, to remove it entirely. In fact, it’s impossible to remove it, it’s a biological necessity we need to survive.But there are two types of stress that Dr. Aditi defines in the podcast: Good stress = adaptive stressBad stress = maladaptive stressEvery good thing we’ve experienced in life has been created because of some form of stress or pressure. We need good stress — the goal is to simply reduce bad stress in our day-to-day lives. It doesn’t mean there won't be bad stress days. But there should be minimal days where stress is in the drivers seat. This is what will cumulatively lead to burnout and what impacts business success and the health and wellbeing of your team. If you can find opportunities to practise relaxation and work through these small, daily habits that lead to burnout — you’ll get ahead of it every timeAnd at YuLife, we’re committed to helping businesses cultivate these types of healthy habits, and making small improvements to create lasting change by putting wellbeing at the heart of everything we do. About YuLifeYuLife is working to reimagine the insurance industry by protecting lives, rewarding living and inspiring life. We’re on a mission to transform traditional insurance into a life-enhancing experience each employee will value and use daily. How does it work?Our award-winning app uses behavioural science and game mechanics to reward your people for living well while offering protection in case of crisis. And with our top-rated employee assistance programme, your team gets access to mental, financial and social support, virtual GPs, nutritionists, life coaches and more to help them live their best lives.Because we believe that your employees should benefit from their insurance from day one — and that wellbeing should be accessible every day, for everyone.Request a demo for your team today.