Battling burnout | Recover from Fatigue, Overcome Brain Fog, Stress relief

10. How to Workout Safe with Fatigue and Exhaustion

Working out was an important part of my recovery. I ran, biked, weight trained, danced, skied and did Pilates.
When I got burnt out, not working out was not an option.  Being outdoors and working out is a big part of who I am. I have worked as a group training instructor and personal trainer for 15 years. I moved to the mountains to be able to ski and bike more.
But finding the balance of working out with fatigue wasn’t that easy.  In the beginning, I pushed myself a bit too hard, before I got the hang of it. In this episode I’m going to talk about working out as exhausted. How to do it without pushing yourself to hard but not be afraid of it either.
 
Key takeaways
 Don't be afraid of working out or move while exhausted and fatigued. Your body will tell you when to stop.
Don't pressure yourself. Pressure stresses the brain. High demands on training, weather it's to accomplish something, to look a certain way or to be healthy, stresses the brain.
There is a difference between working out to get better at something or move just for the fun of it. Go for the fun of it. Movement out of joy calms the brain and nervous system.
Adapt the movements and training after how exhausted and fatigued you are, and your level of fitness. In the first phase, when you can't do anything except sleep, do sleep. When you feel a bit better, start with slow, mindful movements like Pilates, yoga or walks. If you worked out a lot before your burnout, you could gradually get back to more intense workouts but keep them lighter and shorter than before.
Don't stress out. There will be a time for intense workouts and personal records again if you want to. But right now, your focus should be healing, not your weight or muscles.
 

9. The Must Do to Ease Stress, Exhaustion and Overwhelm

Today I will talk about how writing can relieve stress and pressure, both in the moment and long term. When I was trying to find ways to recover, I discovered plenty of research showing the benefits of journaling. Weather you do an unorganized brain dump or more systematically reframing exercise, you will feel better in the moment and start your journey towards healing.
 
Key takeaways
The part of the brain you use by writing is more rational than the part you use for thinking. This makes it easier to see your problems from different perspectives and in a more nuanced way.
Journaling makes you break that loop of ruminating thoughts, getting you to break through your negative emotions and see a more nuanced reality.
Journaling can be a way of amplifying the good things in your life, balancing the focus on the negative when ill.
There is no right way or wrong way to write. You can do a brain dump, writing whatever comes to mind, you can write about your thoughts and feelings on a special topic or you can do reframing exercises.
You can write by hand, on a computer or using a voice recorder. You don't need to save what you've written.

8. Experience Pain During Burnout? - When Stress Gives You Pain

Did you know that the best way to predict if someone has back pain, is not to do an MRI of their spine, but of their brain? Research shows that most of the pain does not come out of physical damage, even if the doctor says so, but from stress, high demands and worrying. And the way to healing is not pain killers or surgery, but easing the stress and reseting your brain.
Key takeaways
 Pain is the brain’s way to signal danger. The brain will signal danger when the negative parts of your life is to much. It can be stress, pressure, fear, worrying etc. Even positive stress can make the brain signal danger.
 Worrying about the pain, believing something is broken or that the pain is dangerous will make it worse. 
If you reduce the stress, you also reduce the pain. Go listen to episode 4 to learn how to reduce stress.
Episode #4 The 8 Steps That Healed my Burnout and Fatigue

7. Stuck in Your Fatigue? 4 Treatments to Fight Exhaustion and Stop Brain Fog

Are you stuck in your burnout? Have you reached a plateau, or feel that the treatments you are given don’t help as much as you’ld want? When I was sick, the treatment I was given actually made me worse. When I learned about the brain and the nervous system I learned how to personalize my recovery, so I could do the things that relieved stress for me, and gave me my energy back. Today I’ll share how you can use neuro science to find your personalized way to recovery with the help of 4 science proven methods. 
 
Key takeaways
Journaling is a way to relieve stress and ease exhaustion and overwhelm. It's extra beneficial for people who don't feel helped by talk therapy.
 Reframing, when you aks yourself question to make you think from a different perspective, is a good way to lower your demands and worry less.
Leaning into positive sensations is a way to make the balance in the brain shift. Instead of focusing on your negative emotions and sensations from your illness you reset your brain for healing.
Slow movements, like pilates, decreases the stress i your brain and nervous system. It's a good way to reach relaxation for people who has a hard time meditating or doing relaxation exercises.

6. Why Trying to Heal Faster is Making Your Fatigue Worse

During my recovery I read everything on stress and burnout I could find and tried every new technique. I approached each doctor’s appointment as if it were a courtroom trial.
But real progress began when I let go of the pressure to heal on a specific timeline. Putting pressure on yourself keeps your brain on high alert, which worsens symptoms. By lowering those demands, you reduce that state of alertness, which in turn reduces symptoms.
Key takeaways
Pressure puts the brain in high alert which make everything worse.
Taking the pressure off will ease the symptoms.
Hyper vigilance is making you more sensitive for symptoms.
Caring less about setbacks will ease the symptoms
 Nothing in life is linier, nor is healing. 
Use refraiming to lower your own demands.

5. What is Brain Fog - and How Do I Fight It?

Are you burned out and experience memory loss? Maybe you have a hard time doing cognitive demanding tasks? You know that you should be able to do it, but find your self staring blankly on the task, and your brain just can’t give you the information to do it? Or maybe you have this constant pressure inside your head, getting worse when you’re in noisy or very bright surroundings. You might be suffering from brain fog, even called mental fatigue, cognitive fatigue or brain fatigue. 
When I got burned out, it felt like my brain just shut down. I couldn’t drive anymore; I got mentally exhausted from doing easy tasks like grocery shopping and taking a phone call. The different doctors, psychologists and therapists I met had no idea how to help me. I had to learn on my own what brain fog is and how to treat it. 
This episode is for you, if you are in the same situation. It’s for you whose brain has gone on vacation. In this episode I’ll share all I’ve learned on how to get the brain back to work, healthy and fully rested. Key takeaways
Signs of brain fog, even called mental fatigue, are
Not being able to take in information from several sources at the same time.
Memory loss, like you don't recall passwords or your often made recipes.
When its hard doing cognitive demanding tasks, like filling in complicated forms.
A feeling like an internal pressure, headache or dizziness.
You get mentally fatigued by doing things, or the feeling of being completely drained is constant.
You can’t stand lot of stimuli like loud noises or bright light.
Steps to recover from mental fatigue or brain fog are
Don’t freak out. Calm yourself and stop the worrying.
Reduce stimuli like loud noises.
Plan for rest - doing things you enjoy without any demands.
Gradual exposure - train your brain like you train a muscle, a small step at the time.
If I could heal, so can you. It's hope for everyone!

4. The 8 Steps That Healed my Burnout and Fatigue

Today I share the 8 steps that made me heal from severe burnout.  I share what I did to stop my brain fog and dizziness, ease my nausea and overcome my fatigue. If I could heal, so can you. There’s hope for everyone!
 
Key takeaways
Worrying about or being afraid of your symptoms stresses the brain and nervous system, making everything worse. So do putting pressure on yourself to heal.
Being overly vigilant about your symptoms makes your brain letting small things feel worse than they are, so called sensitization. 
By noticing what's actually feels good or neutral you relieve the stress on the brain and ease or heal symptoms of burnout, like brain fog, fatigue, nausea, dizziness. 
Slowing down the pace of your life and your movements will reassure your brain and nervous system that there is no stress or danger, easing your symptoms further. 
 

3. What Is Burnout From a Brain And Nervous System Perspective

In this episode I share 4 common misunderstandings about stress, burnout and healing, which made me so much worse . When I learnt about the brain and the nervous systems part in burnout, what really stresses the body and how to fix it, I healed quickly. Within six months I was back working fulltime and exercising again. In this episode I will tell you my mistakes, and what I did instead to overcome burnout, fight my fatigue and stop my brain fog. 
 
Key takeaways:
Stress is more than just too much to do, it's also all sorts of negative feelings and emotions, like high demands or worrying. 
Time outside the job isn’t necessary recovery. Training hard or taking care of family is just as demanding.  
Physical symptoms like dizziness and brain fog doesn’t mean there’s something physical wrong with you. It’s the brain and nervous systems way to say you need to wind down. Your brain forms neural pathways of feeling bad.
Occupying your mind with your burnout and the symptoms will make your brain and nervous system stressed and give you even more symptoms. It will also make you even more sensitive for the symptoms, making small things feel strong. This is called sensitization.
You can change your neural pathways and your sensitization by changing your thoughts.  

2. The Ugly Reality of Burnout – My Personal Experience

 In this episode I share my experience of a burnout with fatigue so serious, I barely could walk, nor take part in conversations. I talk about how worrying over my burnout gave me constant fatigue and brain fog, how it affected me, my life and my relations. It’s a story about frustration and desperation, but also about joy and healing.
Key takeaways
Burnout is more than just fatigue, it’s also physical symptoms like pain, dizziness, nausea, memory loss and brain fog. It affects all of your life.
Worry and fear make you worse.
It’s not your fault! You should not feel guilty or ashamed. Our brains are wired in a way that is a bad fit for today’s society.
Even when burned out, there is joy.

1. Could you be suffering from burnout – 5 signs that you risk burnout

In this episode I share 5 signs that your body is under too much stress, and you might be risking burnout. Your body can show different signs of stress before it enters a state of burnout. In this episode I talk about physical signs like pain, digestive problems, incontinence, and hunger. I also talk about mental signs like fatigue and brain fog. If I had known this earlier, I would probably not have gotten my burnout. I hope this episode will give you the knowledge and power to stop before you get burned out. 
Key takeaways
The body signals stress with physical and mental signs.
Physical signs can be shoulder pain, back pain, gut pain, digestive problems, incontinence, sweating, freezing or hunger. 
Mental signs can be fatigue, brain fog, memory loss, anxiety, depression, brain fatigue and loss of cognitive capabilities. 
Listening to the signs from the body in an early state can reduce the risk of burnout.