Burnout and Sleep

In Brief

When your body is burned out, stress levels are so high that you struggle to sleep. On the other hand, if you don’t sleep well, you don’t recover, which increases stress and worsens burnout. Breaking this vicious cycle starts with improving your sleep — because sleep is essential for burnout recovery. 

Burnout, Sleep, and Stress

With burnout, you’ve been pushing through fatigue and resistance for an extended period. Your stress system acts as an emergency generator, supplying extra energy when you’re running on empty. This system automatically activates to keep you going.While useful in short bursts, continuously relying on this emergency energy source means you’ll need extra recovery time. If you don’t allow yourself to rest and recharge, stress hormones will keep building up, leading to a downward spiral of exhaustion. 

Why Am I Exhausted but Can’t Sleep?

Long-term stress increases cortisol levels, which suppress melatonin production in the brain. This keeps you alert, even when you’re extremely tired. Additionally, chronic stress often leads to shallow breathing, or even chronic hyperventilation, tricking the body into staying on high alert instead of winding down for sleep. 

Possible Sleep Issues with Burnout

• Difficulty Falling Asleep: Burnout can cause racing thoughts at night and increased anxiety, making it hard to fall asleep.
• Insomnia: Burnout can lead to insomnia, characterized by difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep.
• Disrupted sleep: Even if you manage to fall asleep, burnout can cause frequent awakenings throughout the night, resulting in fragmented sleep.
• Poor sleep quality: Burnout can also reduce overall sleep quality, leaving you feeling exhausted and groggy in the morning.

People with burnout often have a strong drive to push through challenges, but trying too hard to fall asleep can backfire—forcing sleep creates stress, making it even harder to rest. 

Why is sleep important for recovery?

During sleep, various physiological processes take place, such as the production of growth hormones and the repair of damaged cells. Additionally, sleep helps remove toxins and waste products from the body, making us feel more refreshed and energized.If you don’t get enough sleep while experiencing burnout, your body doesn’t have enough time to recover and regenerate. As a result, feelings of exhaustion and fatigue persist, and the recovery process can take longer. Developing healthy sleep habits and ensuring adequate rest are therefore essential for burnout recovery. By getting enough high-quality sleep, your body can heal more effectively, and burnout symptoms may lessen. 

Can sleeping too much during burnout disrupt your sleep cycle?

Sleeping too much can indeed disrupt your sleep cycle, making it harder to fall asleep at night and wake up on time in the morning.The body has a natural sleep-wake rhythm, regulated by the biological clock in the brain. Excessive sleep can disturb this rhythm, leading to feelings of fatigue and sluggishness throughout the day. It can also increase the risk of sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, and restless legs syndrome. To maintain a healthy sleep pattern, it’s important to get enough sleep—but not too much. 

Sleeping and Burnout: What to Do and What to Avoid

Things That Help

• Accept It
  If you’re struggling to sleep, stay calm and accept that it’s just not happening right now. Give yourself time. Here are some tips to improve your sleep.
• Stay Present
  Mindfulness can help you stay in the moment. Try these mindfulness exercises to get started, or join the free mindfulness sessions from OpenUp.
• Focus on Your Breathing
  Calm, steady breathing signals to your body that it’s time to rest.
• Leave Work Out of the Bedroom
  If thoughts about work keep you awake at night, talk to your employer about reducing or temporarily pausing your workload.

Things to Avoid

• Staying in Bed Awake
  If you can’t fall asleep, don’t just lie in bed. Get up and do a light activity like reading or solving a puzzle.
• Taking Naps
  Daytime naps are not recommended during burnout recovery. Maintaining structure and consistency in your sleep and meal routines is crucial.
• Overexerting Yourself
  If you start feeling better after a few good nights, don’t immediately use up all your energy. Build up your activities gradually.

Good sleep is essential, but it’s not the only factor in recovering from burnout. Learn more about burnout recovery and treatment. 

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