Am I heading for Burn-Out? Part 3. More and more, today’s state of mind is one of working until you drop. Feeling tired or plain unhealthy, is taboo. You’ve got to finish your work first, right? As soon as our career becomes our first priority, we start to neglect our health. No wonder that we’re fueling a burn-out driven society. Instead of easing off when we’re feeling weak, we resort to pills against headaches or fatigue. When we’re low on energy, we either snack on candy bars or pump our veins full of caffeine. Only when our health completely prohibits working, we start to take things easy –until we’re feeling even slightly better that is.
Does this sound familiar? In the coming weeks, we’ll give you five questions you can ask yourself to better understand the contemporary syndrome. Here’s the third question.
3. How does your body tell you to take it easy?
Your body is sure to send out some signals when it’s put under too much pressure. Being able to recognize these signals before they get out of hand, is key to avoiding a burn-out. So what are they? That’s a tricky question, but there do are some signals that are rather common. We’ll give you a non-exhaustive list: Are you suddenly more susceptible to a common cold? Is your digestive system no longer properly functioning? Are you nervous most of the time? Are you suffering from high blood pressure, muscle aches, allergies or other ailments?
Am I heading for Burn-Out? Many people don’t see being stressed as a disease, but keep in mind that it frequently causes mental ailments that are accompanied by physical ailments. Listening to your body, enables you to acknowledge and to identify your own personal signals. Talk about them with your physician, to avoid their negative consequences.
Your main source of energy? That’s (supposed to be) you. People 
who slip into a burn-out, are trying to find their energy in their work, social network, or even simply the outside world. This may turn out fine for a while, but not on the long term. Social activities and
beautiful moments with friends and family,
give you energy too of course, as does having success at work, but everything starts at the center and that’s you.
Don’t underestimate the importance of having enough sleep. 60% of all people think that 6 hours of sleep per night suffices for them, while in reality only 15% of all people have enough with such little sleep. A misconception that’s detrimental to your productivity, as mental recovery takes place between the sixth and eighth hour of sleep. Are you well-rested? Try going a day without caffeine. If you don’t suffer from a lack of energy, you’ve had an adequate amount of sleep.