What Is Burnout? What It Is and How to Recover Fast

Burnout is a state of exhaustion characterized by physical, mental, and behavioral symptoms. It’s caused by sustained stress and fatigue and is often a result of placing too many demands upon yourself and not allowing yourself any time to relax.

With 2025 gathering steam, burnout and how to prevent it has become a key issue in the modern workplace. The recent explosion of AI tools, combined with ongoing debates over remote working and the ‘right to disconnect,’ have ensured that burnout is high on the workplace agenda.

Make no mistake: burnout is serious. If left untreated, it can have a catastrophic impact on your physical and emotional wellbeing, as well as your capacity to effectively carry out your job. In this guide, I’ll take you through what it is, how it can manifest itself, and some strategies you can take to prevent it from occurring, as well as how to recover from it.

What is Burnout?

Burnout is a feeling of acute exhaustion caused by overburdening oneself. When we have too much responsibility, and we can’t find respite, burnout can often occur. It’s made up of a set of physical, emotional, and mental symptoms. Among them, it creates feelings of hopelessness, apathy, and complete exhaustion.

Though these feelings might be caused by work, if untreated, they can quickly spill over into your everyday life. What’s more, burnout can have a detrimental effect on your physical health, making you more vulnerable to illness and even causing long-term health impacts.

Burnout vs depression

Burnout can feel quite similar to depression. However, there are some important distinctions between them, which I’ve outlined in the table below. Chiefly among them, burnout has a tangible cause and its treatment is relatively straightforward. Depression, by contrast, is harder to pin down and alleviate.

Symptoms of Burnout

By definition, burnout accumulates over time. The symptoms are minor at first, and thus easy to ignore. It’s important to recognize them early to stop them from snowballing into full-blown burnout. Below, you’ll find a list of common symptoms, divided into physical, mental, and behavioral.

Physical symptoms of burnout

• Fatigue – if you’re experiencing burnout, you’ll feel tired most of the time. It will seem like most tasks are beyond your capabilities.
• Colds and flu – burnout lowers your immune system, so you will pick up more colds and sickness bugs. This can lower your attendance and performance at work, which in turn contributes to the feelings of burnout.
• Sleeping poorly – burnout will impact your sleeping pattern. You might find yourself oversleeping on occasion, and not able to get to sleep on others.
• Changes in appetite – acute stress can cause people to overeat as a way to cope. At the same time, it can also mean that you have too much on your mind to even think about eating.

Mental symptoms of burnout

• Feelings of failure – if you’re suffering from burnout, you’ll likely experience extreme self-doubt and question your self-worth.
• Feelings of helplessness – you will probably feel helpless and trapped as if your situation will never improve.
• Feelings of apathy – burnout can be characterized by extreme apathy. In other words, you do not care about your job at all and have no interest in trying to turn things around.
• Feelings of sadness – of course, all of this can create powerful feelings of sadness. You might feel tearful and wish that your circumstances were different.

Behavioral symptoms of burnout

• Becoming withdrawn – if your colleague is suffering from burnout, you might notice that they have withdrawn from social and professional responsibilities.
• Procrastination – burnout will often be accompanied by procrastination, in which an individual takes a long time to get something done and often gets distracted.
• Becoming easily irritated, losing one’s temper – you might find that people with burnout have a very short fuse, and react with frustration at any minor inconvenience.
• Missing work – a person who is burnt out might start skipping work. Maybe they start taking a lot of sick days, or stop coming into the office altogether.

Causes of Burnout

As I’ve touched on in the table above, burnout differs from depression in that it has tangible external causes. It’s commonly tied to work, but it can also result from the pressures of parenting, caregiving, or any other external environment that creates long-term stress.

Below, I’ve outlined some of the main causes of burnout at work, at home, and personality traits that can make you more susceptible to it.

Causes of burnout at work

• Too much on your plate – this is a big reason why people get burnt out at work. If you have too much to do – or at least, that’s how you perceive it – it can lead to burnout.
• Lack of recognition – if you’re never rewarded or recognized for your contributions, it can feel like you’re going through the motions. In turn, this can lead to burnout.
• Boring day-to-day – no interest in the work you’re doing increases the likelihood of burnout.
• Chaotic work environment – an unorganized, high-pressure workplace provides the perfect conditions for feelings of burnout to grow.
• Lack of support – your relationships at work are vitally important. An approachable manager can lend a sympathetic ear and shoulder some of your responsibilities when required. Workplace friends are great for letting off some steam and having a laugh.

Causes of burnout at home

• Not enough sleep – fundamentally, burnout is a type of prolonged exhaustion. Not getting enough sleep is a surefire way to accelerate the burnout process.
• Working too much, relaxing too little – to avoid burnout, it’s vital that you maintain a healthy work-life balance. Make sure that you make time for yourself, and afford yourself time to nurture your social relationships.
• Taking on too much – burnout can be caused by too much responsibility. Just because you’re on top of things at work, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to assume lots of added responsibilities. In other words, know your limits.

Personality traits that can lead to burnout

• Reluctance to delegate work – if you prefer to be in control, and dislike collaborating with others, you’ll likely feel more pressure than you would otherwise. In the long run, this can lead to burnout.
• Perfectionism – in a similar vein, this can mean that you feel higher amounts of pressure, which can cause burnout.
• Low self-esteem – a low opinion of yourself might make you feel like a failure; in turn, this can lead to burnout.
• Accustomed to success – a high-achiever might feel pressure to maintain the standard that they’ve set for themselves. This can cause burnout if left unchecked.

How to Prevent Burnout

Burnout treatment starts with prevention. If you can spot the signs early and take the necessary steps to remedy them, you can stop burnout in its tracks. Your first port of call should be to reach out to others. Whether it’s your boss, your partner, or your colleagues – sharing your problems with someone will make them feel more manageable.

From here, you can start to think about solutions. To begin with, you should have a conversation with your manager. A good manager will understand that you need some respite, and lighten your workload. If you don’t have an approachable or sympathetic manager, you should seek out someone higher up who will listen.

It might be a good idea to have some time off. After all, vacations exist for a reason. If you’re running low on vacation allowance, remember that you also have sick days, and burnout is a perfectly legitimate use for them. Alternatively, there’s remote working. Perhaps your burnout is a result of excessive time spent in the office or an arduous morning and evening commute, and you need to reconsider your working arrangements.

Every company is different, so make sure to check your protocol for the above suggestions. The bottom line is – your wellbeing should matter to your company, so definitely check in with the relevant parties to see what sort of support they can offer you. If you’re repeatedly feeling like it doesn’t, it might be time to move on to a company with a better working culture.

How leaders can prevent burnout in their staff

As an employer, you have a responsibility towards your staff and their wellbeing. With mounting tech layoffs and return-to-office (RTO) mandates putting staff under strain, here are a few steps you can take to alleviate burnout.

1. Establish good lines of communication with your employees. Make sure they know they can approach you with their problems.
2. Don’t overburden your employees. Set realistic expectations, and be flexible.
3. Encourage good work-life balance. Remind your staff to take time off, and let them work from home when desired (if it adheres to your company policy).
4. Lead by example. If you’re always working overtime, your employees will get the perception that that is a requirement.
5. Make your employees feel valuable. Whether that’s keeping the office stacked with drinks and snacks, or a monthly team social. Get creative!

How to Treat Burnout

If you’re suffering from feelings of burnout, you must view it as an opportunity to pause and reflect. After all, your circumstances led you here. Going forward, you need to reevaluate how much value you’re placing on your job at the expense of your wellbeing. From here, you’ll be well-placed to make significant changes to your life.

Some areas that might need looking at include your diet, the amount of exercise you do, how much sleep you get, and whether or not you’re getting enough social interaction. Beyond that, how do you approach your work? Are you delegating enough, or assuming sole responsibility?

To prevent it from happening again, you need to make real, lasting changes.

Final Thoughts

In this guide, I’ve taken you through what burnout is, how it differs from depression, how you can prevent it, and what can be done to treat it. Hopefully, you now feel like you know a bit more about this growing workplace issue and what to do in case you feel yourself falling victim to it.

With the emergence of AI in the last few years, businesses everywhere now have access to technology that can automate tasks, free up time, and generally reduce the burden on human employees. We’re already seeing the benefits, with 3 out of 5 business leaders we surveyed for our 2025 Impact of Technology on the Workplace report confirming that AI has improved their work-life balance.

But we’re barely scratching the surface. As the technology continues to develop, senior leaders have a responsibility to ensure that’s efficiently deployed to make their employees’ lives easier. In the meantime, you’ve got to do everything you can to maintain a healthy work-life balance and a mutually beneficial relationship with your company.