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92 ERA Magazine Autumn 2021

Burnout. It’s a term we use casually, almost flippantly on occasion, but burnout is a real thing and the consequences, if not addressed, can be dire to your health, wealth and relationships. As businesswomen we tend to continue to do it all – working, running a business, looking aer children and partners, organising and attending social commitments, doing housework, looking aer elderly parents, maybe volunteering, being mum’s taxi and generally saying yes to almost everything. We oen invest body and soul into the creation and development of our business, but it can also be a significant source of stress and overwhelm and expose us to the possibility of serious burnout. BY CARRUN SQUIRES ERA Magazine Autumn 2021 93

Online searches for symptoms with terms such as ‘signs of burnout’ increased by 24% in 2020 compared to the previous year, highlighting the rise in stress, anxiety and overwhelm. Despite this recent peak, on average, total searches like this have increased by 41% annually since 2017. I wonder if we are heading towards a tsunami of burnout? Burnout is oen confused with stress but it is much more than that. There are several definitions but generally burnout is a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged exposure to stress. It’s this exhaustion that is the real key to burnout.Some of the signs of burnout include:• Chronic low energy, fatigue and exhaustion;• Insomnia;• Lack of concentration, attention and focus;• Physical symptoms like headaches, digestive disturbances, weight gain / loss and increased illness;• Mood disorders like depression, anxiety, anger or loss of enjoyment.A psychological scale that is oen used to assess burnout is the Burnout Measure (short version) by Malach-Pines (2006) which you can find in the breakout box to the le.Overwhelm, stress, anxiety and ultimately burnout have been linked to many health issues, such as:• Lowered immune system;• Depression and mood disorders;• Nutritional deficiencies;BURNOUT MEASUREIf you would like to determine your burnout level please use the following scale to answer the question: When you think about your life overall, how oen do you feel the following?1 = never, 2 = almost never, 3 = rarely, 4 = sometimes, 5 = oen, 6 = very oen, 7 = always____ Tired____ Disappointed with people____ Hopeless____ Trapped____ Helpless____ Depressed____ Physically weak / sickly____ Worthless / like a failure____ Difficulties sleeping____ ‘I’ve had it’____ TotalTo calculate your burnout score add your responses to the ten items and divide by 10. Now that you have taken the measure and determined your overall burnout score, what does it mean? According to Malach-Pines (2005), if you scored between 0 and 2.4 you have little or no burnout (yay!). A score of 2.5 to 3.4 indicates that you are at risk for burnout (time to think about implementing preventative measures!). Unfortunately, a score of 3.5 or higher means that you are burnt out with high burnout being in the 4.5 to 5.4 range and very high burnout in the 5.5 or higher range – act now!94 ERA Magazine Autumn 2021

your blood sugar and create chronic low grade inflammation throughout your body. Ensuring a balance of protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats is important to maintain muscle mass and repair, support a healthy immune system and provide the sustained energy you need to get you through your busy days.A Mediterranean-style diet has been shown to reduce chronic inflammation, improve mood scores, assist with weight management, gut health and improve cardio-metabolic health such as reducing hypertension, improving cholesterol levels and preventing against the onset of type 2 diabetes. Include as many colourful vegetables and some uit into your diet – every meal, every day. This could look like spinach and tomato in an omelette for breakfast, a big salad with dark, leafy greens, yellow capsicum, tomato and roast sweet potato with chicken for lunch, and more salad with legumes like a lentil or chickpea casserole packed full of herbs and garlic with fish for dinner. Don’t forget the olive oil on your salad or in your cooking as it contains important polyphenols that provide a myriad of positive health effects to help combat the effects of stress. Snack on almonds or walnuts and a piece of uit like pear, apple or berries to provide healthy fats, fibre and pre-biotics to keep your gut bugs happy. Give those processed foods the boot and choose foods that are as close to nature as possible, seasonal and preferably organic.• Hormonal dysregulation;• Insulin resistance / Metabolic Syndrome;• Type 2 diabetes;• Digestive disorders;• Heightened pain perception;• Difficulty maintaining a healthy weight;• Hypertension, hypercholesterolaemia and other cardiovascular disorders;• Sleep disturbances.I see all of these health concerns in Clinic, plus more on a daily basis. Whilst these conditions can present due to many different reasons, it’s always important to address the underlying cause and what I’m seeing more and more recently is women on a fast-track to burnout om trying to do it all.So how can you guard against the detrimental effects that stress, anxiety and overwhelm have om negatively affecting your health and therefore your ability to give and share your gis with the world? How can you thrive doing the work you love within your businesses? How can you maintain optimal wellbeing, resilience and vitality with all that you want to give and share?Food is medicineNurturing and nourishing your body with foods that provide balanced levels of macro-nutrients and optimal levels of vitamins and minerals is a great place to start. It’s so easy to reach for something quick and easy when we’re busy but it’s oen full of salt, sugar, refined carbohydrates and unhealthy fats like seed oils. These foods will drive up your blood pressure, mess around with ERA Magazine Autumn 2021 95

immune response. Our poor adrenal glands take a hit too and we’re oen not providing them the vitamin C and zinc they require to thrive. Supplementation may be necessary to improve your health and seeing a qualified natural medicine practitioner who can comprehensively assess your diet and nutritional requirements and prescribe high dose nutritionals can be key to getting you on the road to recovery.Herbal medicineThere are many key herbs I use in my dispensary to assist with nervous system support, fatigue, insomnia, digestive issues, lowered mood and adrenal support during stress and recovery om burnout. Winding down in the evening with that steaming cup of chamomile tea is a calming and soothing ritual but if you are exhausted and suffering overwhelm and burnout you need a more comprehensive and targeted herbal medicine approach.There are literally dozens of herbs that nurture the nervous system back om stress and burnout. These are just a few:• Eleuthrococcus senticosus (Siberian ginseng) – to improve mental and physical performance and assist with exhaustion om environmental and occupational stressors.• Withania somnifera (Ashwaganda) – a wonderful Ayurvedic herb to improve Nutritional medicineWhen we’re busy, over-committed and stressed, food oen becomes an aer-thought and we grab whatever’s quick and easy. Or if we’re in serious burnout our appetite might be low, apathy or fatigue might be high, and we literally just can’t be bothered. Sometimes it’s just not possible to eat all the nutrition our bodies need daily. Being low in certain nutrients, like B vitamins and magnesium, can contribute to low stress tolerance and an inability to cope with seemingly normal everyday tasks. Being under chronic stress creates a higher demand for these nutrients, so it can become a vicious cycle leading to even more fatigue, a foggy brain and generally feeling unwell. B vitamins are important for energy production, healthy brain function and cell metabolism and are crucial for supporting a healthy nervous system and stress response. Magnesium is important in energy regulation, blood sugar balance, muscle and nerve conduction and a healthy 96 ERA Magazine Autumn 2021

contributing to your fatigue? Did you know chronic stress can cause your thyroid to produce an inactive hormone called reverse T3 that can cause fatigue and lowered mood? When we know what effect stress has had on your biochemistry we can take action to get you feeling good again.Genetic tests – as individuals we all have certain little genetic quirks, for example, some of us have brown eyes and some of us have blue eyes. But gene technology today lets us look at how efficiently our bodies utilise certain vitamins, enzyme pathways, neurotransmitter production and a lot more. Your DNA can provide information to help guide what diet and lifestyle will work best for you. Did you know you can even find out when you most effectively metabolise carbohydrates? Now that’s got to be good for assisting with blood sugar regulation and energy levels.A CAR test – CAR stands for Cortisol Awakening Response and it’s a very helpful salivary cortisol hormone test that lets us know how well your body is coping with chronic stress and your degree of adrenal fatigue.Self-care for overwhelmSelf-care is oen at the bottom of our to-do list as busy businesswomen. But self-care can help us to keep a clear and focused mind. It resets our adrenals and lowers our cortisol levels. It brings back our motivation and gives us perspective on our business and life. It allows us to stay healthy so we can manage a healthy work/life balance.stamina, as an adaptogen during stress and as a tonic for debility.• Verbena officinalis (Vervain) – fabulous as a nervine tonic and to improve lowered mood.• Hypericum perforatum (St John’s Wort) – excellent for mild to moderate depression and as a nervine tonic.• Piper methysticum (Kava) – specific for anxiety but also helps with muscle tension and reducing stress.To receive a safe and effective outcome, see a practitioner who is trained in nutritional, dietary and pharmaceutical contraindications who will ensure that you get the right dose of the right herb. Please don’t Google and buy om overseas companies – you really can’t be confident of what you are putting into your body as they haven’t been assessed by our rigorous Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration.Functional and pathology testsIf you think you’ve hit burnout or have been under a lot of stress and just haven’t felt energetic and motivated, there are tests that can help.Pathology tests – your annual pathology test reveals an absolute goldmine of nutritional information that can be used to improve your health and protect om the effects of chronic stress. Are your B12 levels low due to stress or diet? Are your electrolytes tending towards a chronic metabolic acidosis that can drive inflammation? Are your iron levels and haemoglobin low revealing anaemia and ERA Magazine Autumn 2021 97

in the moment gets us out of our head and in tune with our body.• Learn to say no. If you find this difficult just remember that no doesn’t mean never, it can mean just not right now. Also remember that it ees you up to say yes to the things you really want to find time for.• Exercise. I know it might feel impossible to find the energy, time or motivation for exercise but even a ten minute walk can help break the cycle of overwhelm. To maximise the benefits of exercise for stress relief, concentrate on how your body feels while you’re moving rather than focusing on your thoughts.Burnout is a gradual process that can creep up on you. The signs and symptoms mentioned above can be subtle at first but will become worse as time goes on. These are the red flags that something is not quite right and needs addressing. Listen to your body and take steps to reduce your stress, or put measures in place to prevent a major burnout crash. One of the most pro-active and preventative approaches is to see your natural medicine practitioner for a comprehensive wellness check. It’s a holistic approach that might include specific dietary advice, stress management strategies, nutritional medicine or herbal medicine to get you back on track. That way you stay healthy, vital and full of energy to continue to work in the business you love, providing the world with the unique gis only you can give.www.carrunsquires.com• Bookend your day – start your day and end your day with something you enjoy. It’s a way of creating a healthy boundary between your business work time and your personal time. Whether it’s a walk, reading a chapter of a book, pulling an affirmation card, some yoga or stretching, or a run around the park, it doesn’t matter. Just start and end your day with something you enjoy.• Create space for journaling – Get the stuff out of your head – the thoughts and ideas that go around and around contributing to the overwhelm and sense of failure because you can’t keep up. Download them onto paper.• Turn off all the notifications and messages at the end of the day. Put down the phone, step away om the computer. Please do not take your laptop, tablet or smart phone to bed with you. They do not belong in your bedroom. Exposing yourself to artificial light dysregulates your circadian rhythm and reduces the amount of melatonin produced to ensure a healthy sleep/wake cycle.• Connect socially – Reach out to iends for a iendly chat, join a women’s business group to discuss challenges, or meet a neighbour for a regular walk. Social contact is nature’s antidote to stress and talking face to face with a good listener is one of the fastest ways to calm your nervous system and relieve stress. • Meditation, deep breathing and stretching have all been shown to have a calming and balancing effect on the nervous system. Being truly present and 98 ERA Magazine Autumn 2021