Suffering the effects of stress and heading towards burnout? Here’s how you can get your life back in balance
WORDS: LUCY ROBINSON PHOTOS: GETTY, CELESTINA ANDO
Feeling more stressed than ever? You’re not alone. With April marking Stress Awareness Month, Dr Aditi Nerurkar, author of The 5 Resets, says she’s seen an increasing number of people open up to her about experiencing the negative effects of burnout and being overwhelmed.
“Particularly over the last year, people have told me they are experiencing symptoms of stress,” says Dr Nerurkar. “We all thought that when we came out of the pandemic period, everything was going to be great.”
With lockdowns now a thing of the past, Dr Nerurkar says our brains have finally been given the space to process everything that happened.
“It’s the delayed stress response of our brains and our bodies,” she explains. “During acute stress, you shore up your internal reserves to keep it together at all costs. Then, when you feel psychologically safe – now we’re in a post-pandemic era – that’s when your defences go down and your true emotions emerge.”
But despite the stress that many of us face – with celebrities including Beyoncé, Angelina Jolie and Michelle Obama opening up about their own struggles with burnout – a certain level of it isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
“Stress isn’t the enemy we think it is,” says Dr Nerurkar. “There is healthy stress, called adaptive stress, such as making new friendships or rooting for your favourite football team. We all need a little bit of healthy stress.
Then there is the unhealthy type, known as maladaptive stress, such as too many deadlines or a demanding boss.
“It’s a fallacy to think all stress is created equal. Biologically speaking, it is impossible to live a life with none at all. The goal is to live a life with healthy, manageable amounts.”
So, with that in mind, the Harvard stress expert shares her top five ways for reducing bad stress and combating burnout…
1 RESILIENCE RULE OF TWO
When overhauling our lives, it can be tempting to do everything at once. Instead, adopt the Resilience Rule Of Two. “Change, even if it’s positive, can cause stress, and we cannot sustain more than two changes at a time,” explains Dr Nerurkar. “To make positive changes to your stress, incorporate two changes at a time. It takes eight weeks to create a habit so once those changes have become a part of your life, add
