Incorporating rest and identifying burnout

Child and Adult Psychiatrist Domenick Sportelli, DO, teaches us how to identify cues from our bodies that can indicate we may be close to burnout and recommends mindfulness activities to support our overall health.

Transcript

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[MUSIC PLAYING] As medical docs and behavioral health doctors, we are finally paying attention to the rest and relaxation

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as much as we are some of the other proactive things that we're used to. Rest is so important in your productivity,

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in your physical health, in your mental health. So paying attention to your body is a very important thing. Do you feel fatigued?

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Do you feel tired? Do you feel drained? Well, listen to your body, listen to your mind. That means you need some time to rest.

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So a few things that I would suggest that I think are unbelievably important is mindfulness and meditation and relaxation

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time for at least 20 minutes per day. That's a perfect goal to start. It can be just time where you sit and relax

00:45

in a beautiful place. Try not to let your thoughts get away from you. Because what we see, as doctors, guys, is, unquestionably, better cardiovascular health,

00:54

better mental health, better brain health, less mood disorders, less anxiety and depression.

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So there's something very clinically relevant, and it's called burnout. You can experience burnout being a parent. You can experience this at your job.

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Just about anything that we do, we can experience burnout. And one thing that we notice is that people tend to experience this overwhelm and this burnout

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when they don't make time for themselves. Every once in a while, it's very important to stop, look back, and say, am I sleeping OK?

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How's my diet? Am I eating OK? Am I exercising and taking care of myself? Am I making time at the end of the day to relax?

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And before you know it, the day is over, the week is over, the month is over and you're completely exhausted. So pay attention to some of the basic qualities of your day--

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eating, sleeping, exercise, nutritional diet. And pay attention to how you feel. Do I feel stressed?

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Do I feel anxious or nervous? Do I feel sad? A lot of times we don't really ask ourselves these questions-- is that when people start to burn out

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and they start to feel overwhelmed in life, they stop enjoying things. Now, the fancy term for that is anhedonia. That means that we don't enjoy things

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that we used to like to do. And this could be your job. It could be taking care of your kids. You start to notice I'm really just not enjoying this anymore.

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When you start to experience that, that's a big red flag to stop and think about your day, assess your circumstances exactly how I asked you to,

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and make that time for yourself. So just pay attention to some of those cues and you'll be just fine.