Battling burnout | Recover from Fatigue, Overcome Brain Fog, Stress relief

Do you feel like the world is constantly tipping over? Maybe you experience constant dizziness or nausea? When I was mentally fatigued, those two symptoms persisted for months. Until I learned why I got them, that they weren’t dangerous and an exercise to get rid of them. In this episode, I’ll share why your nervous system and brain give you nausea and dizziness, and how you can ease it.

Key takeaways

Working out was an important part of my recovery. I ran, biked, weight trained, danced, skied and did Pilates.

When I got burnt out, not working out was not an option.  Being outdoors and working out is a big part of who I am. I have worked as a group training instructor and personal trainer for 15 years. I moved to the mountains to be able to ski and bike more.

But finding the balance of working out with fatigue wasn’t that easy.  In the beginning, I pushed myself a bit too hard, before I got the hang of it. In this episode I’m going to talk about working out as exhausted. How to do it without pushing yourself to hard but not be afraid of it either.

Key takeaways

Today I will talk about how writing can relieve stress and pressure, both in the moment and long term. When I was trying to find ways to recover, I discovered plenty of research showing the benefits of journaling. Weather you do an unorganized brain dump or more systematically reframing exercise, you will feel better in the moment and start your journey towards healing.

Key takeaways

The part of the brain you use by writing is more rational than the part you use for thinking. This makes it easier to see your problems from different perspectives and in a more nuanced way.

Journaling makes you break that loop of ruminating thoughts, getting you to break through your negative emotions and see a more nuanced reality.

Journaling can be a way of amplifying the good things in your life, balancing the focus on the negative when ill.

There is no right way or wrong way to write. You can do a brain dump, writing whatever comes to mind, you can write about your thoughts and feelings on a special topic or you can do reframing exercises.

You can write by hand, on a computer or using a voice recorder. You don't need to save what you've written.

Did you know that the best way to predict if someone has back pain, is not to do an MRI of their spine, but of their brain? Research shows that most of the pain does not come out of physical damage, even if the doctor says so, but from stress, high demands and worrying. And the way to healing is not pain killers or surgery, but easing the stress and reseting your brain.

Key takeaways

Episode #4 The 8 Steps That Healed my Burnout and Fatigue

Are you stuck in your burnout? Have you reached a plateau, or feel that the treatments you are given don’t help as much as you’ld want? When I was sick, the treatment I was given actually made me worse. When I learned about the brain and the nervous system I learned how to personalize my recovery, so I could do the things that relieved stress for me, and gave me my energy back. Today I’ll share how you can use neuro science to find your personalized way to recovery with the help of 4 science proven methods. 

Key takeaways

During my recovery I read everything on stress and burnout I could find and tried every new technique. I approached each doctor’s appointment as if it were a courtroom trial.

But real progress began when I let go of the pressure to heal on a specific timeline. Putting pressure on yourself keeps your brain on high alert, which worsens symptoms. By lowering those demands, you reduce that state of alertness, which in turn reduces symptoms.

Key takeaways

Are you burned out and experience memory loss? Maybe you have a hard time doing cognitive demanding tasks? You know that you should be able to do it, but find your self staring blankly on the task, and your brain just can’t give you the information to do it? Or maybe you have this constant pressure inside your head, getting worse when you’re in noisy or very bright surroundings. You might be suffering from brain fog, even called mental fatigue, cognitive fatigue or brain fatigue. 

When I got burned out, it felt like my brain just shut down. I couldn’t drive anymore; I got mentally exhausted from doing easy tasks like grocery shopping and taking a phone call. The different doctors, psychologists and therapists I met had no idea how to help me. I had to learn on my own what brain fog is and how to treat it. 

This episode is for you, if you are in the same situation. It’s for you whose brain has gone on vacation. In this episode I’ll share all I’ve learned on how to get the brain back to work, healthy and fully rested. 

Signs of brain fog, even called mental fatigue, are

Steps to recover from mental fatigue or brain fog are

If I could heal, so can you. It's hope for everyone!

Today I share the 8 steps that made me heal from severe burnout.  I share what I did to stop my brain fog and dizziness, ease my nausea and overcome my fatigue. If I could heal, so can you. There’s hope for everyone!

Key takeaways

Worrying about or being afraid of your symptoms stresses the brain and nervous system, making everything worse. So do putting pressure on yourself to heal.

Being overly vigilant about your symptoms makes your brain letting small things feel worse than they are, so called sensitization. 

By noticing what's actually feels good or neutral you relieve the stress on the brain and ease or heal symptoms of burnout, like brain fog, fatigue, nausea, dizziness. 

Slowing down the pace of your life and your movements will reassure your brain and nervous system that there is no stress or danger, easing your symptoms further. 

In this episode I share 4 common misunderstandings about stress, burnout and healing, which made me so much worse . When I learnt about the brain and the nervous systems part in burnout, what really stresses the body and how to fix it, I healed quickly. Within six months I was back working fulltime and exercising again. In this episode I will tell you my mistakes, and what I did instead to overcome burnout, fight my fatigue and stop my brain fog. 

Key takeaways:

Stress is more than just too much to do, it's also all sorts of negative feelings and emotions, like high demands or worrying. 

Time outside the job isn’t necessary recovery. Training hard or taking care of family is just as demanding.  

Physical symptoms like dizziness and brain fog doesn’t mean there’s something physical wrong with you. It’s the brain and nervous systems way to say you need to wind down. Your brain forms neural pathways of feeling bad.

Occupying your mind with your burnout and the symptoms will make your brain and nervous system stressed and give you even more symptoms. It will also make you even more sensitive for the symptoms, making small things feel strong. This is called sensitization.

You can change your neural pathways and your sensitization by changing your thoughts.  

 In this episode I share my experience of a burnout with fatigue so serious, I barely could walk, nor take part in conversations. I talk about how worrying over my burnout gave me constant fatigue and brain fog, how it affected me, my life and my relations. It’s a story about frustration and desperation, but also about joy and healing.

Key takeaways

Burnout is more than just fatigue, it’s also physical symptoms like pain, dizziness, nausea, memory loss and brain fog. It affects all of your life.

Worry and fear make you worse.

It’s not your fault! You should not feel guilty or ashamed. Our brains are wired in a way that is a bad fit for today’s society.

Even when burned out, there is joy.