Maintaining your mental wellbeing is a constant balancing act. A small amount of stress can boost productivity, increase energy levels and improve response speed. However, excessive or prolonged stress can lead to burnout, overwhelming your body and mind and resulting in negative health implications. Burnout is a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion that can pervade every aspect of your daily life. It’s important to stay aware of any changes and remain active in protecting a healthy mental state. So, how do you know if you’re burnt out?

The hardest step to overcoming burnout is recognising the signs of feeling burnt out and noticing its impact on your mental wellness.

Some signs that suggest you may be suffering from burnout include:

Learn more about burnout in thymia’s full guide on burnout score.

It is often difficult to recognise the early signs of burnout in ourselves; it can be all-consuming, and therefore difficult to view objectively.

Mental health support and monitoring technology like thymia can help to provide an objective mental health assessment for burnout at the onset of symptoms.

We also work directly with companies to offer employees regular wellness checks: our AI-powered wellness tool, thymia helios, analyses an individual’s voice and monitors subtle emotional cues and cognitive patterns to identify early signs of burnout, but also stress and fatigue, helping to detect burnout before it worsens.

Burnout is most commonly linked to workplace stress but is also linked to emotionally draining activities or non-workplace stress (Burnout: next steps). Heavy workloads and deadline pressures can contribute to burnout, and often changes need to be made at work to address the underlying issue. Speak to your manager, HR department or a trusted colleague and set some realistic boundaries to regain control if you’re feeling burnt out at work.

There are also steps you can take on your own to minimise the impact of stress. Prioritise self-care, a healthy diet and sleep (take a look at the Mental Health Foundation’s sleep tips if you’re struggling with sleep-related symptoms).

Identify which tasks in your day create the most anxiety and allocate a firm time limit to reduce their potency. Often burnout causes us to focus on negative thoughts and lose sight of the bigger picture. Try to find activities and interactions that help you regain perspective.

You can also find resources on addressing burnout online with the NHS. Sometimes it is helpful to speak to a licensed therapist or counsellor to help with burnout. Your workplace may have mental health EAPs (employee assistance programmes); ask HR what your options are.

Symptoms of burnout are vast and varied, which can make it difficult to recognise. Physical symptoms of burnout might include headaches, fatigue, frequent illness or changes in appetite. Your emotional balance can also be disrupted by burnout, and increased feelings of self-doubt, negative thought patterns, dissatisfaction, detachment and cynicism might take hold.

Those around may recognise changes in your behaviour if you’re burnt out, including withdrawal, procrastination, unprovoked outbursts, intense mood changes, or even reliance on substances like alcohol or drugs. Sometimes these changes are subtle and they can fluctuate in line with the cause of stress, but they will continue to progress if your burnout is not addressed.

These are just a few of the most common symptoms, but burnout can present itself in many different forms. It’s important to take note of your behaviour patterns so you can notice changes when they come up and deal with them effectively.

It’s easy to explain the signs of burnout away as just being too busy or having had a bad night’s sleep. Here are some common ways you might experience burnout:

It’s important to note that burnout can manifest differently in everyone, and experiencing some of these signs doesn’t necessarily mean you’re burnt out. However, if you recognise multiple signs, it might be time to consider some steps to reduce your stress levels and seek support.