Take a stress test

Excessive, prolonged stress can lead to severe consequences for both wellbeing and physical health if left unaddressed.

- By CAMILLA FOSTER

Prolonged stress leads to burnout

WE all deal with varying levels of stress in our daily lives but at what point does that stress turn into burnout?

For this April's Stress Awareness Month, we spoke to experts to better understand what burnout really means and the five key ways it can affect the brain.

“Burnout is a syndrome, so is a collection of symptoms, and WHO (World Health Organisation) defines it as an occupational phenomenon,” says Dr Elisabetta Burchi, psychiatrist and head of research at Parasym.

“If you think about burnout in the workplace, you think about somebody that feels emotionally drained, detached from their own duties and a perception of reduced efficacy in the workplace.”

She explains: “When we get a request from our boss we might experience a physiological fight-or-flight response, which is the acute stress response that helps make us more capable of adapting to the environment,” says Dr Burchi.