How to avoid a body burnout
You’re a high achiever doing awesome things in this world – great! But you’ve noticed as the months and years pass on, your body is struggling to keep up with you.
High achievers are very susceptible to experiencing what I call ‘body burnout’. When you’ve been stuck in hustle-mode for too long, trying to constantly do, achieve and please without sufficient rest and balance, at some point your body systems will burnout.
When high achievers burnout, it almost always shows up as a combination of energy, mood, gut and other inflammatory issues. These three body systems are the most important body systems that can cause dysfunction in other body systems (like the cardiovascular system, the thyroid, the bladder, etc) and that are the key areas that lead to symptoms, conditions and diseases.
The neuroendocrine system
The neuroendocrine system comprises the adrenals, the brain, the mitochondria and the sex hormones. Essentially, this system influences how you think, feel and act, and is controlled by your conscious and unconscious mind, and how you filter information into your brain from your environment.
It’s also very important for regulating the major functions and processes of the body, including energy production and reproduction. If you’re a busy person with a never-ending to-do list, your neuroendocrine system is likely getting a thrashing.
You’ve probably heard the saying: "I’m living on adrenaline" or "My adrenals are fried." These terms are often thrown about by high achievers juggling many things.
And they are right – you are likely burning through your adrenaline (brain chemical) and frying your adrenals (depleting your stress hormones).
The gastrointestinal system
The four main areas that make up the gastrointestinal (GI) system are pathogens, digestive organs, microbiome/small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and food.
The GI system is thought of as the second brain. The gut is constantly sending signals through the nervous system up to the brain (and vice versa).
Have you ever felt emotionally stressed, and your gut has started squirming? Yep, that’s the gut-brain connection right there. So imagine if you’re running around building your empire, feeling overwhelmed and stressed, what exactly is happening down there in the gut? It’s likely breaking down.
The GI system is thought of as the second brain. The gut is constantly sending signals through the nervous system up to the brain (and vice versa).
The more burned-out your neuroendocrine system becomes due to stress, the more likely it is that your gut will start breaking down. Stress puts your gut into a state of fight or flight – your digestive organs stop producing digestive juices, your immune system in your gut lining becomes suppressed leading to pathogen overgrowth, and your gut lining can become leaky.
The GI system is the central place where you break down and absorb foods. If anything goes wrong with the gut, you’ll struggle to absorb the nutrients that other body systems need to function, which leads to further body system burnout, and more exhaustion, mood imbalances and inflammatory symptoms.
The detoxification system
The detoxification system is made up of the detox pathways, methylation, oxidation/inflammation and nutrient replacement.
One of the major roles of the detox system is to break down nasty toxins and clear them from the body. When the detox system stops working properly, toxins build up in your system, and basically poison you from the inside out!
The detox system also helps to convert nutrients into a usable form, metabolize hormones and burn fat. And – you guessed it – stress can absolutely put huge pressure on your detox system.
If you sat down and listened to your body, are you hearing or feeling the effects of stress?
When you’re stressed, you burn up important antioxidant nutrients really fast, as your body tries to repair from the effects of chronic stress. These antioxidants are crucial for detox health. If these deficiencies arise, the liver and kidneys will struggle to operate, leading to toxin build-up in your tissues, putting more stress on your body.
Have a check-in with yourself: How is your body feeling? Like really, if you sat down and listened to your body, are you hearing or feeling the effects of stress? You might be functioning and getting through work, but continue suppressing the messages your body is sending you, and you may get to a point where you have no energy left to run or grow your business.
Have an honest conversation with yourself, and if you feel your body systems need some tender loving care, reach out to a functional medicine practitioner to test and assess any imbalances in your body, and address the deeper root-causes – your lifestyle, working habits and deeper unconscious programming that is driving your behavior and response to stress.