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Writer's pictureStacey DeHoff

3 ways exercise calms stress & tames burnout

Updated: May 2, 2023

I had a problem with burnout.

Experienced a significant amount of loss.

Job.

Parent.

Grandparents.

Financial independence.

Add huge life changes.

Became a mom.

During a pandemic.

Tried to learn new parts of the family business.

Then, my health scare nearly put me on my knees.

I tried to solve it with "self-care," becoming my own positivity bully, and telling myself to relax. All of which became new line items on the endless to-do list.

Thankfully, nothing came of my health scare. But, it woke me the F*** up.

I packed up the to-dos and took off sprinting. Yes, running. I couldn't make sense of it. Running wasn't on my list. The urge to do it was overwhelming.

Did the stress go away? Heck no. But it felt more manageable. Less burnout-y. Why did this help? Turns out, there could be perfectly good, scientific explanations for why exercise calms stress/burnout:

1. Exercise cuts the harmful impact of stress by simulating a fight or flight response. (Mayo Clinic 2019).


Brené Brown talks about the difference between stress & overwhelm in her 2021 book Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience. When I was stressed, I was in blocking and tackling mode. I knew the list was long, but I kept plugging away at it. I was "in the weeds" as Brown describes it.


When I hit overwhelmed, I couldn't deal with the playbook. At all. So, I dropped it and started to sprint. Brown calls this being blown. She cites Jon Kabat-Zinn's explanation of overwhelm, "that our lives are somehow unfolding faster than the human nervous system and psyche can manage it." Bingo! That's exactly what the health scare triggered. I felt the need to escape it for a few minutes. Brown's book focuses on doing nothing as an antidote to overwhelm (also known as "freeze" in the flight or flight response), but that's something to try another day. Today, let's focus on how exercise could help.


The Nagoski sisters wrote a wildly entertaining 2020 book about Burnout, which I highly recommend. They connect perceived threats in our brains and bodies with our primal need to release stress. They call the action taken to release the stress, "completing the stress cycle." Like animals, we need to do something (fight, flight, or freeze) to escape the stress. My body chose running (flight) as a way to process my fear, anxiety, worry, etc. about the unknown health scare. They suggest any type of exercise, even dance, could help complete the stress cycle.



2. Exercise activates feel-good neurochemicals aka endorphins. This counteracts the stress hormone cortisol according to both the Mayo Clinic (2019) & Harvard Health Publishing (2018). Hello, runner's high! Or walker's high? Is that a thing? I hope so.


3. Exercise takes your focus off the stress to concentrate on the activity. (Mayo Clinic, 2019) It’s like a Jedi mind trick or meditation. You might be saying, "Yeah, duh. It's like finding another boyfriend after a breakup to get over the last one." Still, how many times have you stayed at your desk spiraling about something when you know it's better to take a quick break? If you take a walk next time, your chances of sorting it out are probably better. Maybe? Couldn't hurt. Right?


Resources used to convince you to exercise to relieve stress/burnout are shown below.


Brown, B. (2021). Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience. Random House.


Harvard Health Publishing. (2018, July). Exercising to relax. Harvard Health. Retrieved from https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/exercising-to-relax

Mayo Clinic. (2019, March 20). Exercise and stress: Get moving to manage stress. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/exercise-and-stress/art-20044469

Nagoski, E. & Nagoski, A. (2019). Burnout: The secret to unlocking the stress cycle. New York: Random House.


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