Understanding, Preventing and Managing Fatigue & Burnout.
By Tim Altman B.Sc. B.H,Sc.
To learn more, the MLT WELLBEING Team, including co-hosts Tim Altman, Kay Clancy and Jen Bishop, invite you to a FREE anti snooze Zoom lunchtime webinar with on March 30th @ 12pm on understanding and managing fatigue, and preventing burnout. http://bit.ly/MLTantisnoozeMar30
Fatigue, burnout and overwhelm are symptoms that are becoming more and more prevalent, or problematic in workplaces, medical practices and the home, and these are symptoms that all of us experience from time to time.
More often than not, the approach to finding a solution to these symptoms is to introduce some magic, new supplement or medicine to give us more energy, or resilience, or better mental clarity, yet these short term attempts to put out spot fires rarely work long term, and can often lead to other problems.
In reality, these symptoms are all clear and obvious signs of a body that is struggling to achieve homeostasis, or that is way out of balance, and how we interface with our physical, social and psychological environment are what lead to this imbalance.
Via our behavioural and lifestyle habits and choices, we are responsible for the amount of balance or imbalance we achieve, and therefore the symptoms we experience. The buck stops with us as individuals.
By understanding the behavioural and lifestyle factors that influence our level of homeostasis or balance, and optimising these, we can move from imbalance, fatigue and burnout to a state of thriving, sustainable wellbeing, and performance at levels we may not have seen previously.
We use a multifactorial approach to preventing and treating fatigue, burn-out and overwhelm in the work place and creating a balance between work and family life.
Our approach is based on the understanding and research that has stemmed from the field of evolutionary medicine, which draws from genetics, epigenetics and anthropology.
In short, we discuss the mismatch theory of human evolution with research suggesting that the assimilation of change in our environment takes tens of thousands of years for our body to assimilate, yet the change we have made via technological and sociological change in the last few hundred years has exponentially outpaced this ability for our bodies to adapt.
As such, we’ve created a huge mismatch between the body we have inherited from our hunter gatherer ancestors some 40,000 years ago or more, and the high paced, intense world we have created over a comparatively much, much shorter period of time.
As a result, rather than experiencing balance or homeostasis, which our body seeks naturally, and we experience if we live in harmony with our environment, we spend most of our time in constant low to mid-level ‘fight or flight’ functioning – a state that, from an evolutionary perspective, is only and ideally functional in emergencies.
Therefore, we live in a level of emergency mode internally most of the time, and the metabolic impact of this state is what leads to fatigue, burn out, mental and chronic illness.
It’s like most of us are permanently running an internal neurological, biochemical marathon that we never get to sufficiently recover from.
To quote world leading evolutionary medicine expert from Harvard University, Dr Daniel Lieberman:
“Interactions between the bodies we inherited, the environment we create, and the decisions we sometimes make have set in motion an insidious feedback loop. We get sick from chronic diseases by doing what we evolved to do but under conditions for which our bodies are poorly adapted, and we then pass on those same conditions to our children, who also then get sick. If we wish to halt this vicious circle then we need to figure out how to respectfully and sensibly nudge, push and sometimes oblige ourselves to eat foods that promote health and to be more physically active. That too, is what we evolved to do.”
Daniel Lieberman, ‘The Story of the Human Body. Evolution, Health & Disease.’
In this webinar we explore a number of these aspects of how we live or interface with the world that dramatically influence our well-being, energy levels, immune system, and our mental health. In each of these aspects, we compare how we typically perform these functions in the modern world with how the body we inherited would ideally perform these functions – in an environment in which we thrived.
I will cover tips and strategies on how to manage all aspects that affect fatigue and energy levels including specifics on:
- Breathing techniques to regulate your autonomic nervous system – of all of the ‘autonomic’, or automatic functions in our body, our breathing is the only one we can consciously control – with training. And this nervous system also regulates our response to stress. As such, by learning how to breathe functionally using the diaphragm and nose, you not only enhance the function of breathing to create more energy, we al
2. Daily nutrition strategies for peak mental/brain performance – understanding some simple, easy to implement strategies from the myriad or research and nutrition programs out there, that allow you to optimise and regulate energy production, and function at your best.
3. Sleep hygiene, and managing airways for fatigue prevention – understanding strategies for optimal sleep and recovery ranging from optimal pre-bed and bedtime habits and strategies, to ensuring the airways are open and breathing functions is at its’ best whilst you are asleep.
5. Techniques and workplace tools for managing stress in the new pivot economy – including the above practices, as well as the understanding drawn from extensive research on the main factors that influence or overall well-being covered by the Global Leadership Wellbeing Survey (GLWS).
MLT colleague and super coach Kay Clancy, will discuss the PERMA model of well-being and how to apply this to your workplace and lifestyle.
Finally, MLT Wellbeing founder Jen Bishop will discuss the gut/brain connection latest research from the Florey Institute and the impacts on fatigue, sleep and function.
Come join us March 30 packed with deep info and insight on harnessing and your greatest resource – your energy. Bring loads of questions and lots of water !
Click on this link to register: http://bit.ly/MLTantisnoozeMar30