3 Weeks To Beat Burnout Program
If you’re feeling burnt out, consider joining my 3 Weeks To Beat Burnout Program.
During the 3 week program, you’ll discover a set of habits designed to shift you from the Sympathetic flight or fight state to the Parasympathetic State, also known as the rest, digest, and detox state.
The main goal of the 3-week program is for you to learn how to be in and grasp the significant advantages of the rest, digest, and detox state.
In this state, you can improve digestion, sleep better, reduce anxiety, lower your blood pressure and blood sugar, potentially lose weight, boost your energy, think clearer, strengthen your immune system, and fight disease.
It’s the only state where true healing for any disease can occur. Unfortunately, being in the Parasympathetic state is unlikely if you’re experiencing chronic stress.
You’ll gain all the skills and healthy habits to recover, including learning how to stop the behaviors that often result in increased burnout symptoms, which include:
over-committing
being a perfectionist
over-working
over-exercising
not spending time with friends and family
rushing all the time
placing too much pressure on yourself to perform
not placing enough importance on connection with people
worrying all the time
being self-sacrificing and not honouring your own needs
eating the wrong foods (high in sugar and refined carbohydrates at the wrong times)
not getting sufficient sleep or rest
not having sufficient boundaries and trying to do it all
To understand why being in the Parasympathetic state is so important, you need a lesson on the functions of the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). Your ANS coordinates 90% of the automatic processes in your body that you don’t have to think about, such as your heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, respiration, metabolism, sexual activity, and body temperature. It’s wonderful that we don’t have to consciously think about breathing or digesting food, and that our ANS takes care of it for us.
Your ANS has two branches: the Sympathetic and the Parasympathetic and they are both operating all the time. However, at any given moment, one will be more dominant depending on what you are doing. When you feel anxious about anything, your Sympathetic branch of your Autonomic Nervous System (often metaphorically called the “Gas Pedal”) activates to give you energy during times of stress from any source. It does this by secreting the hormones adrenalin, epinephrine, noradrenalin, and cortisol.
These hormones bring about the physiologic changes (also known as the flight or fight response) such as increased heart rate, blood pressure, metabolism, and increased in blood flow to your muscles. All these changes are a necessary to give you the energy to deal with whatever stress you are facing. You need more blood flow to your muscles, and increased heart rate to do this. However, as you’re about to learn, most of us are spending way too much time in this Sympathetic state and this makes it challenging to heal from any disease, including burnout, as your body doesn’t prioritise digesting your food, or your immune function when it’s in what it perceives as a survival or stressed state.
Unfortunately, if you are in the grips of burnout, that means your total burden of stressors from all sources is too much for you. Keep in mind that stress refers to any factor that moves your body out of its natural balance or homeostasis. If you’re suffering burnout, then you’re more likely to be spending too much time in the Sympathetic state, which means your stress response system potentially remains over – activated.
Unfortunately, the stress response system for many people remains constantly activated because they are reacting to non-life-threatening stressors throughout the day, such as being stuck in traffic or running late. Why? Our brains can’t differentiate between a life-threatening situation and one that just causes anxiety. So their stress response system stays switched on all the time.
The other problem is that once your stress response system activates, i.e. you produce more cortisol to deal with the threat, the increased cortisol levels raise your blood sugars (great if you’re going to run in a marathon). Most of us do not use these excess blood sugars that our ancestors would have burned off by running away from predators because we are not running away from our stressors. So their stress response system remains activated, worsening the situation as their body must also manage the increase in their blood sugar. Your increased blood sugars can cause weight gain, insulin resistance, artery damage, and other serious health issues.
Think of it this way if you’re in the Sympathetic or often called the fight-or-flight state your body thinks it’s fighting a predator that could kill you, so you switch off your digestion, there’s no time to digest food if you want to escape a predator. Your immune system shuts down along with your ability to think clearly and creatively.
Your primitive brain comes on line to deal with what it interprets as a life-threatening event and your instincts kick in to run or escape. Trouble is, today we are not running when we face ours 21st century stressors, like financial problems, ongoing wars, climate change, relationship problems, we internalise them and this keeps our stress system consistently switched on and doesn’t use up the additional blood sugar generated from the activated stress response.
If your stress response system is always activated and you constantly remain in a state of sympathetic arousal, then;
• your muscles to become tense
• your brain focuses on searching for danger instead of being fully aware and interested in other people, so you miss a lot of what’s happening around you
• you don’t digest your food as well as you could do — leading to nutrient deficiencies — which leads to many disease
• your immune function decreases — so many disease, including cancer, can proliferate
• your detoxification system doesn’t function properly — so toxins build up in your body
• your thought process and decision-making abilities are affected — so you’re not on top of your game
• you age prematurely — think of how presidents age over their terms
• it’s more probable that you’re also experiencing higher levels of anxiety — as you need normal levels of cortisol to feel calm
• it’s more likely you are gaining weight — as higher levels of cortisol lead to increased blood sugars, which potentially lead to weight gain
• you’re more likely to have higher blood pressure
• healing conditions like leaky gut become harder — because of stress killing the beneficial gut bacteria and allowing the bad bacteria to proliferate
• stress slows your gut motility down and you’re more likely to experience constipation
• stress affects the quality of your sleep, and lack of sleep then further reduces gut motility and decreases good bacteria – this then leads to leaky gut
• if you have leaky gut, you’re more likely to develop systemic inflammation that can affect all your body,
You can see from the list of horrible effects of experiencing stress and being in the Sympathetic State, that you wouldn’t want to be in that for too long. Your stress response system is designed to handle short periods of stress, such as fighting off a predator, and then your amazing Parasympathetic branch of your ANS acts as the savior that turns off your stress response and restores balance or homeostasis to your body.
However, keep in mind that without your Sympathetic branch you could not deal with life-threatening stressors, like escaping from a dangerous situation. The problem is this primitive but life saving system is now being activated all day long by stressors that are not life threatening, like being late for work.
Even just thinking about something, like “I am going to be late,” can still activate your stress response. However, you also need to have the perception that being late is stressful. Because you can have the thought momentarily that you are going to be late, however, if you don’t perceive that to be stressful, then you won’t activate your stress response. So, in this case, perception is important. The good news is you can change your perception of those types of stressors. However, with many stressors, such as feeling too hot, too cold, or being hungry, perception does not play a role and your body’s stress response will still activate.
Most people are reacting to their negative self-talk, worry and self-criticism, which activates their stress hormones, preparing them to fight or flee; increasing their blood sugars, diverting blood away from digestion, increasing blood pressure, heart rate and breathing. All this potentially leads to higher levels of anxiety, obesity, and making poor decisions as the increase in stress hormones creates what’s called cortical inhibition. This means you can’t think and solve problems as well as you would if you were in the Parasympathetic state.
Now your body is a magnificent machine and has an inbuilt survival function that counters or stops the effects of the Sympathetic activation, and it’s called the Parasympathetic branch. I want you to think of your Parasympathetic branch as your rest, digest and detox state.
Your Parasympathetic branch of your ANS is where all the magic happens. Imagine having the ability to switch off your stress response and bring yourself back into balance. You have it. Why? Your Parasympathetic branch switches off your stress response, and it brings your body back onto balance or homeostasis after a threat or stress has passed. Without the Parasympathetic branch, your stress response system would remain switched on all the time, resulting in an inability to digest food, think properly, feel calm, sleep well, lose weight, or heal from any disease. That’s what would happen if you couldn’t activate your parasympathetic branch.
I want you to think of the Parasympathetic branch as your best friend, the one that will help you recover from burnout, feel more energetic, calm, sleep better, and heal from whatever disease you may have. If you’re spending too much time in the Sympathetic state or flight or fight, you’re dousing yourself in stress hormones and switching off your innate healing, otherwise known as rest, digest and detox.
I want you to aim to be in the Parasympathetic state 70% of your time. Yes 70% sounds a lot, and it’s challenging as when you experience stress, this inhibits your Parasympathetic response.
Many people find it challenging to be in the parasympathetic state at all, so we are going to dedicate some time to understanding how to get yourself into the Parasympathetic state, or rest, digest and detox state.
Functions Of The Parasympathetic State
• decreases your heart rate after stress or exercise- helping you to feel more calm 1
• helps bowel muscles contract and push food through the Gi track so you’re not constipated
• constricts pupils in restful situations (pupils dilate in stressful situations)
• stimulates saliva flow to start your digestion process
• triggers the digestive enzymes, including the stomach releasing Hydrochloric Acid, so you can digest your food
• stimulates the pancreas to release digestive enzymes and gall bladder to release bile-so you can digest your food
• allows your immune system to function to fight disease
• decreases metabolism, oxygen consumption, blood pressure, and respiration – allowing you to feel calm and sleep well
The big question is how you will get yourself in the Parasympathetic state 70% of your day?
There isn’t one thing you can do that will automatically get you into the Parasympathetic state. You’re going to need a complete overhaul of your thoughts, feelings and behaviors, as your current ones have contributed to your burnout.
I am a certified HeartMath® Therapist and author. Helping people prevent and recover from burnout is my focus and passion.
I successfully recovered from a major burnout and now feel it’s my life’s purpose to assist others using my skills and knowledge.
Recovering from burnout cannot be solved with a single approach; it requires a comprehensive strategy to evaluate all stressors and develop effective coping strategies.
Helping people use the evidence-based HeartMath® system to reset their stress response is a big part of the 3 Week Program. Many people experiencing burnout have a history of childhood trauma, which has reduced their ability to handle stress.
Resetting their stress response, among other evidence-based solutions, will mean they feel more calm and in control.
Creating supportive habits, beliefs, and behaviors is crucial for recovery.
During the 3 Week To Beat Burnout Program, there are three weekly one-hour Zoom coaching calls that introduce the essential habits for recovery each week.
The Program Comprises;
The 3 Weeks to Beat Burnout Workbook.
3 one-hour coaching sessions on Zoom.
A detailed assessment of your history to customize the 3 week program for your specific requirements.
As this is a new program, to generate awareness, I am offering this program for FREE for the next 3 months. Yes, that’s right free.
In return for the program, I ask that you provide an honest review.
To Make a Booking, fill in the contact form on this page.
and I will contact you regarding a convenient time to start your journey to a more vibrant, healthy version of you.
Chenelle holds a Bachelor’s degree’s degree in Education from the University of Technology and a Post Graduate Certificate in Inclusive Learning.
Chenelle is an accredited teacher with the NSW Department of Education. Chenelle is a licensed Trainer – Educator and Therapist with the Institute of HeartMath® Institute.
If you’re struggling, reach out to me. Helping people brings me enormous joy.
To get a different result, you must do something different.
Testimonials
I’ve been collaborating with Chenelle and reading her book. Both have been extremely valuable to me. Changing my perspective on life and so much more. It’s definitely a path worth pursuing. Thank you to Chenelle Val Ruth.
Chenelle’s recommendations during our 3 sessions led me to changing my life, including saying no more, valuing myself, and pursuing what matters to me and many more healthy habits.
I am feeling so much better now that I have recovered from burnout and can’t recommend the 3 Weeks to Beat Burnout Program more highly. Thank you, June T.