Day 5: Your Body is Screaming - The Three Faces of Burnout Nobody Talks About
You are worth it!
Burnout doesn’t just affect your mind—it impacts your body, emotions, and overall quality of life. On Day 5 of the 12 Days of Holiday Burnout Breakthrough, online personal trainer and fitness expert Hande Arald shared her wisdom on how movement and mindfulness can be powerful tools to combat burnout. Whether you’re feeling physically exhausted, mentally overwhelmed, or emotionally drained, Hande’s insights are here to guide you back to balance.
Let’s explore how exercise and simple practices can make a big difference in managing burnout.
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Burnout is a whole-body condition
Burnout: A Whole-Body Condition
Hande breaks burnout into three categories:
Physical Symptoms
Chronic pain, headaches, and sleep disturbances.
Mental Symptoms
Decreased productivity, forgetfulness, and lack of focus.
Emotional Symptoms
Anxiety, irritability, and a sense of hopelessness.
These symptoms often intertwine, creating a cycle of exhaustion that feels impossible to break. But the good news is that movement and mindfulness can provide a much-needed reset.
How exercise combats burnout
How Exercise Helps Combat Burnout
While exercise alone isn’t a cure for burnout, it’s an essential tool in reversing its effects. Here’s why:
Boosts Energy: Regular movement increases oxygen flow and circulation, giving your body a natural energy boost.
Improves Mood: Physical activity triggers the release of endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine, the feel-good chemicals that help reduce stress and anxiety.
Promotes Better Sleep: Exercise helps regulate your circadian rhythm, making it easier to fall and stay asleep.
Provides Clarity: Movement clears your mind, allowing you to focus and approach challenges with a fresh perspective.
Hande’s Quick Win for Burnout
Hande’s Quick Win for Burnout Relief
Sometimes, burnout leaves you unsure of where to start. Hande’s advice? Start small and listen to your body.
#1. Take One Minute to Breathe
Stop what you’re doing, close your eyes, and take five slow, deep breaths.
Focus on the sensation of your breath entering and leaving your body.
This simple act reconnects you to the present moment and helps reduce feelings of overwhelm.
Bonus Tip: If you have a smartwatch, use the mindfulness feature to guide your breathing for one minute.
#2. Honor What Your Body Needs
If you’re full of energy, do an upbeat workout to shake off stress.
If you’re feeling low, opt for gentle stretching, yoga, or even a walk while listening to your favorite music.
No matter the choice, moving your body helps release tension and recharge your mind.
#3. Embrace Movement That Brings Joy
Dance like nobody’s watching to your favorite guilty-pleasure song.
Run while listening to music that energizes you.
Remember, there’s no wrong way to move as long as it feels good to you.
Sustainability is key
Sustainability Is Key
Hande reminds us that while quick wins can be lifesavers, long-term solutions require consistency and reflection. Take time to:
Identify the Root Causes of Burnout: What’s draining your energy? Is it workload, lack of boundaries, or something else?
Incorporate Regular Movement: Find a workout routine that fits your lifestyle and brings you joy.
Balance Effort with Rest: Some days you’ll push harder; other days you’ll need to pull back. Both are okay.
Bonus ideas from Hande
Bonus Ideas to Combat Burnout
Here are a few additional strategies to complement Hande’s advice:
Set a Movement Reminder: Use your phone or smartwatch to remind you to stand up and stretch every hour.
Try a 5-Minute Yoga Flow: Short sequences can help you release tension and reset your mind.
Use Nature as Therapy: Take a walk outside to combine movement with the calming effects of fresh air and sunlight.
Final thoughts - burnout with Hande
Final Thoughts
Burnout isn’t just about doing less—it’s about doing what nourishes your body and mind. Movement, mindfulness, and self-awareness can break the cycle of overwhelm and help you rediscover your energy and motivation.
Take one minute today to breathe deeply and check in with your body. You might be surprised by how much better you feel after just 60 seconds of intentional self-care.
Connect with Hande
Hande Arald is a certified personal trainer with over a decade of experience helping individuals and corporations build healthier, stronger lives. Whether you’re looking for personalized fitness plans or corporate wellness solutions, you can find Hande at www.handeerel.com or on social media at Personal Trainer Hande.
About the Author:
Kathie Owen is a seasoned corporate wellness consultant, life coach, and former fitness and wellness director with over two decades of experience in creating healthier, happier workplaces. With a psychology degree from the University of Houston and a passion for motivation, Kathie has dedicated her career to ending toxic workplace cultures through holistic wellness programs that truly make a difference.
Kathie Owen, Corporate Wellness Consultant since 2012 (Our Story)
Having worked in both corporate and fitness environments, Kathie blends her expertise in employee engagement, leadership development, physical health, and mental well-being to design programs that prevent burnout and inspire thriving teams.
She’s been a certified fitness trainer since 2002 and has personally coached hundreds of individuals to reach their wellness goals. Now, she’s on a mission to share her strategies with companies that value their people.
Through her 12 Days of Burnout Breakthrough series, Kathie combines personal stories, expert insights, and practical tips to help you recognize, prevent, and heal from burnout. Her goal? To show you how a little bit of wellness can transform not only your workplace but also your life.
When she’s not leading workshops, coaching aspiring wellness professionals, or writing her next blog post, you’ll find Kathie walking her dog Rusty, diving into her favorite self-development books, or dreaming up her next big idea to inspire and uplift others.
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Transcript:
Hello and welcome to the 12 Days of Burnout Breakthrough. And today's guest is an expert trainer. she's been on the channel before. I will have links to her in the show notes and description below to her previous episode. But today we are in working with Hande again. She's an online personal trainer. And before I even say any more, I'm going to let her introduce herself to you, and then we'll get into the episode.
Hande:0:30
Well, hi, everyone. It's great to be here again. Hi, Kathie I'm just happy to be here. I'm here as a certified personal trainer. I've been working over a decade exclusively with individuals and with corporations to help their employees become stronger and healthier version of themselves. And today's topic, I'm very excited about when Kathie mentioned that we will be talking about burnout. And within my scope of practice, I would like to, share my experience and my, through the lenses of my clients experiences, what are the symptoms they identify as burnout and how we can help improve, their conditions. Let's call it a condition. through fitness.
Kathie:1:20
Awesome. Love it. Today I'm going to ask Honde a question and then she's going to give you a solution to how her service provides help with the condition of burnout. What is burnout and how she helps with it. So, Hande, please tell us. We can't wait to hear. Oh my, no pressure.
Hande:1:43
My take on burnout is, is a state., that we find ourselves, through physical and emotional, exhaustion, that is, described as overwork and negative stress. And we can describe burnout, in three areas that I commonly see is one, you can put it on its own, impact and symptoms on our mental health, our physical health and emotional health. In physical health, where I see in my clients, whether it's in the corporate world or individual, the symptoms usually are chronic pain, headaches and sleep disturbances. And the mental health component, we see that decrease in productivity, clarity in thinking and forgetfulness. And in the emotional, it has, it takes its toll on us as well in terms of, burnout leads to anxiety, irritability, and, stress. Sensation of hopelessness. These are the common three categories and basic not limited to these are the symptoms that we see, as one of the real things that we face in our, you know, ever fast working, employees who are working at a very high pace work life add on busy lives to that. This is happening. And statistics show that employees 60 70 percent of them one way or one time or another in their life experience burnout. This is a big number, 60 70%. So I think, uh, it is time for us to not label this as just, uh, uh, you know, a hipster thing. This affects all of us. Yes.
Kathie:3:39
I agree. And that she nailed it. The physical, the mental, and the emotional. It's important to focus on all three of those because that is what burnout is. It's a stress, an overload of that. And that one question for Hande is, how would you address burnout in a physical aspect? Like, what's a quick win for us that we could take with us today that maybe you'd give to somebody who's just overwhelmed and stressed out?
Hande:4:16
Very good question. While exercise, helps, The symptoms to combat and reverse the effects of burnout exercise in itself may not be the only solution because there could be layers to the burnout we're feeling. However, exercise will definitely help enhance your productivity through, through, uh, giving you more energy and helps you improve your mood. Um, one of the things I always say is take a deep breath. Whatever it is, anything can wait. Just feel connected for one full minute. That is equivalent of breathing in and exhaling out five times. Close your eyes and do that for five times. That means one minute you dropped everything and you connected with yourself. Then I would say, Honor what your body's telling you today. Sometimes it's good to push through and do a upbeat workout to shake things out. And sometimes your body wants just something easier. Maybe that day your workout should may not look like a high intensity workout, but maybe more breath working, uh, or maybe more yoga or more stretching. So also honor that. Breathe and listen to your body, what it wants. Maybe it's just listening to a loud music and moving and grooving as if nobody's watching you. Or maybe it's just running and listening to a really loud music and type of music that you're ashamed if anybody would hear you listening, whatever it is, that could be saving the day, literally. So sometimes that needs to be the step one day at a time, and then look into making it more sustainable. Sustainable by looking at the bigger picture of trying to assess what is the root cause of Burnout while you keep moving and providing your body some good well deserved energy
Kathie:6:25
Love that answer. That is a quick win for you. As Hande was saying this, I was taking deep breaths and really getting in touch with what I was feeling, what I was thinking and being present in the moment. So that. I'm on top of my game and it just feels better. Just take that one minute. One thing I did notice while she was saying that is that one minute of deep breathing. If you have a smartwatch, you'll see a mindfulness button on there, especially the Apple watch. I know that all of them have this, but that mindfulness button will help you do the deep breathing for one minute. And if you just focus on that one minute, take time away from your distractions, it can help with. Overwhelm, stress, burnout in general. So that was your day with HANDE during these 12 days of holiday burnout breakthrough. And thank you HANDE for being here and I'll have you close out the episode by telling everybody goodbye and where they can find you.
Hande:7:31
Thank you so much. Always pleasure to be here and I hope to inspire and inspire everyone. Uh, you can find me here in Barcelona, Spain, if you're visiting here. Otherwise you can find me on all social media, personal trainer, Hande on LinkedIn and my website, handearald. com.
Kathie:7:53
Awesome. Thank you for being here. That's our episode for today. I trust that you found it helpful. If you know somebody who could benefit from this, please share it with them. And until next time, we'll see you next time. Peace out and Namaste.
