Schedule Rest

“Workaholism is, after all, the most rewarded addiction in the nation.”
Carey Nieuwhof, At Your Best

Are you overwhelmed? Burning out?

Are you running on empty?

Even before Covid, stats from research organizations like Gallup showed a high incidence of burnout among younger workers. In 2018, 7 out of 10 young workers reported “some burnout.” It has only gotten worse since the Covid pandemic, not just in healthcare workers, but in most industries.

And increasing levels of anxiety and depression, partly driven by news, social media and social unrest. And according to Michael Easter in a new book, The Comfort Crisis, by cushy modern life and parenting styles that leave us less resilient than our forebears.

How can one keep sane and healthy in these the craziest of times?

By keeping “margin” in our lives.

Margin

Dr. Richard Swenson introduced the concept of “margin” in 2004, in his book by the same name, Margin. He defined it as the space between our load and our limits, the gap between rest and exhausation.

We previously illustrated your boundary as an invisible property line around your personhood. Everything inside that property line is YOUR responsibility — YOUR “yard.” Inside are your body, mind and spirit. Also, your time, your energy, your priorities, and your finances.

Margin, illustrated in red below, just inside your invisible boundary line, is a reserve of time, energy, and finances that should act as a buffer during seasons of high demand. Such as planting or harvest time for farmers. Tax season for accountants. Or flu season for doctors. And of course, a pandemic for everyone.

I remember years ago when my family owned an early model Volkswagen beetle. It had a lever to switch the main gas tank to a reserve one (instead of a gas gauge). Only if you were caught away from a gas station and started to sputter, would you switch to the reserve tank. That would be your sign to begin looking for a gas station.

So like that old VW, keep your “red zone” reserved as a no-fly zone for emergencies and extraordinary crises.

How to maintain margin

The self-mastery skill of resting well is one key to healthy margin, burnout prevention and thriving. I have likened the seasons of life to the butterfly life cycle. For many of us, we start out our early career like the ravenous caterpillar, driven and seemingly tireless. We so want to be successful and to leave our mark. Some of us emerge from adolescence as people pleasers or driven to please a parent or significant other. Or to single handedly change the world.

Popular podcaster, author and leadership teacher, Carey Nieuwhof, has transparently shared his journey of drivenness early in his career and subsequent burnout in his books, Didn’t See it Coming and At Your Best.

And John Mark Comer, in The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, similarly crashed early as a successful pastor and leader.

These authors and leaders had to rediscover the value of scheduled rest and adequate sleep. Unfortunately, for them, and many of us, it takes a wakeup crash.

What if we learn this self-mastery skill of maintaining margin early in life? What if we teach it to our students and trainees?

First and foremost, essential to a healthy margin is adequate sleep. We all intuitively know that “burning the candle at both ends” for any length of time is not only harmful to our well-being and relationships, but also to our productivity and workplaces.

Get adequate sleep

“A ruffled mind makes a restless pillow”
Charlotte Brontë

We now know that much of the body’s and brain’s self-healing capacity happens during what medical scientists call restorative sleep. There is not a single organ in your body that doesn’t benefit from a good night’s sleep. One of the keys to healing is growth hormone, 75% of which is released during sleep. It works to restore and rebuild your body and muscles from the stresses of the day.

There is also evidence that sleep allows the brain’s “garbage” to be taken out. It is also the time when memories become “indexed” for permanent filing. And dreams are a “virtual reality space in which the brain melds past and present knowledge, inspiring creativity.” (from Why We Sleep by Dr. Matthew Walker, PhD).

Our 24/7 modern world with shift work and 24 hour connectivity is largely at odds with our normal sleep/wake cycles. Even one night’s sleep deprivation (rather than the recommended 7 to 9 hours) reduces the body’s immune response in warding off infection and can cause intense fatigue until the deficiency is restored. Prolonged sleep deprivation is known to contribute to dementia, heart disease, pre-diabetes, cancer and depression. It also increases our appetite and thus contributes to weight gain. And of course, drowsiness at the wheel or at work, contributes to accidents.

Many dis-ease sufferers have sleep disturbances ranging from insomnia, early awakening, frequent nighttime urination, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), to nocturnal leg cramps or restless legs syndrome. Some of these disturbances are medically treatable and should be addressed with the best treatments available. In particular, great strides have been made in the treatments for obstructive sleep apnea. If you are known to snore heavily and have periods of apnea (breath holding) during your sleep, and if you don’t feel refreshed in the morning, you should be investigated for OSA.

Here are some additional “sleep hygiene” steps you can take to improve your sleep:

Avoid the blue light of device screens for at least an hour before bedtime
Avoid stimulants close to bedtime (e.g. caffeine)
Plan a regular bedtime whenever possible
Plan to wind down 1 hour before bed by avoiding activities that are likely to play over and over in your mind)
Write out a gratitude exercise as part of your wind down

An afternoon nap, no longer than 30 minutes, is also highly recommended by sleep and productivity experts.

Schedule silence and solitude

Despite being social creatures with legitimate social needs, we also benefit from solitude and quiet. Here is time to sit disconnected from the hustle and bustle, with self-reflection, meditation, prayer, and thoughts of gratitude. Many people in the Christian faith tradition take inspiration from Bible reading. A number of smartphone apps, both faith based and secular, have been developed to help people with regular contemplative practises.

Journaling is a powerful exercise as part of a daily rhythm of reflection. In The Power of Writing it Down, Allison Fallon cites the many proven benefits for the practise of regular writing:

Find fresh motivation
Heal from past pain and trauma
Relieve anxiety and depression
Develop self-compassion for life’s setbacks and minor frustrations
Live a more confident, balanced, and healthy life

Breathwork

Slow deep breathing sends a message to the limbic system of your brain to calm down, opposite to the “fight or flight” reaction. It activates the parasympathetic system, slows the heart rate and will in turn relax your muscles. Take 1 or 2 minutes several times each day to pause with focused deep breathing. Many smartwatches have an app to guide you, and there are smartphone apps as well.

The key is to breathe slow and deep, allowing your diaphragms to lower and push your belly out. Focus on relaxing your tight muscles as you breathe. If you breathe too fast or too long, it is possible to hyperventilate, which is counterproductive and can feel like a panic attack. If you become dizzy, slow down.

These exercises will also help you if you under-breathe due to pain or stress, which in turn contributes to low oxygen level in your blood.

The comeback of the ancient concept of Sabbath

Many time management experts and authors are rediscovering the ancient practise of “Sabbath.” Some call it a “monk day,” or an “unplugged day.” The idea is scheduling a day, or at least part of a day, to disconnect, relax and to enjoy recreational activities that give you delight. People who are on-line for their work or have a busy social media life should go off-grid and stop all screen time. Enjoy nature, a hobby, friends and family, spiritual disciplines such as worship, prayer, or reading.

The health benefits of play and the enjoyment of beauty are now proven. Recreation is better spelled “re-creation.” Unplugging for a full 24 hour day every week is age-old wisdom.

The Burnout Crisis & Resilience Training

Making the three great lifestyle changes of a healthy diet, adequate exercise, and proper rest and sleep, are a great start to burnout prevention.

However, in many industries, including healthcare, there are also system changes that are needed to prepare new employees for their roles. This includes proper onboarding and psychoeducation. Young workers also expect to be part of a healthy work culture.

And there are personal factors, such as childhood trauma, that predispose some to diminished resilience and therfore at higher risk for not only burnout, but posttraumatic stress disorder as well.

IHTC has a 3 hour Burnout Prevention Curriculum which may be offered at workplaces, conferences, or as a workshop. The curriculum is based on R2 Resilience Research by Dr. Michael Ungar of Dalhousie University.

Compassionately,