When you have ADHD, you’re twice as likely to experience burnout. Why? In short: ADHD drives many personal characteristics that lead to burnout. That’s why these 6 ADHD burnout strategies will make a huge difference in your life.
Do you border on ADHD burnout?
Do you find yourself constantly tired, with low levels of energy? Is it difficult to get through your endless to-do list throughout the day? Burnout can seem almost inescapable when you’re an adult with ADHD. Burnout is a response to chronic stress. And, unfortunately, adults with ADHD experience burnout at a much higher rate than everybody else. One study by ADDA published on goodtherapy.org found that 93% of adults experience burnout, while only 30% of adults without ADHD experience it. Burnout can be dangerous, since ADHD can make symptoms worse. People with ADHD are also more likely to experience symptoms of depression, shame, and guilt during burnout.
Having ADHD makes you more likely to experience burnout since you have to often overcompensate and overcommit to get things done. You might also struggle with boundaries and feel guilty for resting. Oftentimes, the pressure to compensate in a neurotypical world at work, school, or at home can lead to unrealistic workloads, leading to quickly burning out. Additionally, adults with ADHD are more likely to hyperfocus, which can lead to a “hyperfocus hangover”, burnout resulting from the intense focus and productivity. Executive dysfunction, a very common occurrence for adults with ADHD can also lead to overwhelm, draining you and consuming all of your energy. Lastly, perfectionist tendencies as a consequence of adult ADHD can also lead to complete burnout. Since burnout is extremely common for adults with ADHD, you can take a self-test to find out if you are currently experiencing burnout.
6 BURNOUT STRATEGIES FOR LIFE
To avoid entering a state of ADHD burnout, you can try the six following strategies:
Balance your life according to your needs and values
ADHD adults often overcompensate for problems in time management and organization by hyperfocusing on any given task to the point of burnout. To avoid burnout, it’s important to learn about the different aspects of life that need to be balanced. It’s essential to consider your own needs and values when making decisions. Feeling burned out can throw off the balance in all essential aspects of your life. The Life Balance Wheel can help you consider each area of your life and assess what’s off balance. By doing so, you can take steps to bring your life back into balance and alleviate burnout. You can learn more about life balance and download a complimentary printable Wheel of Life to get started.
Practice mindfulness daily
One important strategy to prevent ADHD burnout is by practicing mindfulness. This means you move throughout your day with a sense of present-moment awareness. ADHD adults often feel guilty taking time for themselves when daily responsibilities pile up. However, self-care is essential for your mental health. Mindfulness is an excellent form of self-care that can help you in regulating your emotional state.
Regulating your emotions is key to preventing burnout. One way to practice regulating your emotions is through meditation. Mindfulness meditation can help you regulate your emotions and practice letting go of ideas and thoughts. You can try easy, short mindfulness exercises like the one here. You can also try this mindful meditation with breathwork. Yoga, meditation, breathing exercises, and other relaxation techniques can also help in regulating your emotions and preventing burnout.
Prioritize your workday
Do you feel like you have an endless list of to-dos during your workday, and you don’t know where to begin? Or, do you constantly find yourself distracted?
It can be helpful to start the day by listing your priority tasks that need to get done that day. Starting the day with a checklist can help you stay on task throughout the day.
Additionally, breaking down big tasks into smaller pieces can prevent you from becoming overwhelmed by everything that needs to get done. Don’t forget to schedule breaks throughout the day as well. Working on something for longer than 90 minutes can reduce your attention span. Scheduling short regular breaks in your workday can help you be more productive and avoid burnout. Check out my article for more ADHD time management tips.
Breaks battle ADHD burnout
Having regular breaks where you can let your mind and body completely rest can prevent and alleviate symptoms of burnout. Taking regular breaks can have a huge impact on your mental health, and also on your overall productivity. Finding time to rest can be hard with ADHD. Adults with ADHD often falsely believe rest makes it harder to finish their endless tasks. However, skipping breaks and avoiding rest actually worsens ADHD symptoms. Your time, energy, and attention are limited resources! Each of these dimensions needs to reset daily. Because of this, an essential ADHD burnout strategy is to plan downtime daily to unplug and do absolutely nothing.
Work on your boundaries
Adults with ADHD can have people-pleasing tendencies, and it can be very difficult to establish clear boundaries. To recover from burnout, it is important to think about what things and people energize you and what drains you. Having that clarity can help you establish boundaries and find more balance to prevent burnout. You can start by exploring your needs, and focusing on expressing these needs with others. Establishing and holding boundaries can be really hard if you’re not used to doing it, so start small! You can find more tips on setting healthy ADHD boundaries here.
Another place to practice clear boundaries is to tame ADHD perfectionism. Many people struggle with ‘one-more-thing-itis’. This unsettling feeling of feeling incomplete drives unhealthy patterns and over-working. If you are a perfectionist, check out this study. It shows how mindfulness helps perfectionists manage internal stress. Working on lowering your stress and setting boundaries around work, is a key ADHD burnout prevention strategy.
ADHD burnout is relieved by exercise
Regular exercise can improve symptoms of ADHD in adults, and help to prevent and improve burnout symptoms. This is because regular movement changes your neurochemistry mix, oxygenates your body, and helps you get rid of cortisol, the stress hormone. If you do not have an exercise routine yet, you can start slow and get creative! You can begin incorporating small movements into your daily routine, like a YouTube Yoga or Zumba class or walking around your neighborhood. Make sure to choose something that feels fun to you to increase your likelihood of sticking with it. Exercise releases endorphins, which can reduce stress, increase well-being, and prevent burnout.
CONCLUSION
Burnout can be debilitating and wreak havoc on your life. Knowing how common burnout is in adults with ADHD can empower you to employ these 6 strategies to prevent and alleviate ADHD burnout symptoms. If you find yourself completely exhausted and battling burnout symptoms daily – let’s talk. As a certified ADHD coach, I’d love to talk about it with you and see if I can help. Book your free Discovery Call with me today.
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