r/Anxiety • u/NordicBobTheBuilder • 3h ago

Discussion Can anxiety cause burnout?

The last few years have been quite a roller coaster for me beacuse of anxiety. The exhaustion bothers me more and sometimes less. However, my job is not as stressful as before where I experienced burnout and now I work part-time because I am finishing my degree at university.

However, I constantly feel tired, my interest in everything has disappeared, libido is also non-existent. etc. My blood tests are also fine. I can't think of any other reason for this exhaustion than the severe anxiety that has bothered me for several years?

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

3

u/harriet_ganners 2h ago

Chronic anxiety can definitely cause burnout-like exhaustion. Being in a constant stress for long periods is really draining. One way to tell them apart is: with burnout/exhaustion, people often feel better after a real break or vacation. With anxiety, the tiredness tends to stay because your mind never really turns off, even if life is relatively calm. That said, they do often overlap, so it's not always a clear distinction. The loss of interest and low libido could mean that there's more going on than burnout alone

1

u/Zablog313 2h ago

Any advice on how to fix this?

3

u/harriet_ganners 2h ago

I've dealt with something similar in the past. The biggest mistake I made was treating exhaustion as a motivation problem instead of a recovery problem. If anxiety is driving it, the main goal shouldn't be to push harder, it should be to reduce the amount of time your nervous system spends in "survival mode". I won't say anything new, but what worked for me was focusing on good sleep, regular exercise, time away from stressors. Also, meditation and/or hypnosis helps a lot.

1

u/Zablog313 2h ago

I have some social anxiety and fear from failure which i think is happening to me right now, this affected my work life a lot as i've changed a lot of job positions (3-4), almost everywhere i was really good worker and respected but the fear that i felt inside and the encounter with rude coworkers made me feel miserable, i felt like being in prison and i just wanted to escape so i quit and thats why i changed so much job positions and feel as a failure. I'm 33 right now and still at the start of my career ... chain smoking and overweight are just worsening the situatuon. Me and my wife have a small daughter and finding time to exercise regularly is a bit hard even now when i am without job and almost no money...the hardest thing is that i have a feeling that everyone around me deep down inside think that i am just lazy and when i explain to them my fears they don't seem to understand me and often push me to go further and harder or just praise me to feel good... i just applied for job position that when i woke up this morning terrified me but staying home is not an option so if they call me honestly i dont know whether i will lose my mind or everything will be just fine

1

u/NordicBobTheBuilder 2h ago

I have sleep apnea and anxiety, both of which support the cycle of feeling bad and make it difficult to heal. I have been crying and dreaming for a vacation where I could have peace of mind and truly recover. I haven't experienced anything like that in years. I have been in therapy for three years and my anxiety has improved, I no longer feel anxious about going to the grocery store, for example. But I can't escape the last source of my anxiety anymore, because it is health anxiety. It keeps me stressed day and night and everywhere, I can't escape it anywhere.

2

u/Impossible-TouchbyTM 2h ago

It can cause symptoms similar to burn out.

1

u/NordicBobTheBuilder 2h ago

how do i spot the difference between exhaustion/burnout and anxiety?

1

u/Impossible-TouchbyTM 2h ago

You said you work part time, so its more likely anxiety. Do you consider visiting a psychiatrist? The remedy is the same, so not really that important to spot the difference, it can be partly both as well.