As April is Stress Awareness Month, it’s a good opportunity to talk about burnout – a state of physical and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged stress.
According to the 2025 Burnout Report from Mental Health UK, 91% of respondents said they’d experienced high pressure or stress in the past year. An alarming 34% said they experienced high stress “always” or “often”.
This persistent pressure can have a debilitating effect if not managed correctly, which is why 21% of people reported needing time off work due to poor mental health caused by stress.
Unfortunately, when you have a busy work and home life, burnout can creep up on you. That’s why it’s important that you can spot the signs of excessive stress and act early.
Read on to learn more.
Burnout can be caused by stress at work, poor physical health, or money worries
We all have different stresses to deal with, so there is no single cause of burnout. Instead, it’s often a culmination of various pressures that combine to overwhelm us.
The 2025 Burnout Report found that only 42% of people felt they could switch off from work. If you struggle to leave your job behind at the end of your day, this could lead to constant anxiety about work and an inability to relax and recharge.
Issues outside the workplace can also contribute to burnout. The results from the report showed:
- 61% cited poor sleep as a contributor
- 49% had money worries that caused high stress
- 42% were concerned about poor physical health.
As such, you might be more prone to burnout than you think because many different factors can cause excessive stress.
Burnout can cause many physical and mental symptoms
Knowing the common symptoms of burnout can help you spot issues early and intervene to manage your stress levels more effectively.
Some of the signs of burnout include:
- Chronic fatigue
- Poor sleep
- Frequent illnesses caused by lowered immunity
- Changes to your appetite
- Lack of motivation or feeling detached from work
- Increased irritability and anger
- Lack of interest in socialising with friends and family.
If you notice any of these symptoms in yourself, you might be suffering from burnout. Fortunately, there are ways to manage and prevent stress before it overwhelms you.
3 lifestyle changes that could help you prevent burnout
- Prioritise your sleep
The relationship between sleep and burnout is crucial. Lack of sleep can have a marked effect on your mental health and stress levels, increasing your chances of experiencing burnout.
In turn, burnout often leads to sleep problems, creating a vicious cycle that is difficult to escape. That’s why a healthy sleep pattern is the foundation of positive mental health.
If you struggle to sleep, these simple changes could help you:
- Get outside in the sun early in the morning to regulate your body clock.
- Avoid drinking caffeine in the afternoons.
- Reduce screen time before going to bed.
- Get up and go to sleep at the same time each day.
Prioritising your sleep could make a big difference to your overall stress levels and help you avoid burnout.
- Protect your time outside of work
Work stress is a regular contributor to burnout, so it’s important that you’re able to switch off properly. This can be challenging if you’re constantly getting emails and calls from work in the evenings.
As people increasingly work from home, it’s also more common to work outside your normal hours.
Even if you’re not physically in the office, you are not sufficiently resting if you’re answering emails and giving your mental energy to work in the evenings and at weekends.
To prevent burnout, protect your time outside work by setting a clear dividing line. Once you finish work for the day, leave any emails or calls behind, and don’t be tempted to work outside your normal hours.
This gives you more time to relax and unwind, balancing your stress levels and reducing the chances of burnout.
- Make more time for socialising
Social interaction has been shown to have a very positive effect on stress levels. Being around friends and family can improve your overall mental health.
Plus, having conversations about your stresses with those around you can make them feel more manageable.
That’s why you may want to make more time for socialising in your diary, particularly as you get older and your busy work schedule makes it more difficult to spend time with family and friends.
Get in touch
By adopting these simple lifestyle changes, you could reduce stress and avoid burnout. If worries about your wealth are contributing to your stress, we can support you.
Please get in touch to find out how our team of VouchedFor Top Rated planners could help today.
Please note
This article is for general information only and does not constitute advice. The information is aimed at individuals only.
All information is correct at the time of writing and is subject to change in the future.