Workplace wellbeing: Back from the brink of burnout 

We're expected to work hard to support the economy and ourselves but if we fail to take restorative breaks, we run the risk of   undermining our mental and physical health  

The Price Waterhouse Cooper’s Hopes and Fears Workforce Survey 2023 found that 23% of Irish workers felt overworked.

Anne Healy never used to rest — the 59-year-old from Kilkenny suspects she was born to be busy.

“Maybe I’m wired that way,” she says. “But I definitely took it too far.”

She did this by combining a demanding full-time job in insurance with raising three sports-mad children.

“They loved swimming, rowing, running, and horse riding,” she says.

“We’d get up at 5am so they could be in the pool by 5.30am. Then we’d rush to school and work. There would be even more activities afterwards. It was a hamster wheel that didn’t stop for 17 years. Looking back, I don’t know how I kept it up.

“I was absolutely wrecked every single day.”

She may be an extreme example, but Healy isn’t alone in not getting enough rest. The Price Waterhouse Cooper’s Hopes and Fears Workforce Survey 2023 found that 23% of Irish workers felt overworked.

Chartered work and organisational psychologist Leisha McGrath believes this could be because many people place too much emphasis on being productive.

“It’s not our fault,” she says. “The society we live in is based on the economy, and we’re encouraged to be productive members of that society. 

"We even have productivity tools on our computers, phones, and wrists that push us to be more and more productive all the time.”

Leisha McGrath: The society we live in is based on the economy, and we’re encouraged to be productive members of that society 

The pandemic exacerbated this trend with many employees working flextime. 

“Because we had the technology to work from home, we all became more adept at weaving work into all hours of our day,” McGrath says.

Work is essential, McGrath adds.

It allows us to provide for ourselves and our families, gives us a sense of purpose, teaches us things, expands our social circles, and opens up new horizons.

“It’s vital to our wellbeing in so many ways,” she says. However, it has to be balanced with rest. 

“We need to challenge this perception that we have to always be on,” McGrath adds.

“Hard work may be important, but so is rest. One without the other can lead to the nervous system becoming overwrought, and a subsequent nosedive in mental and physical health.”

She refers to the polyvagal theory of American psychologist and neuroscientist Stephen Porges to explain why.

“He pictures the nervous system as a ladder,” she says. “At the top is the ventral vagal state, where we experience a sense of calm and connection with the world around us. 

Our heart rate is reduced. Our breathing is steady. We’re digesting our food, and our stress hormones are low.”

The middle rung is where the nervous system is mobilised and active.

“We’re in this state when we’re doing things, and it’s associated with an increase in stress and anxiety, but also with productivity and flow,” McGrath says. “This is a useful state, reinforced by society, except when we become stuck there and find it hard to switch off.” 

The bottom rung of the ladder is the dorsal vagal state, which we experience when we lack energy. “It’s not a state that our society tends to value, even though it’s a place where we should all spend some time,” says McGrath.

In an ideal world, we would all move up and down this ladder throughout the day, reaching the top rung as many times as we can.

“But modern society doesn’t allow for this,” McGrath says. “It reinforces the benefits of that middle rung, doing things all day long."

Recognise the value of rest

For Leisha McGrath, achieving balance between work and rest is all about understanding triggers and glimmers

Siobhán Murray, a psychotherapist and author of The Burnout Solution, believes we need to recognise the value of rest, define what it means, and incorporate it into our daily lives.

“People really struggle with restorative rest,” she says. “Often, when people say that they were resting, they weren’t.

“They might have been sitting on the sofa watching TV, but were also scrolling on their phone. That’s not resting. That’s multi-tasking and it’s exhausting in itself.”

Another reason people struggle is because they spend all day being frantically busy.

“They get up and it’s chaos from the word go as they get themselves and the kids ready for school,” Murray says.

There’s no way that come 8pm that night, after being in a heightened state of adrenaline all day, they will be able to unwind enough to get a good night’s sleep. Rest needs to be woven into the whole day.”

She gives examples such as taking quiet time to read the newspaper midmorning, going for a walk in the afternoon, and spending time with friends at the weekend.

“I mostly work from home and have two dogs who need to go out regularly,” Murray says. “I go out with them for 10 or 15 minutes in the morning, again at lunchtime, and later in the day.

“These are restorative reset moments in my day that clear my head and keep my cortisol levels in check.”

For McGrath, achieving balance between work and rest is all about understanding triggers and glimmers. 

“Triggers are things like work overload and feelings of overwhelm that can bring us down off that top rung of the polyvagal ladder,” she says.

“Glimmers are things that can help us make our way back up.”

Triggers and glimmers vary from person to person. “One of my glimmers is swimming in the sea,” McGrath says.

“But we’re all wired differently, and we all have to figure out what helps us get back up that ladder. It could be exercise, breathwork, lying in the bath, or a simple conversation with a friend.”

Opportunity to slow down

Anne Healy realised something had to change in her life when her employer offered her an attractive redundancy package

Healy began to understand how hard she had been pushing herself in 2018 when her youngest child was sitting the Leaving Certificate and stopped attending early morning swimming sessions. 

“That gave me a taste of slowing down a little,” she says. Then, her employer offered her an attractive redundancy package.

“I suddenly realised it was a change for me to do something for myself,” she says.

“So I took it and started my own business, Biddy's Good Luck Horse Shoes, creating and selling good luck gifts made from Irish horseshoes for all occasions.”

Because old habits die hard, Healy continued to keep up a fast pace.

“Then covid hit, and I was forced to slow down,” she says. With time unexpectedly on her hands, Healy instinctively began incorporating glimmers and moments of restorative rest into her day.

“I now go for bike rides or walks in the middle of the day,” she says. “I meet friends for coffee and chats. I go for lunch with my husband, and I get more sleep. 

These are simple things, but I find them calming.”

Murray says restorative rest shouldn’t be something we relegate to the end of the day, a Sunday, or “some far-off day” when we’ll have time.

“It should be part of our every day. Some things will drain us as we go about our lives, but some will give us energy. We need to make sure that we make time for the latter to help counterbalance the former.”

McGrath suggests we do this by scheduling rest in our diaries.

“If you struggle with rest, I’d definitely take this approach,” she says. “Having dinner with a friend, a lunchtime walk, or even an evening in the bath filing your nails will help you to resist the pressure to do something that you see as more productive.”

Healy’s life has changed by incorporating more rest into her schedule. 

“I can make time for myself alongside my work,” she says. “And as a result, I’m appreciating life a whole lot more.”

• This article was edited to clarify the comments on restorative rest