If there’s one word I hear almost daily in my practice, it’s burnout.
It’s everywhere — in the office, in relationships, even in wellness spaces. We tend to think of it as a mindset issue, something we can fix with better boundaries, a weekend off, or a good motivational quote. Or we assume the only way out is to quit our jobs, move somewhere quiet, and start over completely…
But after years of listening to women describe how their energy, focus, and joy have quietly disappeared, I can tell you this: Burnout isn’t just in your head. It’s in your body.
“Burnout isn’t just in your head. It’s in your body.”
As a functional medicine doctor, I see burnout as a physiological state, not a personal failure or a signal to reinvent yourself. It’s what happens when your biology can’t keep up with the constant demands placed on it — when your nervous system, hormones, and cells are trying to adapt but never get the chance to recover.
Burnout is what happens when your biology can’t keep up
Your body was built to handle short bursts of stress, not chronic, unrelenting demand. We’ve normalized running on adrenaline — the endless to-do lists, late-night emails, skipped meals, and “I’ll rest when things slow down” mentality. But when stress becomes your baseline, the communication between your brain and body (what we call the HPA axis) starts to fray.
“When stress becomes your baseline, the communication between your brain and body (what we call the HPA axis) starts to fray.”
At first, your body compensates. It releases more cortisol — the hormone that helps you push through deadlines, workouts, and those nights you swore you’d go to bed earlier. But over time, that system gets out of balance, throwing off other hormonal networks trying to keep up. Cortisol spikes at the wrong times, blood sugar swings, your immune system weakens, and fatigue creeps in.
What starts as “I just need another cup of coffee” quietly becomes “I can’t remember the last time I felt like myself.”
Burnout isn’t a personal flaw or a lack of willpower. It’s your body waving a white flag — saying, I’ve run out of emergency reserves.
Takeaway: Burnout isn’t about losing motivation. It’s about a body that’s been doing too much, for too long, without enough time to recover.
You can’t heal if you’re always in survival mode
Burnout isn’t the same thing as stress. Stress is the spark — burnout is what happens when the fire’s been burning for too long and the system runs out of fuel. It’s the body’s version of total depletion: physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted, yet unable to fully rest.
“Stress is the spark — burnout is what happens when the fire’s been burning for too long and the system runs out of fuel.”
When you live in survival mode for too long, your nervous system forgets how to switch off. Your body stays in “fight or flight” even when you’re not in danger. Your heart rate stays elevated, digestion slows, hormones lose rhythm, and sleep stops feeling restorative. You’re technically “resting,” but your body is still standing guard.
That’s why so many people with burnout develop symptoms that seem disconnected — gut issues, cycle changes, inflammation, anxiety, weight changes, brain fog, and the list goes on. It’s not one thing going wrong; it’s your body conserving energy the only way it knows how.
Healing from burnout starts with safety, not strategy. Before you can rest, your body needs to feel safe enough to let go. Breathwork, grounding, gentle movement, time in nature, or simply being around people who calm your system — these aren’t luxuries. They’re biological necessities.
Takeaway: Burnout isn’t fixed by doing nothing. It’s healed by helping your body remember it’s safe enough to rest.
Hormones, energy, and the burnout loop
Your hormones are like an orchestra — each section playing a part in your energy, metabolism, mood, and sleep. When one instrument is out of tune (usually cortisol), the entire symphony starts to sound off.
Chronic stress disrupts your thyroid function, reproductive hormones, and insulin sensitivity. Low progesterone can make you feel anxious and restless. Low estrogen can interfere with serotonin and sleep. Poor thyroid function can leave you foggy and fatigued. This is why burnout often feels like everything is off — because it is.
“This is why burnout often feels like everything is off — because it is.”
Your energy, focus, and emotions all stem from interconnected systems. You can’t fix one without tending to the others.
Takeaway: Burnout doesn’t just drain your energy — it rewires how your body makes it.
You can’t “mindset” your way out of burnout
I love mindset work. It’s an important part of healing. But too often, it’s treated like the cure for everything — as if we can simply talk, journal, or manifest our way out of deep physiological and mental exhaustion.
The truth is, burnout doesn’t start in your thoughts. It starts in your cells. You can’t override a dysregulated nervous system or depleted mitochondria with a positive affirmation. When your biology is running on empty, even the most optimistic mindset can’t create energy that simply just isn’t there.
“You can’t override a dysregulated nervous system or depleted mitochondria with a positive affirmation.”
That’s what makes burnout so devastating — it’s not just the fatigue or the brain fog. It’s the loss of motivation that comes with it. The things that used to bring joy start to feel heavy. You stop recognizing yourself. And when that loss of spark collides with the pressure to “stay positive,” it can feel like you’re failing twice — once for being burned out, and again for not being able to think your way out of it.
Mindset does matter, and it has to be paired with nourishment, rest, and repair. In functional medicine, we look at everything that fuels the body and the brain: Nutrition, circadian rhythm, hormones, gut health, inflammation, and energy production. Because no amount of motivation will help if your blood sugar crashes every single afternoon, your cortisol spikes each night, or your cells can’t make energy efficiently.
Takeaway: You don’t think your way out of burnout. You restore your way out — by rebuilding the energy, safety, and nourishment your body needs to believe again.
Healing burnout means rebuilding the foundations
When I work with patients at Love Life who are recovering from burnout, we don’t start with supplements or a new morning routine. We start with awareness.
Take self-inventory: What’s really going on, and where are you pushing too hard? Is it work, emotional load, constant availability, the endless scroll, or simply too many “yeses” in a season that needs more “no’s”? Burnout recovery isn’t just about adding more healthy habits — sometimes it’s about subtracting. Less work. Less screen time. Less stimulation. Less noise.
Once we clear some space, then we rebuild the basics with consistency and care:
- Sleep: Protect your circadian rhythm — morning sunlight, consistent bedtime, no revenge scrolling.
- Nourishment: Stabilize blood sugar with protein, fiber, and healthy fats at every meal.
- Movement: Move daily, but match it to your energy. Restorative yoga and walking can be just as healing as lifting heavy.
- Stress care: Your body doesn’t need more pressure; it needs safety. Find ways to calm your system that feel accessible and repeatable.
And if you’ve already dialed in your lifestyle but still feel depleted, that’s when we dig deeper. This is where functional medicine testing can be illuminating — it helps us look “under the hood” for clues your body may be giving you.
Burnout can have biological roots that need attention, like:
- Depleted nutrients
- Elevated inflammation markers
- Gut imbalances
- Hormone, thyroid, or adrenal dysfunction
- Slowed metabolism
- Poor cellular health
Some people just need personalized conversation and reflection. Others feel empowered seeing their “data” — understanding how their unique biology plays into how they feel. Both approaches are valid, and both can bring clarity to the healing process.
Takeaway: Healing from burnout starts with self-awareness, not self-optimization. You can’t rebuild energy in a system that’s still overloaded — so start by clearing space, listening deeply, and getting curious about what your body is trying to tell you.
Your body is trying to protect you
Burnout isn’t a weakness, and it doesn’t have to be forever. As hard as it feels, treat your burnout as communication — your body asking you to listen, slow down, and start again differently.
“Treat your burnout as communication — your body asking you to listen, slow down, and start again differently.”
When you begin to see burnout as a physiological signal rather than a personal flaw, the path to healing becomes clearer. You stop blaming yourself for being tired and start getting curious about what your body needs to feel safe, nourished, and supported again.
Because the truth is: Your body has always been on your side. It’s just been waiting for you to catch up.
Dr. Jaclyn Tolentino is a Board-Certified Family Physician and the Lead Functional Medicine Physician at Love.Life. Specializing in women’s health and hormone optimization, she has been featured in Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, and Women’s Health. As a functional practitioner and a breast cancer survivor, Dr. Tolentino is dedicated to uncovering the root causes of health challenges, employing a holistic, whole-person approach to empower lasting wellbeing. Follow her on Instagram here for more insights.
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