Science-backed, mind-body practices for midlife women
to rebuild energy, resilience, and peace.

Burnout isn’t just about being tired. It’s not something you can fix with a weekend off, a holiday, or another yoga class. Burnout is full-body depletion. It drains your energy, your motivation, your emotions, and even your sense of self.

If you’ve tried resting, taken time off work, or told yourself to ‘just push through’ but still feel exhausted, it’s not because you’re weak. It’s because burnout recovery takes more than coping. It takes healing.

This post is about what that healing really looks like. Not the quick fixes. Not the surface-level advice. But the deeper mind-body reset that helps you move out of survival mode and into a calmer, stronger, more balanced way of living.

Stress and burnout often get lumped together, but they’re not the same. Stress is like having too many apps open on your mobile all at once – everything slows down, but you can still function. Burnout is when the battery hits 0% and the screen goes black, no matter how much you swipe.

Chronic Stress	Burnout
High energy but overwhelmed	Exhausted, depleted, emotionally drained
Feels urgent and chaotic	Feels empty, numb, or detached
Anxiety, racing thoughts	Lack of motivation or interest in things you used to enjoy
Wired but tired	Deep fatigue that doesn’t shift with rest

Burnout isn’t ‘too much stress’ – it’s your body forcing a reset.

It can also look different depending on the type:

• Overload burnout: doing too much, ignoring your own needs until you break.
• Under-challenged burnout: feeling stuck, bored, and uninspired.
• Neglect burnout: helplessness, lack of direction, or giving up.

I had zero awareness at all when burnout hit me. I thought I was just ‘busy’ and ‘stressed’. I kept pushing through.

My body was screaming for a break, but I ignored it until I couldn’t anymore. Looking back, the signs were everywhere.

 

signs & symptoms of burnout

Burnout creeps up slowly until it suddenly feels impossible to ignore. Some common signs include:

• Constant fatigue (sleep doesn’t help).
• Feeling emotionally numb or detached.
• Irritability, anger, or cynicism.
• Difficulty concentrating or making decisions.
• Loss of motivation or enjoyment in things you once loved.
• Physical issues: headaches, digestive problems, muscle tension, chest pain.
• Catching colds or illness more often.
• Dreading work, relationships, or even day-to-day tasks.
• Insomnia or broken sleep.
• Feelings of isolation, hopelessness, or even wanting to escape.

When I was in burnout, it wasn’t just tiredness. It was emotional flatness, like someone had turned the colour down on life. That’s often how women describe it: not sadness, not even stress anymore, just emptiness, a numbness.

* If you’re recognising yourself in these symptoms, my free Midlife Stress & Resilience Toolkit gives you simple, science-backed ways to calm your nervous system and begin recovery. You can download it here.

 

why coping isn’t enough

Here’s the problem with coping – it keeps you stuck.

Yes, Netflix, wine, overworking, scrolling your phone, or telling yourself “things will calm down soon” might take the edge off. But things rarely calm down on their own.

Coping manages symptoms but doesn’t touch the root cause. It’s like patching up leaks without fixing the broken pipe. And because burnout is a nervous system issue as much as an emotional one, coping strategies often backfire. They numb you, but they don’t restore you.

Real recovery is different. Recovery is about shifting from surviving to healing.

 

the science of burnout recovery

Let’s be clear, burnout recovery isn’t just a mindset shift. It’s not about ‘thinking positively’. It’s a full-body, nervous system reset.

Here’s what happens when you’re burnt out:

• Your body stops producing stress hormones efficiently.
• Your nervous system gets stuck in survival mode – fight, flight, or freeze.
• Rest feels impossible, sometimes even unsafe (ever notice how anxiety spikes when you finally stop?).

Healing means retraining your body to feel safe again. Science calls this regulating the nervous system.

According to Polyvagal Theory, our nervous system moves through three main states:

• Ventral vagal (safe + connected).
• Sympathetic (fight/flight, stress response).
• Dorsal vagal (shutdown, numbness).

Burnout is usually a messy cocktail of sympathetic overdrive (wired) and dorsal collapse (exhausted). Recovery is learning how to return to balance.

 

how to heal burnout: a mind-body approach

There’s no magic overnight cure. Healing takes time, consistency, and compassion. But here’s the path I use for myself and my clients:

Phase 1: Rest & Repair

• Prioritise deep rest, sleep, and nourishment.
• Cut out unnecessary demands.
• Let your nervous system catch its breath.

Phase 2: Gentle Reconnection

• Gentle movement (walks, stretching, yoga).
• Creative activities that feel light and playful.
• Safe, low-pressure connection with supportive people.

Phase 3: Resilient Rebuilding

• Redefine what success looks like (on your terms).
• Set boundaries, align choices with values, and protect your energy.
• Slowly bring back work, structure, and purpose.

Tools That Help the Healing

These aren’t quick fixes, they’re practices that rebuild resilience from the inside out.

• Breathwork: try calming techniques like 4-2-6 breathing – inhale for 4, hold for 2, exhale for 6 – or simply focus on longer exhales to soothe the stress response.
• Grounding: feel your feet on the floor, name five things you see. Remind your body it’s safe.
• Somatic practices: gentle shaking, stretching, or movement to release tension.
• Mindfulness: noticing thoughts without judgement, presence in small daily moments.
• Journalling: write down how you feel, or try prompts like “What do I need today?”
• Yoga/Movement: not as performance, but as reconnection.
• Nourishment: balanced food, hydration, and rest.
• Boundaries: “no” is a full sentence. Protect your energy without guilt.
• Downtime: schedule rest, not just when you crash, but before you need it.

Mindfulness and breathwork completely shifted things for me. At first, I thought they were too simple. But when I practised them daily, even for a few minutes, I noticed my nervous system softening, like I could finally exhale after years of holding it all in.

 

why awareness is non-negotiable

Here’s the thing: you can’t heal what you don’t see.

Awareness is the starting point. It’s the difference between automatically pushing through every demand, and pausing to ask “What do I actually need right now?”

When I was burnt out, I had zero awareness. I didn’t notice my body’s signals until they stopped me in my tracks. Learning to tune in through journalling, mindfulness, and paying attention to my nervous system, was the key to real recovery.

Without awareness, burnout just repeats. With awareness, you start making choices that support healing instead of sabotaging it.

 

preventing burnout in the future

Healing from burnout is one thing, staying well is another.

Here are some foundations that make future burnout far less likely:

• Know your signs early: don’t wait for collapse.
• Set boundaries before you need them: protect your time and energy.
• Prioritise sleep and rest: treat them as essential, not optional.
• Stay connected: isolation fuels burnout; safe relationships help regulate you.
• Build joy into daily life: don’t save it for holidays, weave moments into your week.
• Keep checking in: journalling, therapy, coaching, or simply asking yourself “What do I need today?”

 

final thoughts: healing, not hustle

Burnout recovery isn’t about going back to the person you were before. It’s about becoming a healthier, calmer, more resilient version of yourself.

It’s not quick. It’s not easy. But it’s possible.

And you don’t have to do it alone.

If you’re ready to begin, start with my free Midlife Stress & Resilience Toolkit – simple, science-backed practices to help you regulate your nervous system and rebuild your energy. Download it here. 

🤍 You’re not broken. You’re just carrying too much. And you can heal.