Exercising during a burnout, this is what happens

According to research organization TNO, no fewer than 1.2 million Dutch employees suffered from burnout symptoms in 2020. Anyone who has ever had a burnout knows what it feels like. You are extremely tired, and the smallest activity costs too much energy. Exercising – or moving at all – is often the last thing on your mind. Yet it can save you. Femke Vonk exercised her way out of her burnout: 'Take it easy, then the line won't break, but keep going. That's how I came back to myself step by step.'

Cry, cry, cry

Anyone who has had a burnout will recognize that feeling of 'just let me lie with my head under the covers, I'm not doing anything today'. It was about ten years ago when I – emotionally from one day to the next – could no longer do anything. Crying was about the only thing I could still do. My manager and I had been in conflict for years, and I had the feeling that I would never get out of it. The company doctor sent me home: burnout.

Burnout is not a mental problem

At first I thought: great, now I can cycle all day! But it wasn't that simple. With burnout there is an imbalance in your stress mechanism. It is therefore not a psychological problem, but a physical problem, as we read for example on the website of CSR, expertise center stress & resilience. The stress hormones therefore continue to circulate in your blood and that causes damage, in your brain, but also in your body. If you start doing endurance sports like crazy or throw weights around like you're Arnold Schwarzenegger, it doesn't get any better. You only produce even more stress hormones. It makes sense that for me, cycling for half an hour felt like I had completed the Tour de France.

Rest will save you

If you have a burnout, you recover less quickly. That does not mean that you should not exercise, on the contrary, but that you should take your recovery capacity into account. I replaced cycling with a quiet walk. Twenty minutes was more than enough in the beginning. Enjoy the wind - or even the rain - in the park and then go home. Once home, it is important to calm your stress hormones. Lie down and consciously try to relax, in order to recover well again. So I slowly built that up to an hour of quiet walking.

Only 35 minutes of exercise

If you can walk for an hour at a time, then it's time for the next cautious step. The gym. One problem, I hate gyms. Sweaty men with a powerlifting belt, those mirrors, loud music and trainers who egg you on. It was never my favorite place, but with such an overstimulated mind and body... Give my portion to Fikkie. Fortunately, Happy Bodies is different. A calming tune, a friendly atmosphere and personal guidance by skilled coaches who also know how to deal with a burnout. And of course the Milon circle: a fully automatic circle with fitness equipment on which you train your entire body in 35 minutes. You don't have to think about anything, just work on your body for half an hour. This way you slowly build up your recovery capacity.

Stars from the sky

It really took a year before I recognized myself again. In the meantime, my recovery capacity is back to what it was and I cycle like a star. The great thing is that the Milon circle 'grows' with you. If you get stronger and fitter, the Milon adapts to that. That way you keep making progress.