Burnout can hit you right out of blue, something I experienced first-hand recently when a friend went from an athletic hero to zero seemingly overnight.

She had been posting personal bests time and time again last year in her chosen sport but her current season has had to be written off altogether after her body simply ground to halt.

Training became increasingly tougher and race results poorer but she ploughed on thinking that she’d eventually shake off the tiredness. She didn’t and eventually she was stopped in her tracks. The increasing sluggishness came to a head when she headed out for her daily run and was forced to walk home slowly after just a few minutes – her energy levels completely zapped. She was in a hole.

She knew then that the signs of what people commonly refer to as burnout had been there all along but had been ignored.

The recurring colds and infections, the fuzzy thinking, unusual aches and pains, recurring injuries for no apparent reason, inability to deal with run-of-the-mill stress and of course the most obvious alarm bell of all: constant and increasing tiredness regardless of how much sleep she had.

After doing a little more research on symptoms, she soon realised that her body had become overstressed to the point that it could no longer keep up with her full-throttle lifestyle. She finally realised that for weeks, months, and maybe even the entire year, she had been jolting her body into action with caffeine – she had been literally running on empty.

One nutrition expert put it well recently when he told me the danger of fuelling on coffee was that caffeine only “borrows” energy from tomorrow for today.

As my friend unfortunately discovered, eventually there is no more energy to borrow.

However, coffee alone was not the problem. Increased stress levels in her daily life, increased work commitments, failure to adjust her training regime to take account of added stressors, failing to get adequate sleep and getting insufficient fuel from her diet may all have been major contributory factors.

Alternative medicine refers to such a complex mix of symptoms as ‘adrenal fatigue’ and -although some mainstream medical professionals (and bodies) say they don’t believe such an overarching syndrome exists - the symptoms of such fatigue are very real.

What’s important for my friend is to feel better and get back on track. She has begun a recovery process to dig herself out of the hole.

Whatever the condition may be called addressing the onset of such chronic fatigue appears to be a slow process which involves significant lifestyle changes. My friend’s situation is proof that even the fittest of people may not be the healthiest.

Starting with the basics, she has begun her process of changing that. By improving her diet with wholefoods and proper supplementation, getting adequate rest and limiting stressors she is on the road to recovery.

According to experts, when caught early the path to such burnout can be reversed quite easily.

So if you feel you may be on the road to burnout, the chances are that you’re probably right. However, there’s plenty you can do about by making just one simple change at a time to address your health.

Integrative medical professionals state there are four stages of adrenal fatigue – if any of these ring a bell with you it may be time for some self-help by to starting to ring in the changes one step at a time.

Adrenal fatigue stages

Stage 1

In reaction to stress, your body does into hyper drive and what’s known as the fight-or-flight response. The adrenal glands produce increased levels of hormones like cortisol although no notable physical or psychological dysfunction is apparent. The majority of people spend a long period of time at this stage and it can be reversed if addressed easily here.

Stage 2

Stress levels are constant during stage two and high levels of adrenal hormones are pumped out over a period off weeks and months, maybe even years in some cases. Exercise and life continues as normal but recovery takes longer and there are obvious signs of fatigue especially in the afternoons and evenings. Insomnia or the ‘wired and tired’ feeling is a symptom as is weight gain for no apparent reason because increased cortisol levels can lead the body to resist thyroid hormone.

Stage 3

This point is known as adrenal exhaustion, a stage in which your body is unable to cope with even the slightest amount of stress. The adrenal glands can no longer produce sufficient levels of cortisol in response to stress. As sufficient levels of this hormone are also needed to promote a base level of alertness and for your liver to produce sugar-based energy, you are constantly exhausted. Vastly decreased blood sugar levels spark further inability to deal with stress which further fuels mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion. This can lead to 

the excessive intake of caffeine-based stimulants, sugary energy drinks and sugar-rich foods - which can give you a temporary boost of energy in the absence of enough cortisol.

Stage 4 

This point is known as adrenal failure - the total breakdown of your adrenal glands ability to respond to stress. This can leave you unable to get out of bed and can be a potentially life-threatening condition for those who decide to attempt to push on regardless, placing potentially unsustainable pressure on their hearts.