How to Control Your Cortisol & Overcome Burnout

Early Burnout

Early-phase burnout is characterized by waking up with anxiety and feeling activated, often after insufficient sleep. Andrew Huberman describes this pattern as one where individuals feel stressed in the morning but crash by the afternoon, experiencing brain fog and exhaustion 1. To manage this, he suggests identifying which burnout pattern one fits into and using specific strategies to address it.

If you're waking up with a ton of stress, you're not sleeping enough. I highly recommend that you use a practice I've talked about before in this podcast, which is Non Sleep Deep Rest, AKA Yoga Nidra.

--- Andrew Huberman

Huberman emphasizes the importance of reducing the rapid rise of cortisol in the morning to alleviate stress and improve overall well-being 2.

   

Late Burnout

Late-phase burnout presents a different set of challenges, with individuals waking up tired and struggling through the morning despite caffeine intake. Andrew Huberman explains that this pattern involves feeling exhausted in the morning and unable to slow down at night, leading to poor sleep quality 3. Addressing this requires stabilizing cortisol levels and implementing techniques to manage stress effectively.

The second pattern of burnout is the one where people are waking up tired, they're dragging through the morning despite presumably drinking a lot of caffeine.

--- Andrew Huberman

Huberman suggests that understanding these patterns can help tailor interventions to improve energy levels and mental clarity throughout the day 4.