Burnout
(Physical or mental collapse caused by overwork or stress)
If you want to become a champion and avoid burnout, sometimes LESS IS MORE.
The rule of thumb is very simple here: GO SLOWER, ARRIVE SOONER.
The pressure of being a successful athlete entails non-stop
activity of games, practice and physical conditioning.
Burnout is a response to chronic stress of continued demands
in a sport or activity without the opportunity for physical and mental rest and
recovery. Burnout is a syndrome of continual training and sport attention
stress, resulting in staleness, overtraining and eventually burnout. Many
athletes experiencing burnout report feeling trapped by circumstances of sports
participation. The athlete first starts feels stale or overwhelmed, but is
encouraged by coaches, strength staff, athletic trainers, teammates or parents
to push through symptoms of overtraining and potential burnout to continue with
a demanding schedule in order to feel a part of the team, maintain their
starting position or keep their scholarship.
Burnout affects
varying demands on their
physical ability and time management
The
athlete feels as if their performance is being hampered by the demands of
participation and the inability to rest and recover
The
athlete starts experiencing subtle signs and symptoms of physical and mental
burnout
Burnout
takes place and the physical and mental toll on the athlete impacts their lives
and performance on and off the field, perhaps even discontinuing sports
participation
Signs and symptoms of burnout
Leveling
off or diminished performance or conditioning, including strength and stamina
losses, chronic fatigue
Physiological
signs such as having a higher resting heart rate and blood pressure
Cognitive
issues such as difficulty in concentration or diminished work in school,
forgetfulness
Illnesses
as a result of suppressed immune system
Low
self-esteem, increased anxiety and depression as a result of falling short of
sport demands
Athletic trainers can help in identifying and preventing
burnout in athletes through an awareness of the signs and symptoms, and in
communication with coaches and strength staff to monitor the athletes for
overtraining, which is a large contributor of burnout. After the physician exam and any testing prove negative,
consideration should be given to modifying the activity to permit more athlete rest
and recovery. If physical causes for signs and symptoms of burnout are
negative, consideration should be given to referring the athlete for a
psychological evaluation and care.
Coaches and strength staff should be educated on burnout and
consider modifications to workouts both in terms of intensity and length of
time in order to preserve optimal levels of performance and to prevent burnout.
Burnout is a very real and underreported state that many
athletes experience. Knowing the signs and symptoms of escalating burnout,
along with an appreciation how burnout occurs, are important steps in
prevention and treatment of this situation, and may well prevent the start or
worsening of a mental health disorder in an athlete.
Response to chronic stress
Burnout is considered a response by a young athlete to
chronic stress in which he or she ceases to participate in a previously
enjoyable activity, withdrawing from the sport because they perceive it is not
possible to meet the physical and psychological demands of the sport.
Burnout is considered by experts to be part of a spectrum of
conditions that includes overreaching and over training syndrome.
Functional overreaching is defined as intense training that
leads to a period of decreased performance which results in full recovery after
a rest period.
├╝ over-training syndrome is
a series of psychological, physiologic, and hormonal changes that result in decreased
sports performance. It is characterized by:
an additional stress or not explained by other disease.
Although it is difficult to determine the extent of over training/burnout in children and adolescents, due in part to the lack of
standard terminology used in different studies, it is believed to occur in
about 30% to 35% of adolescent athletes.
burnout not always cause
Youth sports attrition is a complex phenomenon influenced by a variety of
personal and situational variables.
The most common variables are..
time
conflicts and interest with other activities (most common reason for dropping
out of sport, either permanently or temporarily)
lack of
playing time, lack of
success, lack of
skill improvement, lack of
fun, boredom;
and injury.
Risk factors
There are multiple risk factors for young athletes
developing over training/burnout
Environmental
Extremely
high training volumes
Extremely
high time demands
Demanding
performance expectations (imposed by self or significant others)
Frequent
intense competition
Inconsistent
coaching practices
Personal characteristics
Perfectionism
Need to
pleases others
Non-assertiveness
Uni-dimensional
self-conceptualization (focusing only on one's athlete involvement)
Low
self-esteem
High
perception of stress (high anxiety)
WARNING SIGNS OF BURN-OUT
PHYSICAL FATIGUE –
Athletes who are well on the way to becoming burnt out seem to feel tired
almost all of the time. They train feeling tired, go to bed exhausted and when
they wake up in the morning they don’t feel refreshed. Because they
continuously overwork their bodies and never allow themselves to completely recharge,
they carry around a base level of exhaustion that consistently interferes with
their practices, competitions and day-to-day living. Despite being in great
physical shape, the burnt-out athlete consistently complains about a lack of
energy and limited endurance whenever he/she trains.
CHRONIC INJURIES –the burnt out athlete is always more vulnerable to sustaining
new injuries and turning old ones into chronic injuries. When you continue to
play through an injury or pain, you are far more likely to aggravate the
existing injury to the point where it becomes more serious. If you never
adequately rest your body, it will never have a chance to fully heal. As you
continue to re-injure yourself, the injured part of your body becomes weakened
and sets you up to have chronic problems there. For example, if you come back
too fast from a bad ankle sprain, you are much more likely to re-sprain that
same ankle again. Subsequent sprains will continue to stretch the ligaments out
around the ankle, insuring that you will continue to have more problems with
it.
LOSS OF MEANING – The burnt out athlete continually struggles with questions
like, “what’s the point?” and “why am I doing this?” He/she has difficulty
finding meaning in continuing to practice and play.
DIFFICULTY FOCUSING - The
athlete struggling with burn out has difficulty maintaining his/her focus of
concentration. In practice this athlete is mentally “all over the place” and as
a result, performs at a very low level.
PERFORMANCE PROBLEMS -. On the surface what seems like a basic performance
problem is really a symptom of the larger problem of burnout.
BEHAVIORAL PROBLEMS –
Sometimes an athlete’s behavioral problems with teammates and/or coaches are
nothing more than a symptom of being burnt out. Perhaps the athlete displays a
bad attitude, is overly negative or constantly instigating conflicts on the
team. These kinds of outward problems frequently mask the athlete’s struggles
with burnout.
CAUSES OF BURN-OUT
NOT ENOUGH REST – The
main cause of burnout is very simple and basic: NOT ENOUGH REST. When you
over-work physically and do not allow your body and mind an adequate chance to
“chill” and recover, then you will be embarking down the road to burn out.
TOO MUCH PRESSURE - Another element that fuels burnout is too much competitive
pressure. Too much pressure makes what you’re doing too serious.you will lose
your perspective and stop having fun. Once the fun leaves your sport it will
take your desire and intensity with it and when that happens, you are well on
your way to being cooked.
If you want to avoid
burnout as an athlete, then you have to understand the need for balance in your
sport. You can’t simply put yourself on automatic and train hard all the time, Operating on this “more is better” principle will eventually wear you
down both physically and mentally. What this means is that you need to slow
down a little in your pursuit of your goals by adding regular periods of rest
or time completely away from training. Driving yourself non-stop as if you’re
under a time deadline will not get you to your goals any faster. In fact,
pushing yourself in this way will actually slow you down in your pursuit of
your dreams. If you’re out of balance you will be more likely to injure
yourself and this will really throw off your training schedule. Don’t ever
think that you can’t afford to take time off to rest. The fact of the matter is
that you can’t afford NOT to take time off.
Remember, if you want to
become a champion and avoid burnout, sometimes LESS IS MORE.
The rule of thumb
is very simple here: GO SLOWER, ARRIVE SOONER.
