Be Dedicated and Consistent

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Setting aside time to consciously unplug from work will address another known cause of burnout: “thoughts of work during leisure time.” Psychological detachment from work—while you’re not at work—reduces the mental strain of burnout. It’s also been shown to elevate mood, reduce fatigue, and boost subsequent work performance.

Stressors that occur directly at work, such as demanding quotas, uncommunicative bosses, or difficult clients, also contribute to burnout. However, research indicates that it’s our response to stress, and our tactics for recovering from it, that affect our wellbeing the most.

Sustained Stress Is Serious
The “sustained cognitive representation” of your stressors affects your body as well as your mind, and can lead to serious health consequences in addition to burnout. For example, we know that ruminating on past stressors and worrying about future ones can activate your autonomic nervous system for hours beyond the thoughts themselves, and even into your sleep. This “unconscious stress” takes a toll on your body, despite the fact that you’re not always aware of it.

Put another way, it’s not that you have to lead a big afghanistan telegram data meeting that’s causing burnout and fatigue, necessarily—it’s the fact that you can’t stop thinking about the meeting, and haven’t empowered yourself to recover from the resultant anxiety. Your wind-down period is your time to do so.

What Does an Effective Wind-Down Period Look Like?
Hopefully, you now believe in the necessity of a nightly wind-down period as a sleep aid and an anti-burnout measure—but you may be wondering what exactly a wind-down period should include. Here are our recommendations for making the most of this window:

Schedule your wind-down period with the same commitment as you would any sales task. Remember, recovery is essential to productivity.
Keep your wind-down at the same time each night. Regularity is huge when it comes to aligning with your circadian rhythm (and adjusting to any new habit).
Keep the Lights Dim or Off.
Turn off as many lights as you can. Sub in candles for electric lighting, or dimmer lamps for overhead ones.
Avoid exposure to the blue light that comes from your screens. Some devices offer light-desaturating filters, but the jury is out on their efficacy. We recommend wearing blue light blocking glasses if you can’t completely ditch your screens.
Work with Your Body’s Natural Temperature Drop
Keep your bedroom cool, in line with your body’s eventual at-rest temperature. We recommend 65–68 degrees Fahrenheit.