For When Seasonal Shopping Burns You Out

When you say you won’t set deadlines at this time of year… but find yourself in a mad rush that culminates this week and next.

Maybe you are carrying a level of activation that has become almost invisible. Disrupted sleep, a sense of being “on” long after work ends, or a narrowing of attention during the day. These are not isolated experiences.

They are physiological responses to prolonged stress.

When the sympathetic nervous system remains active for too long, the body begins to operate as if danger is ongoing.

Heart rate stays elevated. Digestion slows. Our thinking becomes more linear and less creative. Over time, this state can transition into exhaustion, even when we feel we are coping on the surface.

In Stop the Spiral, we explore how modern stress interacts with the biology of safety. The nervous system is built to move between activation and restoration.

Burnout develops when that movement becomes restricted, leaving us cycling through stress without returning fully to baseline.

Research in neuroscience, behavioural medicine, and stress physiology highlights that chronic activation affects every major system in the body. Creativity, empathy, memory, digestion, immunity, sleep, and mood all depend on regular signals of safety.

The 2024 Sustainability Leaders Survey reported that more than sixty percent of UK sustainability professionals experience symptoms of burnout. This reflects a structural reality, not a personal deficit.

Dr Rangan Chatterjee identifies several key indicators that we may be entering burnout:

• Disconnection: Feeling distant or detached, as if watching life from behind glass.

• Emotional exhaustion: Irritability, cynicism, or a fading belief in solutions.

• Creativity crash: Everyday problems feel harder to navigate; thinking becomes rigid.

• Inability to feel pleasure: Reduced enjoyment in activities that once felt nourishing.

• Tired and wired: Persistent exhaustion combined with difficulty resting or sleeping.

• Self-care spiral: Small habits slip, and depleted energy leads to choices that drain us further.

Together, these signals reflect a nervous system struggling to complete the stress cycle.

Micro-Practice: The 4–6 Breath

• Inhale through the nose for four counts.

• Exhale slowly for six.

• Repeat for one minute.

Lengthening the exhale activates the parasympathetic branch, increases vagal tone, and supports the shift from sympathetic alertness into a calmer physiological state.