Complaints & connections · borters.ch
Not a lack of resilience but a battery empty for too long — recovery takes time but works reliably.
Also known as: burnout · exhaustion · exhaustion depression
Open in the tool — with search and all the links →This compilation is for information and replaces neither medical diagnosis nor treatment. If you have symptoms, see a doctor.
A state of deep exhaustion after prolonged overload — usually work-related, but equally from caring for relatives or double burdens. Three things come together: leaden tiredness that sleep no longer repairs; inner distancing from the work, even cynicism; and the feeling of no longer achieving anything. Often with sleep problems, irritability, concentration difficulties and physical complaints. Burnout is not a diagnosis in the narrow sense but describes a state — it must above all be distinguished from depression, which needs different treatment, and from physical causes such as an underactive thyroid, iron deficiency or sleep apnoea. The way out rarely leads through pushing on: relief, professional support, and an honest look at the conditions that led there.
Lasting strain measurably shifts sleep, blood pressure, blood sugar and pain threshold. That explains the physical complaints for which nothing else is found — and shows where to start.
Sleep regulates the stress axis (HPA). Too little or irregular sleep keeps cortisol high — a steady rhythm is the base lever.
Persistently very high cortisol (e.g. Cushing’s) is a medical diagnosis — not something lifestyle alone fixes.
The exhaustion builds over months to years, and recovery needs not days but months — for many six to twelve. Coming back after a two-week holiday and finding nothing has changed is not a relapse; it is the normal timescale.
Burnout is not a diagnosis of its own with a treatment of its own — what is prescribed treats what has grown out of it: sleep disturbance, depression, anxiety. Antidepressants work if a depression has been added, and then need two to four weeks; against exhaustion alone they do not work. What changes the course is the load itself: in studies, measures at the workplace worked more strongly and lasted longer than measures aimed at the person alone.
As tired in the morning as in the evening, the weekend no longer suffices, the holiday only works after days and the recovery does not last. This missing recovery is the core sign.
Cynicism, indifference towards people one used to be glad to be there for, the feeling of merely functioning. This stepping back sets the picture apart from mere tiredness.
Concentration and memory decline, simple tasks take twice as long, mistakes pile up — and from that comes the impression of having failed. The impression is a consequence, not a cause.
Trouble falling and staying asleep, headaches, tension, stomach and bowel complaints, frequent infections, palpitations. These complaints usually lead to the consulting room first — and they deserve to be taken seriously and investigated.
If the joylessness also takes over free time, if guilt, worthlessness or thoughts of no longer wanting to live come with it, it is no longer a pure exhaustion picture. This distinction determines the treatment.
Often low; the link with exhaustion is observed, but the cause is not settled.
A lack causes exhaustion, problems concentrating, low mood and forgetfulness — and it is one of the few causes that can be found and put right with a single blood draw.
Low values are common with low mood. Whether correcting it lifts the mood is not settled; that it makes sense in winter at our latitudes is.
An empty store causes tiredness, lack of drive and problems concentrating long before any anaemia becomes visible. In women of childbearing age the most common single reason.
A building block of the cell coverings in the brain. The studies on mood are inconsistent; as part of a good diet it belongs there anyway.
Needed for making the messengers in the brain. It runs short with alcohol and under certain medicines — and it is always judged together with B12.
Studied in exhaustion: 400 mg extract a day over 8–12 weeks; the studies are small and partly manufacturer-funded. No remedy shortens an exhaustion that grew from too much over too long.
300–600 mg extract a day over 8 weeks lowered morning cortisol in small studies. Isolated liver injuries are reported — stop and have it measured with yellowing, dark urine or upper belly pressure.
Often taken with tension and poor sleep; the studies show small effects. 200–400 mg in the evening over 4–8 weeks is the frame — glycinate and citrate are absorbed better than oxide.
Clearly worthwhile and well supported when deficient — vegan, older adults, certain drugs. No energy boost without a deficiency.
Clearly worthwhile and well studied when deficient; fewer data for the wider uses. Fat-soluble — check blood levels at high doses.
Clearly effective with proven deficiency, useless without. Take only with a documented deficiency — excess is harmful.
Effects on inflammation and triglycerides established; cardiovascular prevention is mixed. Watch quality and freshness.
In pregnancy clearly established against neural-tube defects, otherwise mainly with deficiency. Can mask a B12 deficiency — watch both.
There is no measurable basis for “adrenal fatigue”; cortisol patterns in burnout are inconsistent.
Exhaustion often has a measurable contributing cause. Ferritin below 30 counts as deficiency even with a normal blood count — often missed and correctable in 8–12 weeks.
Caffeine has a half-life of 5–6 hours. A coffee at 4 pm still acts at half strength at midnight — with exhaustion and disturbed sleep this is the easiest lever.
Recovery starts with sleep, not with performance — that is the first and most important measure here.
Studied in work contexts; it replaces no change in workload but makes it visible.
Much taken for exhaustion; they do not replace the break the body is asking for.
Traditionally used as an evening tea, often mixed with valerian. The benefit lies not in the herb alone but in the ritual — and that is not a put-down.
Studied for falling asleep, with inconsistent results; the effect does not set in at once but over two to four weeks. In the daytime it does not make one tired.
Studied and effective in mild to moderate depression — and at the same time the herb with the most interactions of all. The pill, blood thinners, immune medicines: it speeds their breakdown in the liver.
The best-studied oil of all: as a scent for falling asleep and as a capsule for restlessness. For sleep the studies are small but numerous and mostly favourable.
Heavy and earthy, traditionally used for inner restlessness. A scent that belongs to calm works after some weeks through the association alone — that is no lesser route.
Tested in small studies before procedures and examinations, with less tension. The effects last as long as the scent does.
The Kidney is the reserve in TCM — what is there from birth and is slowly used up. Exhaustion that does not go away after a holiday is placed there.
The best-known strengthening remedy of Chinese medicine. Traditionally not given with fever and not with high blood pressure — and it interacts with blood thinners.
Of all TCM methods the one with the broadest evidence: sleep, balance and mood improve measurably. It is slow movement with breath guidance, and that is exactly where the effect comes from.