Welcome to Read Before Burning, a monthly newsletter by psychologist Dr Ben J. Searle. Come here for simple but informative coverage of burnout-related concepts, research findings, and actionable advice – all firmly grounded in science.

Who am I? After earning a PhD in psychology, I spent 20 years in academia studying stress and burnout… until I went through burnout myself. I now research, consult, and communicate about burnout and what to do about it.

Can a Break Beat Burnout?

As this is holiday season, I’m discussing work breaks and burnout. We’ve all heard about people who burn out because they never take holidays. But these stories encourage the belief that if we can make it to vacation time, that will fix everything.

@theintrovertedattorney

But you won’t know for sure unless you go on vacation first so… 🏖️🧉 #burntout #vacationmood #workmemes #corporatelife #introvertproblems

♬ original sound – Demetrius fields 🍉

In this issue I discuss why that belief is dangerous, and explain what we can do to make the best of our breaks.

Breaks Aren’t Enough

I’ll start with the famous research study by Westman and Eden, who tracked clerical workers before, during, and after a two-week vacation. Results showed that:

• The vacation reduced the workers’ burnout symptoms… but it didn’t eliminate them;
• Burnout symptoms had started to climb again after just three days back at work; and
• Within three weeks of returning, burnout symptoms were no different from pre-vacation levels.

The study didn’t even focus on severely burned-out individuals (who might require long recovery periods). Even people with mild burnout symptoms reported their symptoms returning soon after the break. This is consistent with other research on the speed with which the benefits of vacations fade.

So if a two-week break isn’t enough, how much time should we be taking off? Three weeks? Four?

“How long of a vacation should I take?” is a question I get asked a lot. Unfortunately, it’s impossible to answer: there’s not enough research, and in any case any person’s ideal break period will depend on their needs, their resources, and how they spend their break time.

A better question to ask is this one:

Why Don’t Breaks Cure Burnout?

People often assume that their upcoming break will cure everything that ails them. It will undo the effects of burnout, provide opportunities to do more of the things they enjoy, allow them to reconnect with family and friends, facilitate improvements in health and fitness, and make their lives better in all other respects.

With so many expectations, it’s hardly a surprise that many people feel a sense of disappointment when their big vacation comes to an end. I won’t address all of the associated issues, but I will try to explain why burnout isn’t cured by a few weeks away from work.

There are many misunderstandings about burnout. The word is sometimes used to describe short-term feelings of fatigue, boredom, or frustration. Even people who understand burnout to be a serious condition can assume it is fundamentally about fatigue. After all, one of the core symptoms is exhaustion (see RBB issue #01).

Burnout is not a FATIGUE problem, it’s a STRESS problem

But burnout is not a fatigue problem, it’s a stress problem. It’s a condition caused by chronic stress: prolonged exposure to events and situations that keep our brains in “stress” mode. Our nervous system can only absorb a certain amount of this before it starts experiencing problems that present in the form of burnout symptoms — including, but not limited to, exhaustion.

Part of the reason burnout causes exhaustion may be that burnout diminishes our capacity for recovery. In particular, burnout tends to interfere with our ability to relax and sleep. Problems with relaxing and sleeping may be a reason why some people with moderate to severe burnout are still tired after a couple of weeks off work.

Also consider that a break from work can reduce exposure to many sources of chronic stress (see RBB issue #02), but it may not eliminate them all. For example, job insecurity is one of many work-related sources of chronic stress that are likely to persist throughout a break. And many people will continue to check work emails and tinker at work-related projects during a long break. There can also be non-work sources of stress that persist throughout a break. Indeed, some sources of stress can become worse during a break.

For neurodivergent folks, or carers of neurodivergent folks, the break and its associated disruption of routine can even be a source of stress.

And of course, the psychosocial hazards you left in the workplace will be there as soon as you return to work.

This all seems like bad news, but it’s healthy to have realistic expectations about what we can and can’t achieve with a break from work. And breaks can still be useful!

How Do I Get The Most From My Break?

While breaks don’t cure burnout, they can still be effective for improving wellbeing. To make the most of a break from work when experiencing some level of burnout, here are some recommendations:

1. Maximise your separation from work-related stress by making your break from work as complete as possible. Don’t bring work home. Don’t check your email or other work communications.
2. Set boundaries. If people try to engage you in conversations about work that you find stressful, explain that you’re trying to get a break from these issues and offer to discuss something else. If they are unwilling to stop, excuse yourself from the conversation.
3. Prioritise rest and pace yourself. You may have more control over your time, so you may find yourself wanting to stay up late or push yourself to do something big. But you are likely to need a lot of rest, and it’s easy to overcommit when you’re feeling burned out. Try to look after yourself: ensure you get enough sleep and allocate recovery time after events that will take a lot of energy.
4. Plan healthy activities. If you’ve been burning out, you may not often feel the spontaneous motivation to engage in exercise, social engagements, outings, games, or hobbies. Plan them anyway — if these are things you used to enjoy, you may come to enjoy them after you get started. But remember to pace yourself!
5. Set some goals. What are 2-3 things you want to do before the end of your break? Achieving a goal that matters to you can have very powerful psychological benefits, and it can be something to reflect on when the vacation does end.
6. Allocate some time to reflect. In what ways are you handling stress well? Would you benefit from getting some support from a mental health professional?

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a chance to get a healthy, restorative break this holiday season.

References

De Bloom, J., Kompier, M., Geurts, S., De Weerth, C., Taris, T., & Sonnentag, S. (2009). Do we recover from vacation? Meta‐analysis of vacation effects on health and well‐being. Journal of Occupational Health, 51(1), 13-25.

Kuykendall, L., Tay, L., & Ng, V. (2015). Leisure engagement and subjective well-being: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 141(2), 364-403.

Sonnenschein, M., Sorbi, M. J., van Doornen, L. J. P., Schaufeli, W. B., & Maas, C. J. M. (2007). Evidence that impaired sleep recovery may complicate burnout improvement independently of depressive mood. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 62(4), 487–494.

Tsai, H. H., Yeh, C. Y., Su, C. T., Chen, C. J., Peng, S. M., & Chen, R. Y. (2013). The effects of exercise program on burnout and metabolic syndrome components in banking and insurance workers. Industrial Health, 51(3), 336-346.

Westman, M., & Eden, D. (1997). Effects of a respite from work on burnout: vacation relief and fade-out. Journal of Applied Psychology, 82(4), 516-527.

News

Coming up in 2026:

• New episodes of my podcast, Mind on the Job
• Free tools for managing burnout
• The second report of findings from my Experiences of Burnout 2025 study (see RBB issue #06)

Monthly Updates

Burnout symptom status: Low to Moderate.

Secret burnout book query status: [REDACTED]

Podcast status: More episodes coming soon!

Number of days I will try try to go without working this holiday season: Eleven.

Spread the Word

If you found this newsletter useful, please share it!

If you haven’t already done so, subscribe so you get notified whenever I release a new issue here on LinkedIn, or sign up here to get this newsletter via email before it drops anywhere else.

Questions? Suggestions? Reach out to me at mindonthejob@gmail.com

(c) 2025 Ben J. Searle