In recent years, “burnout” has shifted from a buzzword to an urgent public health concern. According to Mental Health UK’s Burnout Report 2025, 91% of UK adults said they experienced high or extreme levels of pressure or stress at some point in the past year.  For many, these aren’t isolated moments of anxiety, but a continuous load that wears on the body. From a biological age perspective, chronic stress is extremely expensive. 

So what exactly is burnout, and how do these chronic levels of stress impact our body and our biological age? Let’s explore the science and then look at practical ways we can support our bodies to mitigate the impact of stress on the body.

Stress, in small doses, serves an important evolutionary purpose - it helps us respond to threats. If we think back to our cave-dwelling ancestors, the stress response was a vital survival mechanism. When faced with danger, stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol prepare the body for “fight or flight” by increasing heart rate, breathing rate and blood flow to the muscles.

At the same time, the body temporarily diverts energy away from systems that aren’t essential for immediate survival such as digestion and reproduction. Crucially, this stress response was designed to be short-lived: once the threat passed, the body returned to a state of rest and repair, allowing all systems to rebalance.

The challenge today is that our physiology hasn’t evolved as quickly as our environment. Modern-day stressors; a difficult email from your boss, an unexpected bill, or tension with a friend aren’t life-threatening, but the body still reacts as if they are. And because these stressors are constant, the stress response is continually activated, keeping the body in a prolonged state of alert.

Chronic stress will disrupt several internal systems and over time leads to accelerated ageing, at the cellular and molecular level. 

For those of you interested in the science behind stress and burnout, here’s what’s happening under the hood to impact our biological ageing:

Oxidative Stress & Inflammation

Persistent stress increases production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) - free radicals that damage fats, proteins and DNA. This is coupled with low grade inflammation, which further amplifies damage. Over time, the body’s antioxidant defenses and repair mechanisms become overwhelmed.

Mitochondrial Dysfunction

Mitochondria, the “powerhouses” of our cells, are especially sensitive to stress and oxidative damage. Dysfunction here means lower energy production, increased ROS and breakdown in cellular processes. As mitochondrial efficiency drops, fatigue sets in, recovery slows and ageing signals multiply.

Telomere Shortening

Telomeres are protective caps on the ends of chromosomes that shorten each time a cell divides. Chronic stress is strongly associated with accelerated telomere shortening. Shorter telomeres are a key biomarker of biological ageing and are linked with greater risk for age‐related diseases.

Allostatic Load

This is the concept of cumulative “wear and tear” on the body from repeated or chronic stress. When demands exceed the body’s capacity to recover (sleep, nutrition, downtime), damage accumulates. The result is an earlier onset of physiological decline. 

Now that we understand the physiological changes that occur under chronic stress, it becomes easier to see how burnout develops. While burnout is not a medical diagnosis, the World Health Organization describes it as “a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed.” Mental Health UK further defines it as a state of physical, emotional, and behavioural exhaustion.

I often explain burnout to my clients using the analogy of a bank account:

 “Burnout is like running your body’s bank account on constant withdrawals with no deposits. Over time, the balance depletes, and your systems begin to struggle - eventually tipping into a maladaptive state where they can no longer function as they should.”

Physically, burnout can manifest as:

• Sleep disturbances or insomnia

• Frequent illness due to a weakened immune system

• High blood pressure

• Persistent fatigue

• Digestive issues

• Chronic pain

• Hormonal imbalances, and much more

 Emotionally and behaviourally, burnout often shows up as:

• Detachment and disengagement

• Loss of motivation

• Reduced productivity

• Irritability and mood changes

• Feelings of hopelessness

Together, these symptoms reflect the biological wear and tear of chronic stress - increased inflammation, reduced cellular repair and greater cell loss or damage - all of which contribute to accelerated biological ageing.

While we can’t always control external stressors - like the news, a challenging colleague or morning traffic - we can reduce internal stressors and strengthen our resilience to what’s happening around us through targeted nutrition and lifestyle strategies. The encouraging news is that much of the damage linked to stress and burnout is modifiable. By adopting interventions that lower stress, enhance recovery and support key biological systems, we can slow - and even begin to reverse - some of the signs of accelerated ageing.

Here are evidence‐based strategies that you can adopt to help :

1. Eat nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory foods: plenty of colourful plant foods, good protein, healthy fats and antioxidants. The stress response can deplete the body of essential nutrients so it is important to resource yourself properly for the challenges of modern life. Equally, if you have a poor diet you will only be adding to the allostatic load on your body. What you eat makes a real difference to how resilient you are to stress. 

2. Prioritise sleep: quality and duration both matter for cortisol regulation, memory consolidation, and repair. If you need a helping hand, consider Extracted’s Sleepee to support a good night’s sleep. 

3. Use stress‐reduction practices: meditation, breathwork, mindfulness, yoga, time in nature - find a practice that works for you but stick to it. These help reduce the stress response and calm inflammation.

4. Recovery needs to be non-negotiable: this is not just about sleep but having intentional rest and down time instead of just ‘pushing through’. Proper recovery reduces damage to mitochondria and DNA repair mechanisms.

5. Maintain regular physical activity: this supports mitochondrial health, reduces inflammation, improves mood and aids sleep.

6. Healthy social connections: humans are social beings so fostering meaningful relationships creates psychological safety and helps to calm the nervous system.

7. Be vigilant with your boundaries: burnout occurs when we consistently over- stretch ourselves. So reflect on what boundaries you need to tighten up in order to put your health first.

8. Tailored supplementation: if overwhelm is taking over, using targeted supplementation can be the extra helping hand you need. Extracted’s  Calmee is formulated specifically to help buffer the effects of chronic stress and cultivate calm so the body can recover.