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Autistic burnout can turn our lives upside down. When it gets inside us, it can have truly devastating effects on our health, relationships, work and more. Recovering from burnout can be a long journey. Preventing burnout is much easier than trying to escape it! So what can you do to avoid autistic burnout? In this article, we address that by exploring how to avoid autistic burnout.
How To Prevent Burnout With A Healthy Lifestyle
Raymaker et al. He recently published one of the first studies on autistic burnout, aptly titled “Exhausting All Our Inner Resources and Being Left Without a Cleaning Team: Autistic Burnout Is a State Experienced by Many Autistics When Our Inner Resources Are Exhausted.” This is caused by trying to function in the autistic (non-autistic) world without the support we need, and therefore the reserves are depleted more quickly and dramatically.
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If these symptoms persist for three months or longer, the person reaches the clinical threshold of autistic burnout (Raymaker et al., 2020). For some people, these symptoms can persist for years, and many people with autism will experience burnout repeatedly throughout their lives if left untreated.
When we talk about the fatigue of autistic burnout, we’re not talking about general inertia. When I realized I had autistic burnout a few years ago, the chronic wall of burnout was my constant companion. I never felt rested. I woke up exhausted and battled fatigue all day. I would call it the “wall of fatigue” because I felt like I was literally hitting a wall. The very act of being vertical felt unbearable.
This type of fatigue is common in people suffering from autistic burnout. A person with burnout not only needs a lot of sleep, but burnout can also manifest as loss of interest in special interests, inability to maintain relationships, lack of self-care, difficulty masking, etc.
Autistic burnout is also characterized by a sudden and/or dramatic increase in sensory sensitivity. The parts of the brain that filter unnecessary sensory information are running out of resources and are not doing their job properly. In addition, our nervous system is on alert when we are exhausted and is more easily activated by incoming stressors. As a result, more sensory information enters our consciousness through this screen. This can lead to more overstimulation and increased stimulation as we try to regulate our dysregulated sensory system! Internally, an increase in sensory sensitivity is experienced as being bombarded with such overwhelming information that a neurotypical brain would not notice.
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When we are in autistic burnout, our brain reserves are depleted. This means that the prefrontal cortex—the part of the brain responsible for complex and higher-order thinking, decision-making, executive functions, and rationality—also has no reserves. When we are in autistic decline, the abilities associated with the prefrontal cortex are dramatically reduced or temporarily lost. These skills include decision-making, planning, tracking, managing emotions, using language, taking care of yourself, and adapting to change. (Note that this is referred to in some literature as “autistic regression”.)
All of this can make an autistic person unable to make decisions of any kind, overwhelmed by multi-step tasks such as housework and self-care, experiencing intense emotions and impulsivity, having more failures than usual, and being strict with rules. and routines without room for change.
This is also why people often experience an increase in autistic traits during periods of exhaustion. The ability to mask is exhausted and we tend to be more overstimulated and have more difficulty with routine disruptions. This increase in autistic traits is one of the reasons why many adults do not identify as being on the autistic spectrum until they reach burnout!
As I mentioned above, autistic fatigue is caused by the depletion of all internal resources and reserves, to the point where the nervous system is weakened and the body has little energy left to maintain its current lifestyle. Then you get to a point where you know something has to change. The depletion of these resources comes from trying to operate in a world beyond our capacity, without the support and renewal necessary to replenish these supplies. Therefore, autistic people who mask themselves are more prone to severe burnout.
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Masking is not the only way to create the conditions for autistic exhaustion. Chronic people pleasers, ignore your needs as an autistic person, “pass” into pain and discomfort, not enough time to rest and recover, are in an unsupportive work or school environment, chronic overstimulation, lots of ups and downs co-occurring Mental illnesses like PTSD and others are ways it can cause autistic fatigue.
Here is the basic formula for burnout: high stress situations + lack of accommodation + long periods of time. Any situation that provides ingredients for this equation is likely to lead to burnout.
When thinking about how to avoid autistic burnout, we need to address why this is important. Here is a partial list of ways autistic burnout can affect a person’s life:
Now that we’ve taken a moment to understand autistic burnout – its causes and how it can affect our lives, let’s talk about how to get out of the burnout-mid-recovery-burnout cycle! If you remember the above equation: high stress situations + lack of accommodation + long stretches of time = autistic burnout. Following this equation will help you remove the combustion components more easily. Making lifestyle changes to prevent burnout can help us get off the burnout roller coaster! Let’s look at some specific practices that can help you recover from and prevent burnout:
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Internalized disability thinking is common among autistic people and is a major barrier to preventing burnout. ” or “I should go to a social event”. In order to push our own limits and unnoticeably exhaust internal resources, autistic people need a lot of rest.
As we move toward a more neurodiversity-supportive framework and consider our internalized abilities, we can begin to let go of many of the “shoulds” in our lives that force us to push our limits and surpass ourselves.
In order to respect our boundaries and limits, we often have to go through a bit of neurodivergent grief; Before I could accept my limitations, I had to grieve what they were! There are so many things that others around us can do that we can’t, and so much that we want to do or plan to do. But the reality is that there are boundaries that we must respect in order not to harm ourselves. Living with and accepting these limitations can cause great pain because of what we can and cannot do. While I think it’s important to celebrate our autistic identity, I also think it’s important for people to have the space to grieve the limitations that can come with it.
It is important to remember that we can still do the things we want to do. However, we may have to take different routes and often need more time. Although this work can be uncomfortable and painful, it is an important first step in preventing burnout.
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It’s important to know your symptoms and triggers. Many autistics have problems perceiving internal states of hunger and discomfort due to a lack of awareness of the interoceptive system. Therefore, we can quickly exhaust ourselves. Understanding what the symptoms of autism burnout look like in your body can help you identify the beginnings of burnout before it becomes severe. This includes understanding what events or activities are causing your fatigue. Big life events like moving house, wedding, baby, etc. are pretty universal triggers. But are there others that are specifically tailored to you?
Knowing your symptoms and triggers can help you take precautions to take extra care of yourself during times of high stress. Understanding your specific sensory and physical needs will also be helpful. Many people burn out after a long period of neglecting our needs. Once you understand your needs, you can put systems in place to meet those needs before the runoff begins.
If you have a clear understanding of your sensory sensitivities, triggers and limits,
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