The stress solution: How to reset energy levels and avoid burnout.

Picture this…

I’m lying on the living room floor. Shaking. Crying. My whole body feels like it’s vibrating from within, as if my bones have turned into electric toothbrushes. I have no idea what's happening to me.

Tears are streaming down my face, I’m gasping for air, and I’m wondering, “Am I dying? Is this what a stroke feels like?”

An hour passes. Apparently, I called my husband, although I don’t remember being able to speak. He came home to find me there, twitching like a fish out of water (his words).

As I finally calmed down, I felt utterly drained. Like the life had been sucked out of me. All I could do was sleep. Later, I found out it was a panic attack. The crescendo before full-blown burnout.

When “healthy” isn’t enough

When the doctor signed me off work for six weeks and wrote “stress response” on the sick note, I had to rethink everything I believed about being a healthy high-performer.

I thought I was doing it right:

• I cooked from scratch

• I had a gym membership that was well used

• I did yoga

• I had made healthy changes - quit smoking, drank less, lost weight, started running

And yet… my energy was constantly crashing. I’d start the week strong, only to be knocked off track by the smallest curveball. I was yawning by 10am, riding the day on caffeine, tired and wired - stuck in a loop of good intentions and self-sabotage.

No one was talking about burnout back then. But now, we know:

According to the Priory Group, 81% of UK women felt overwhelmed by stress in the past year. It’s not just in our heads, it’s a modern health crisis.

And burnout doesn’t always arrive dramatically - it creeps in quietly through chronic, low-grade stress.

The warning signs I ignored

Before that panic attack, I didn’t know I was burning out. I just knew I felt... off.

Here’s what I overlooked:

• Feeling tired all the time

• Feeling stuck or trapped

• Disconnection from others

• Anxiety and low motivation

• Brain fog and inability to focus

• Procrastination and lack of self-care

• Skin problems, headaches, weight gain

• Hormonal chaos (nightmare PMS and mood swings)

• Emotional exhaustion - snapping, cynicism, irritability

• Finding it difficult to enjoy things (the clinical term is anhedonia)

I blamed myself. I thought I needed to be stronger, more disciplined.

I pushed harder when I struggled. Worked more. Worried more.

But I didn’t need more discipline. I needed better support and my body needed to feel safe.

Why stress hits differently after 40

Women in their 40s are often navigating a unique cocktail of stressors: changing hormones, rising careers, caregiving roles, and the mental load of managing it all. It’s no wonder we’re more susceptible to burnout.

In fact, Nuffield Health highlights how the mental load and emotional labour disproportionately carried by women leads to higher rates of sleep disruption, fatigue, and emotional burnout.

The HSE Labour Force Survey revealed that women are twice as likely to take time off work due to stress, anxiety, or depression.

If this is you, you're not broken and there's no need to feel guilty. The pressure of modern life is real and our bodies often need support rather than more pressure.

As we transition towards peri-menopause our bodies are literally rewiring, ready to allow our ovaries to retire from duty. Our adrenal glands (the ones that sit above our kidneys and supply our stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline) are also getting ready to pick up the slack to produce estrogen and progesterone (allbeit in much smaller amounts) after the ovaries have taken a back seat.

So it's time when we do need to be much more conscious of what we are putting our nervous system through and prioritising nourishment, rest and restoration.

Stress isn’t the enemy, but chronic stress is

Not all stress is bad. In fact, we need stress hormones to get out of bed, rise to challenges, and hit deadlines.

But when we’re in a constant fight-or-flight state, our bodies stop bouncing back. Eventually, the adrenal glands go offline. That’s when we can’t even get out of bed. And while breathwork, journaling, and meditation can help in the moment… we need something deeper. Something proactive. We need to support our bodies from the inside out - before stress tips into overwhelm.

Burnout doesn’t discriminate - but it hits women in leadership roles particularly hard. And if you're a business owner, then there's a lot riding on you keeping your head above the water.

A McKinsey & LeanIn study found that 42% of women and over half of women leaders reported being consistently burned out. Many are quietly stepping back from their careers just to cope.

So what's the solution?

The 5 pillars of stress-proof living

These are the five areas I rebuilt from the ground up. They're also the foundations I now help women optimise to reclaim their energy, master their hormones and achieve their goals, WITHOUT sacrificing all the fun in life.

1. Sleep: Your first line of defence

Sleep is non-negotiable. It’s when your body repairs, your brain resets, and your stress hormones recalibrate. If sleep is a struggle then there is usually a deeper reason.

A few tips:

• Ditch the phone at least 30 mins before bed to support melatonin production.

• Dim the lights and wind down, avoiding problem solving tasks as much as possible before bed.

• Lying with your legs-up-the-wall or slow, mindful breathing can calm your nervous system fast.

2. Nutrition: Fuel, don’t deplete

Blood sugar crashes can mimic anxiety. Balanced meals create a steady mood and better focus.

Start small:

• Eat real meals with enough protein, fats and fibre, not snacks disguised as meals

• Avoid eating while working or scrolling - your digestion matters

• Take 3 slow breaths before eating to switch on rest-and-digest mode

3. Movement: Align it with your energy, not your guilt

You don’t need to smash every workout. Some days your body needs intensity. Others? Stretching and rest. Tune into your cycle and stress levels. Consistency doesn’t mean rigidity - it means learning to move with your body, not against it. Some days it could just be an outdoor walk that makes all the difference to our energy levels, rather than killing it at the gym.

4. Hormones: Track them, don’t fear them

Your hormones affect everything, from mood to metabolism to motivation. Tracking your menstrual cycle is a great start (even if it’s irregular or absent) and helps you learn your patterns. You can then align food, rest, and movement to support your natural rhythms - not fight them.

Even post-menopause, your body is still dependant on hormones working in balance. From your thyroid to your hunger hormones, ghrelin and leptin. Understanding their roles could be the key to unlocking the mysteries of your body.

5. Stress itself: Outsmart it early

Your body tells you when stress is mounting. Maybe it’s a clenched jaw, tight shoulders, irritability, or sugar cravings. Learn your unique “stress signature.”

Mindfulness, body scans, and reflection help you catch the signs before they scream.

So what helped me recover?

Once I realised a rigid workout routine, low fat eating and yoga weren't cutting it, I:

• Stopped restricting food and started fuelling properly and balancing my bloood sugar (hello, healthy fats!)

• Tracked my cycle and worked with it

• Switched to decaf - this stopped me feeling anxious and tired.

• Practiced mindfulness to rewire my stress response and tune into my body.

• Switched my workouts to something that gave me joy and social connections.

• Created boundaries and scheduled breaks from work.

I also created my own system to make change manageable: the RISE framework.

The RISE framework

Whether you’re navigating burnout, hormonal chaos, or just feeling off — this is what I teach my clients:

• Reflect – Tune into your body, your habits, and what’s really going on

• Implement – Try one small change. No perfection. Just progress

• Strengthen – Notice what works. Reinforce it

• Enhance – Tailor it. Upgrade it. Make it yours

This isn’t a quick fix. It’s a forever foundation. Tools you can come back to time and time again.

Why this matters now - not later

Women in their 40s are often the glue holding everything together. But if we don’t prioritise ourselves, we burn out quietly - and sometimes resentfully.

Taking power breaks, tracking your cycle, fuelling well, saying no occasionally, choosing rest, even if for a moment - these aren’t indulgences. They’re smart strategies for long-term success.

Because burnout is not a badge of honour. It’s a warning sign.

You don't need to push harder, work longer, or place more pressure on your nervous system with ice bath plunges. To recover from burnout, you need to learn to teach your body that it's safe.

Your body is speaking. Are you listening?

If you take one thing from this: Start with one pause before your next action and ask yourself

• "Does my body really need this today?"

• "If I say YES to this, What am I saying NO to?"

• "Would I recommend this to someone I love?"

  
  

One break.

One decision that supports your future self.

That’s a power break.

And sometimes, it’s the smallest break that creates the biggest shift.

To help you feel like yourself again, I've put together a simple 3 day energy reset.

It's designed to ease you into tiny, manageable habits. Daily moments to gently pep you up so you can move through your day with more clarity, calm, confidence and joy.

Even if you give just one a try, that's progress.

Try a 3 Day Energy reset here.

If you're interested in working with me to go deeper and build power and resilience from within you can book a free 30 minute 1:1 clarity call with me here

with love,

Nancy