How to Avoid Autistic Burnout and Why It's Important
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Autistic burnout can throw a wrench in our lives. When it creeps up on us, it can really disrupt our health, relationships, work, and more. Recovery from burnout can be a long road. Preventing burnout is a lot easier than trying to dig out of burnout! So what can you do to avoid Autistic burnout? In this article, we will unpack that by looking at how to avoid Autistic burnout.
First, we’ll define Autistic burnout and go over the symptoms.
Then, we’ll discuss the causes and impacts of Autistic burnout.
And lastly, we’ll outline ways you can proactively prevent Autistic burnout from happening.
What is Autistic Burnout?
Raymaker et al. recently published one of the first studies on Autistic burnout, appropriately titled: “Having All of Your Internal Resources Exhausted Beyond Measure and Being Left with No Clean-Up Crew: Defining Autistic Burnout." Autistic burnout is a condition experienced by many Autistic people. Autistic burnout happens when our internal resources have been exhausted. Burnout is a state of extreme emotional and physical exhaustion. It’s caused by trying to function in an allistic (non-autistic) world without the support we need. Autistic individuals who mask their autism are the most likely to experience burnout; this is because masking takes a significant amount of energy and work from the brain, and therefore reserves are diminished faster and more dramatically. While it is well-known that many Autistic adults experience burnout, emerging research also looks at the impact on children and teens.
Let’s take a look at the symptoms of Autistic burnout more closely:
Symptoms and Signs of Autistic Burnout
There are three major symptoms associated with Autistic Burnout:
Chronic exhaustion
Increased sensitivities to sensory input
Loss of skills, including executive functioning skills
When these symptoms are present for three months or longer, the person reaches the clinical threshold of Autistic burnout (Raymaker et al., 2020). For some people, they may have these symptoms last for years, and many Autistic people will ebb and flow in and out of burnout throughout their lifetime unless it is addressed.
Chronic Exhaustion and Fatigue
When we’re talking about Autistic burnout fatigue, we’re not talking about some general sluggishness. When I realized I was in Autistic burnout a few years ago, a chronic wall of exhaustion was my constant companion. I never felt rested. I'd wake up exhausted and fight fatigue all day long. I'd call this the "wall of fatigue" because it felt like I was literally bumping into a wall. The mere act of being vertical felt unbearable.
This kind of fatigue is common for someone experiencing Autistic burnout. Not only does someone in burnout require a lot of sleep, but the exhaustion can also look like a loss of interest in special interests, an inability to maintain relationships, a lack of self-care, difficulty masking, and so on.
Increase Sensitivity to Stimulus
Autistic burnout is also characterized by sudden and/or dramatic increases in sensory sensitivities. This is because the parts of the brain that filter out unnecessary sensory information are exhausted of resources and aren’t doing their job properly. Additionally, when in burnout, our nervous system is running on high alert and is going to be more easily triggered by incoming stressors. This leads to more sensory information getting through that screen to our awareness. This can result in more sensory overload and an increase in stimming as we attempt to regulate our dysregulated sensory system! Internally, the increase in sensory sensitivities is experienced as being bombarded with so much overwhelming information that would go unnoticed by a neurotypical brain.
Decreased Executive Functioning Skills
When we’re in Autistic burnout, our brain has drained its reserves. That means the prefrontal cortex — the part of the brain responsible for complex and higher-level thinking, decision-making, executive functioning, and rationality — also lacks reserves. When we’re in Autistic burnout, skills related to the prefrontal cortex dramatically decrease or are temporarily lost, these skills include decision-making, planning, following steps, managing emotions, language use, self-care, and adapting to change. (Note, in some literature, this is what is referred to as "Autistic regression").
All of this can lead to the Autistic person being unable to make decisions of any kind, getting overwhelmed by tasks with multiple steps, including chores and self-care, experiencing intense emotions and impulsivity, having more meltdowns than usual, and strict adherence to rules and routines without any room for change.
This is also why people will often notice an increase in Autistic traits during burnout. The ability to mask has worn off, and we are likely engaging in more stimming and have more difficulty with routine disruption. This increase in Autistic traits is one reason why many adults are only first identified as on the autism spectrum only when they reach burnout!
Causes of Autistic Burnout
As I mentioned above, Autistic burnout is caused by draining all internal resources and reserves to the point where the nervous system is fried, and the body has little energy to maintain the current way of life. It’s when you get to the point where you know something needs to change. The draining of these resources comes from trying to operate in a world pushing us beyond our capacity without the needed support and recovery to refill those reserves. That’s why Autistic people that mask are more prone to severe burnout.
Masking isn’t the only way to create the conditions of Autistic burnout. Chronic people-pleasing, ignoring your needs as an Autistic person, “pushing through” pain and discomfort, not taking ample amounts of time to rest and recover, being in a work or school environment that doesn’t support you, chronic over-stimulation, lots of change and upheaval, co-occurring mental health conditions like PTSD, and more, are all ways Autistic burnout can be induced.
Here is the basic formula for burnout: high-stress situations + lack of accommodations + extended periods of time. Any situation that presents the ingredients for this equation will likely result in burnout.
Impacts of Autistic Burnout
If we’re looking at how to avoid Autistic burnout, we should look at why it’s important. Here’s an incomplete list of ways Autistic burnout may impact someone’s life:
Poor physical health from neglecting self-care, poor diet, and potential substance abuse.
Increased symptoms of depression, anxiety, and other mental health conditions. This can often lead to suicidality.
A decrease in the ability to manage activities in daily living and live independently.
Reduced quality of life and ability to experience joy and other positive emotions.
Poor hygiene and neglected chores can lead to unhealthy living conditions.
Loss of friendships and strained relationships, especially if those around you don’t understand your needs as an Autistic person.
Inability to sustain employment and perform well at work.
Challenges with parenting
How to Avoid Autistic Burnout
Now that we've taken a moment to understand autistic burnout — its causes, and how it can impact our life, let’s talk about how to step outside of the burnout-moderate recovery-burnout cycle! If you recall the equation from above: high-stress situations + lack of accommodations + extended periods of time = Autistic burnout. Having this equation in mind will help you to take away the ingredients for burnout. If we make lifestyle changes to help us avoid burnout in the first place, we can help get ourselves off the burnout rollercoaster! Let’s look at some specific practices that can help with burnout recovery and prevention:
Address Internalized Ableism
Internalized ableism is common among Autistic people, and this is a huge barrier to preventing burnout. Many of us deal with beliefs like “I should be able to work a 40-hour work week,” “I shouldn’t need these sensory supports," or "I should go to the social event." These beliefs often cause us to push our own boundaries and drain internal resources without us realizing it. Autistic people need a lot of rest; however, until we've addressed our internalized ableism, we will have a hard time honoring this!
As we move toward a more neurodiversity affirmative framework and address our internalized ableism, we can begin to release the many "shoulds" in our life that are causing us to blow through our boundaries and over-extend ourselves.
Grieve Your Limits
In order to honor our boundaries and limits, we often have to move through a bit of neurodivergent grief; before I could embrace my limits, 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 we want or have planned to do. But the reality is there are limitations we need to respect to prevent harming ourselves. When we sit with and accept these limitations, it can cause a lot of pain over what we can and can’t do. While I think it is important to celebrate our Autistic identity, I also think it is important people have space to grieve the limits that can come with this.
It’s important to remember that we can still do the things we want to do. However, we may need to take different routes, and we often have to take more time doing them. Even though this work can be uncomfortable and painful, it’s an important first step to preventing burnout.
Know Your Symptoms, Triggers & Particular Needs
Knowing your symptoms and triggers is critical. Many Autistic people have trouble sensing internal states of being like hunger and discomfort due to poor interoceptive awareness. Therefore, burnout can quickly creep up on us. Understanding what Autistic burnout symptoms look like in your body will help you see burnout coming before it gets serious. This also means understanding what kinds of events or activities trigger your burnout. Major life events like moving, marriage, having a baby, etc. are fairly universal triggers. But are there others that are specific to you?
Knowing your symptoms and triggers will help you take preventative steps so you can take extra care of yourself during high-stress seasons. Understanding your particular sensory and bodily needs will also help. For a lot of people, burnout comes after long periods of time of neglecting our needs. Understanding your needs will help you set up systems to meet those needs before the drain sets in.
Introduce Social, Formal, & Sensory Accommodations
When you have a clear understanding of your sensory sensitivities, triggers, boundaries, drains, and trouble areas, you can set up accommodations. Accommodations will help your body and mind perform tasks that otherwise take a lot of energy from you.
Social accommodations can look like letting friends and family know you’ll be masking less, reducing social interactions, requesting to meet up with people in less stimulating environments, etc.
Formal accommodations at work and school usually look like asking supervisors for aids like a stool to sit on at the cash register, wearing noise-canceling headphones when you can, reducing fragrances in the office, etc.
Lastly, there are many sensory accommodations you can introduce to help you in your day-to-day life, like sound machines, black-out curtains, loop earplugs, weighted blankets, sensory swings, etc.
Lean into Your Autistic Strengths
While Autism burnout is a complete drag, Autism isn’t all bad! In fact, there are so many wonderful things that come along with being Autistic. For me, I love learning and can dive into an ecosystem of ideas with great curiosity! So, I’ve built a career where I get to really lean into those strengths (plus, I get to engage in my special interests every day!).
There are many ways you can lean into your strengths, too. First, sit down and figure out what they are. Then, figure out how to modify your life so that you can lean into those strengths more often. When we do this, we stop drawing from resources that are already strained and begin using the skills that excite and energize us. If there is a way to align your work with your interests and strengths, this can be a huge energy saver!
Practice Self-Advocacy & Practice Good Boundaries
Autistic people often struggle with self-advocacy. To self-advocate and set good boundaries, we first need an understanding of our needs. When we have a good understanding of our needs, we then need to work through potential fears around advocacy and boundary setting, which, for a lot of us, can be deeply rooted. So much of the drain that causes Autistic burnout is caused by people-pleasing and ignoring our needs around other people.
Additionally, in order to self-advocate, we often need to learn a thing or two about assertive communication and how to express our need and pair it with a request. Practicing self-advocacy and boundary setting is one of the best ways to levee the dam, so to speak, and prevent unnecessary energy drainage. You can learn more about self-advocacy in my Autistic burnout workbook here.
Engage in Autistic Community
It’s difficult to feel safe being ourselves when we don’t have people around us with qualities similar to us. When I learned I was Autistic, I had no other adults with autism around me. And when I found other Autistic people to spend my time with, so much changed for me. I was able to show my body that I’m normal and that I’m allowed to express myself the way I want to express myself. Having an Autistic community can be critical for the mental health of Autistic people. And for a lot of us, we never know what it’s like to be seen and accepted until we make Autistic friends. Plus, we can become inspired to tend to our needs in ways we wouldn’t think of otherwise.
Fall into a Routine
Many Autistic people don’t have trouble falling into routines. However, this can sometimes change during burnout. During burnout, we may extend our sleep, spend more time in bed, and our routines go to the wayside. This actually puts extra strain on us. So while we don't want a rigorous routine, we do want an anchoring routine.
Additionally, it's worth considering how to infuse our routine with more intention and self-care. For example, if you have trouble remembering to drink enough water during the day, is there a way you can include drinking water into your routine? Maybe you can have water with each meal or at set times during the day. Creating routines that take care of as many of our needs as possible will take away some work from the prefrontal cortex and makes that work less effortful.
Rest & Practice Self Care
For many Autistic people, it can be easy to overlook or neglect self-care and rest. However, this is the most important thing to do to prevent and recover from burnout. It’s simple: burnout drains resources, and rest puts them back. If we don’t rest and care for our bodies, we prevent them from refilling those drained reserves. If this is difficult for you, try coming up with a list of activities that feel restful and restorative to your body, and then try to incorporate them into your routines (as I mentioned above) to reduce some of that effort. Because we’re Autistic, we can’t push ourselves as much as most allistic people can. It’s especially critical for us to practice rest and self-care because our reserves tend to be more delicate.
Spend Time in Nature
Spending time in nature is directly related to practicing rest and self-care. Just being in a bustling environment, both at work/school as well as just general public spaces like cities, creates so much stimulation that we may be unaware of. The noises, lights, movement, and demands all take a toll, whether or not we’re aware of it. Even if you’re in your own house that’s pretty quiet, there’s still the stimulation of the four walls and ceiling making you feel confined, the colors and business of artwork, potential messes from executive functioning difficulties, stale air, etc.
When we go into the natural world, we remove all of that stimulation from society, step outside of those confining walls, breath in the fresh air, and give our bodies and minds stimulation that is much easier for us to digest. Science has shown that simply looking at green space has a calming impact on our nervous system! Neurodivergent people particularly benefit from green therapy. For me, being in nature is the ideal sensory window (it's not sensory overloading, but it is sensory enriching!). Nature can be a huge mood booster and helps us restore some reserves. If you don't have access to green space, consider some house plants or other ways of incorporating green therapy into your life.
Stim & Practice Soothing Sensory Activities
Because of the way neurodivergent brains are wired, we often need soothing in forms that look a little different than what neurotypical people need. For example, for a neurotypical person, a light, soft touch may be soothing and release oxytocin, the love and bonding hormone, in the brain. However, a light touch is usually painful and overstimulating for Autistic people, and instead, we require deep pressure for the same oxytocin-boosting effects in the brain.
If you don’t already stim, it could be a good idea to try introducing some stims to your body. I don’t naturally stim, but I’ve found some stims that help release anxious energy and soothe my body. Other ways you can soothe your body include using weighted blankets or consciously applying deep pressure to parts of your body, listening to soothing music like Weightless by Marconi Union, humming, singing, rocking, tapping, etc.
Summary: How to Avoid Autistic Burnout
Autistic burnout is a state of utter exhaustion that happens when our internal resources have been depleted. People experiencing burnout will often experience overwhelming fatigue, increased sensory sensitivities, and a loss of skills. Autistic burnout can cause a lot of harm. It can damage our health, relationships, work, mental health, and more. For many Autistic people, it can come on seemingly out of nowhere. However, by restructuring our life to be more autistic-friendly, we can take steps to prevent burnout in the first place.
In this article, we defined Autistic burnout. We explored the experience of Autistic burnout by outlining the key signs of burnout, including extreme fatigue, increased sensory sensitivities, and loss of skills. Then, we discussed the various factors that can lead to burnout and how it can impact our lives. And lastly, we outlined some ways to avoid Autistic burnout, including addressing internalized ableism, knowing your symptoms and triggers, introducing accommodations, leaning into Autistic strengths, practicing self-advocacy, finding an Autistic community, creating conscious routines, practicing self-care and rest, spending time in nature, and introducing stims and other soothing sensory activities.
If you want more of a deep dive into Autistic burnout and Autistic burnout recovery, consider checking out the workbook I’ve created on Autistic burnout, which includes a bonus self-advocacy guide.
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