Friday 10th October marks this year’s World Mental Health Day. This year the focus is on how repeated exposure to negative news coverage can impact on mental health. The Mental Health Foundation highlights how global and local events in the news can impact mental health, whether or not you are directly affected. However, there are things we can do to mitigate the feeling of overwhelm or stress, particularly for healthcare professionals also facing daily pressures within a work environment.
Being a medical professional is an incredibly rewarding career choice, offering a sense of impact and purpose that is hard to find in other jobs. Millions of Britons benefit from the dedication and professionalism of nurses and doctors every day. However, medical staff also need to ensure they take care of their own mental and physical wellbeing, since the profession comes with a range of challenges. Left unchecked, the consequences can be significant, and cases of nurses and doctors suffering burnout are on the rise.
According to the Royal College of Nursing Institute, 25% of all NHS staff sick days are due to anxiety, stress, depression or other mental health issues.
Causes of nurses and doctors suffering burnout
Understaffing, heavy workloads, and emotional demands – among other factors – have led to a rise in cases of psychological distress (exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic), PTSD, and burnout in nursing and for doctors.
Frontline nurses and doctors – including A&E nurses, Emergency Medicine doctors and ICU nurses – face greater exposure to trauma, pressure, and emotional demand, making them more vulnerable to issues like emotional fatigue and compassion burnout. It’s incredibly important to prevent or mitigate compassion burnout in nursing, since it directly and negatively impacts patient care.
Further effects of burnout in healthcare professionals include an increased likelihood of errors, mental health challenges, and even leaving the profession altogether.
High staff turnover is one of the key causes of burnout, and is something of a vicious circle: understaffing contributes to burnout, and higher staff turnover contributes to further burnout. A 2021 Nursing Times survey found 60% of frontline nurses reported burnout symptoms, compared with 40% in non-frontline/administrative roles. It’s clear that nurses positioned away from frontline services also face pressures, often in the form of bureaucracy, targets, or leadership responsibilities.
Effective ways to protect your mental and physical health
In this article, we explore some effective ways to manage the various pressures of working as a nurse or doctor, whether in the public or private sector. These are simple yet powerful methods to ensure you have the time and space to both physically and mentally recover from work pressures – ensuring you’re able to continue providing first-class care, and critically, enjoy what you do.
1. Prioritise Quality Sleep and Rest
The Tip: Aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night, even on your days off.
How to Implement: Create a consistent bedtime routine. Carrying out calming activities helps signal to your body that it’s time to sleep. Make your bedroom a sanctuary by keeping it dark and cool; darkness promotes melatonin production, the hormone that regulates sleep, while a cool room temperature is optimal for relaxation.
Avoid caffeine several hours before bed, since it interferes with sleep by blocking the sleep-promoting compound, adenosine. And last but not least, cut out the screen time an hour before bed: blue light from screens can suppress melatonin production, making it harder to fall asleep. Taking these conscious steps will help you feel more alert and less stressed through the next working day.
2. Master the Art of Setting Boundaries
The Tip: Learn to say “no” when you’re at capacity – and protect your personal time.
How to Implement: Define your work-life boundaries. This might mean not checking work emails on your days off, or leaving work-related conversations at the hospital. And while socialising with colleagues is a normal and often rewarding part of work life, aim to steer conversations away from work if they increase rather than reduce your stress levels. Communicate your limits respectfully to colleagues and managers.
Protecting your boundaries isn’t self-centred – it’s essential in order to maintain your psychological wellbeing, and your ability to give your best at work. With burnout among doctors on the rise, it’s critical you reserve a good portion of your week for life outside of healthcare.
3. Practice Mindfulness and Reflection
The Tip: Incorporate brief moments of mindfulness into your daily routine.
How to Implement: Take a few minutes before or after your shift to reset. Try deep breathing exercises, use a guided meditation app, or simply sit quietly for five minutes, focusing only on your breath. Even short moments of mindfulness can lower stress, improve focus, and help you feel more grounded.
Taking short, regular breaks (micro-breaks) during the workday is also scientifically supported to improve productivity, focus, and creativity by reducing fatigue, stress, and decision-making strain. Research shows that these brief pauses, especially when they involve physical movement or disengagement from tasks, help consolidate memories, restore mental energy, and lower the stress hormone cortisol.
One study involving NHS staff found that those with higher mindfulness and self-compassion, plus those practising self-care, had significantly lower levels of emotional exhaustion, distress, and burnout. It’s clear that mindfulness, reflection, and regular short breaks can help mitigate the causes of burnout in nurses and doctors.
4. Lean on Your Support System
The Tip: Connect regularly with friends, family, or a professional therapist.
How to Implement: Build a network of trusted colleagues you can debrief – and de-stress – with. Schedule regular time to talk with a partner or friends.
If stress becomes overwhelming, you might consider seeking professional help – it’s a sign of strength, not weakness. Indeed, research indicates that approximately 75% of people who enter psychotherapy experience some form of benefit, such as improved emotional wellbeing, reduced symptoms of anxiety or depression, and enhanced coping skills.
5. Find Time for Self-Care and Hobbies
The Tip: Schedule time each week for a non-work activity that brings you joy.
How to Implement: You’re more than your career choice, and engaging in fun or relaxing pastimes is one of the best ways of reinforcing this.
Activities might include reading, gardening, hiking, painting, or simply feeding the pigeons in your local park! Treat this time as a non-negotiable appointment with yourself.
According to a study from Anglia Ruskin University, creative hobbies are particularly effective at enhancing a sense of life satisfaction. “Crafting and other artistic activities showed a meaningful effect in predicting people’s sense that their life is worthwhile,” said Dr. Helen Keyes, the study’s lead author.