According to clinical psychologist Nicole Pensak, Ph.D., burnout is the result of chronic stress in the workplace. [and] characterized by “exhaustion, lack of meaning and drive, and loss of interest in work.” As she previously told mindbodygreen, burnout is more like depression than anxiety, for example, and can seriously affect your motivation and energy.

We are built to cope something stress eventually, but without any opportunity for rest, chronic stress becomes unsustainable for the body, mind and spirit.

As functional medicine physician Robin Berzin previously wrote for mindbodygreen, persistently high levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) can lead to constant exhaustion regardless of how much sleep you get, and in some cases, even lead to low levels of DHEA and thyroid hormones.

The worst part is that many of us will tolerate or ignore the initial symptoms of stress (ie feeling stressed but tired or anxious) because there are things to do, bills to pay, etc., until it’s too late and we reach complete burnout.

It is also worth noting that recent research on burnout and the Big Five personality traits found that higher levels of neuroticism and lower agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and openness were associated with higher levels of burnout.