Introduction

Physician burnout numbers soared in 2021 to 63% and although they have since dropped, as of 2023 physician burnout numbers were still reported at 50%.* A study from 2021** took a look at physician burnout from a neurobiological perspective. Specifically with the adaptations in the brain which occur. The authors showed a decline in prefrontal cortex function which was negatively impacted from the chronic stress of the physicians career.

The link the researchers showed was that as what they called “uncontrollable stress” increases so does symptoms of burnout such as lack of motivation, fatigue, and arousal modulators such as dopamine, acetylcholine, and norepinephrine.

The neural connections of grey matter found in the PFC disconnect during times of chronic stress (and in this case from the uncontrollable stress), but the good news is they can be restored. The restoration of the neural connections of grey matter in the PFC can be accomplished by having consistent activities in your daily and weekly routine which decrease the uncontrollable stress.

There are contributors of uncontrollable stress from you career in which you need help from administrators, leadership, and the health care system as a whole. There’s not much you can do there. However, there is a lot you can do in your personal life to make you more resilient to the stress.

You can do things which enhance your mood, your energy, and how your body feels and performs. This is where a customized workout and lifestyle program tailored to a physicians needs, goals, and lifestyle can make a significant impact. We’re going to explore a case study of one of my clients, who is a physician, who successfully mitigated the symptoms of physician burnout and transformed his body by implementing a custom program which he consistently executed for 6 months (and currently still is executing).

Challenges My Client Faced When We First Started Working Together

Client Name: David H.
Career: Anesthesiologist
Family: Married with 5 kids

David was referred to me from a colleague in the Anesthesiology department at the hospital he works at years ago and finally decided to meet with me for his “Vitality Discovery Session” and then we implemented his plan through my “Physician Vitality Blueprint” program.

Biggest Challenges:

1. Low energy due to long, demanding hours at the hospital and being the provider for a family of 6 which meant he was only able to give a fraction of himself to his family.
2. He was making the time for his mental & physical health, but found it incredibly difficult to be consistent with it week-to-week which lead to hopelessness & wondering if what he was doing was even worth it.
3. He didn’t feel like himself. He was more irritable and lacked the necessary focus to be fully present which negatively impacted his time with his family.

David was spending hours per week pushing himself hard in the gym, which ironically left him feeling less energized and farther away from his aesthetic and performance goals.

He was pushing himself HARD on his Peleton, running, and with his weight training routine, but no matter how hard he pushed, he simply felt worse.

This left little energy to keep up with his 5 kids (ages 4-10) at home.

He noticed his lack of energy made him less present with his work and family life. In addition to that, he noticed he was more irritable which didn’t always make him the most pleasant person to be around. He simply couldn’t afford to keep going at the rate he was going, otherwise he knew he would completely burnout.

You can listen to David talk about this by clicking here.

Our Action Plan

We started with his “Vitality Discovery Session” where we looked at 3 key areas and then implemented solutions for David.

Fitness – we created a 7 day per week workout plan. This sounds like a LOT, but each day varied in intensity and modality. Some days he was doing a 15 minute mobility session that was very low in intensity. Other days, he was in gym he built himself at-home getting a strength training workout in.

Nutrition – we focused on implementing the “Physician Fuel Nutrition Window”. David fasted 16 hours per day, and then had an 8 hour window where he focused on getting in “protein-centric” meals.

Accountability – David had daily check-ins which took him less than 60 seconds to fill out. The daily accountability helped tremendously with our relationship as it allowed me to know if we needed to make any adjustments while he was able to stay engaged and on-track with his process.

David’s Results

In 6 months, David:

Conclusion

The most important thing for David was he was consistent throughout those 6 months.

Below is a look at his stats for his consistency:

As a result of his consistency, David:

If you’re a physician who, like David, was feeling burned out despite your best effort to live a healthier and more fit life and want to learn the secrets to achieving a high performance body and reducing burnout, then click here to sign up for my webinar “3 Secrets for Busy Physicians to Achieve A High Performing Body & Reduce Burnout: Get Your Body to Look & Perform at an Elite Level without Creating More Chaos”