Burnout Isn't Just a Productivity Issue. It's a Biological One.

Listen to an expanded conversation between Bart and Sunny around this newsletter:

Dr. Tali Swart is one of the world’s top neuroscientists, and when she says we’re in the middle of a massive, silent mental health crisis, it’s time to listen.

The pandemic didn’t just shift how we work. It changed how we function. That is no small thing! Swart warns that even though the masks came off and the meetings came back, our brains didn’t bounce back with them. Our nervous systems are still in a holding pattern that consists of buzzing with anxiety, dulled by overstimulation, and disconnected from the very things that help us feel alive.

And the result?

• Productivity is up—but passion is down.

• We’re more connected—but somehow lonelier.

• People are succeeding on paper—but crashing emotionally.

It’s not that we’re broken. It’s that we’re operating in sensory famine. Yes, there’s stress and that in and of itself is a really big deal. But look closer, you’ll see a society drowning in something deeper: a mental health crisis that’s been pathologized, medicated, and numbed without ever truly being understood.

We’ve “normalized” a world where feeling anxious in a chaotic world is considered a disorder. Where burnout from nonstop pressure is labeled a chemical imbalance. Where the solution to disconnection isn’t reconnection, it’s a prescription.

And no, we aren’t being anti-medication. There are times and places where it is life-saving. But what if what we haven’t done is ask:

“What if our nervous systems aren’t broken? What if they’re just responding to an unhealthy environment…one that we ourselves are creating?”

You can’t medicate away a cultural illness. You have to wake up from it.

We Are Starved For Input That Actually Nourishes Us

Modern life (especially in entrepreneurship) is a constant assault on the nervous system. Blue light… let’s talk just about blue light. There are some conspiracy theories out there that the government or tech companies use blue light in our computers, smartphones, and TVs to manipulate our sleep cycles to make us more compliant, distracted or passive, induce anxiety or mental fog to decrease critical thinking, and entrain habits around screen use to increase device dependency and surveillance.

Whether you believe them or not, the science does show that modern screen culture does have an effect on our brains and nervous systems.

• We are chronically overstimulated

• We’re sleeping worse

• We’re more anxious and less grounded

• And we’re increasingly disconnected from the natural world and each other.

So…. even without a conspiracy, the effect is eerily similar to the goal of control: dulling intuition, disrupting rest, and lowering resilience.

Now, along with blue light there is white noise, crowded schedules, dopamine loops, and pressure to be “on” 24/7. We, as humans, were not designed for that. And the longer we try to override our biology, the more it shows up as burnout, anxiety, or just low-grade emptiness.

So what’s the fix?

It is definitely not another productivity hack. It’s…. reconnection. To nature, to purpose, to creativity, to beauty. And while we like to think those are all just “fluff” the truth is…it’s science.

1. Nature: The Most Underrated Prescription in Mental Health

Let’s start with the obvious and one of our personal favorites: nature.

Have you ever heard someone say they are going to take a “nature bath?” That phrase isn’t just trendy - it comes from Japan’s “Shinrin-yoku,” which literally translates to “forest bathing.” It began in the 1980s as a response to rising stress levels, overwork, and the physical and mental health decline cause by Japan’s fast-paced urban lifestyle. The Japanese government encouraged people to walk slowly through forests, not to exercise or be productive, but simply to be present in nature and allow its atmosphere to heal them, aka re-regulate their nervous systems.

And, sure enough! Over time, science backed it up. Study after study confirmed what the body already knows: time in nature lowers cortisol, reduces blood pressure, improves mood, and even boosts immune function by increasing disease-fighting cells. One study even found that just having a window with a view of trees helped hospital patients heal faster. In other words, nature itself is medicine, not just a backdrop.

The truth is, our bodies weren’t built for inboxes and fluorescent lights. They were shaped by sunlight, wind, water, and earth. When we go too long without those inputs, our systems begin to glitch. We don’t fall apart all at once, we just gradually stop feeling. And start merely functioning.

But just 20 minutes in nature a day? That’s enough to lower cortisol, reduce repetitive thought loops, soothe distress, and support your immune system.

Not bad for a walk in the woods.

2. Purpose: The Antidote to Numbness

The fastest way to drain your energy? Live your life with no purpose. Humans need a sense of meaning; otherwise, we start feeling like we’re living Groundhog Day over and over and over again and life becomes stale and boring… just going through the motions of another day.

Carl Jung believed the psyche will find a way to grow, even if it has to do so through crisis. When we ignore our purpose (our deeper calling), it doesn’t just disappear - it shows up as depression, anxiety, numbness, addiction, or chronic dissatisfaction. Not because we are broken, but because some part of us knows we are living off-course.

“The greatest tragedy is not the darkness we face - it’s the unlived life inside of us.”

Many Jungian therapists believe that so-called mental illness if often a signal - a knock from the unconscious - asking us to realign with our deeper nature and purpose.

3. Creativity Isn’t a Luxury. It’s How You Stay Whole

Humans are creators. We were designed to create things, not just consume them. Whether it’s music, writing, building, cooking, or designing, it doesn’t matter what the output is… what matters is that you are in it.

Studies show that engaging in creative activity:

• Boosts problem-solving

• Increases dopamine

• And measurably reduces symptoms of depression and anxiety

Again, this sounds a little “extra” when it comes to solving mental health issues, but it’s absolutely essential. Creativity reconnects the dots inside your brain and reactivates parts of you that stress shuts down!

4. Beauty: The Most Underrated Form of Safety

Here’s something almost no one talks about: when you take time to enjoy beauty - when you slow down to listen to music, arrange your space, light a candle, or even enjoy your food - you’re sending a powerful message to your brain:

“I am safe.”

If you think about it, we are hardwired that way. Our ancestors, who struggled for survival every single day, did not have the luxury of taking a nice hot bath or reading a novel just for fun. In a crisis situation, we don’t stop to admire the view. We don’t dance in the kitchen, and we certainly don’t read fiction for pleasure.

So, when we do take the time to do those things, our nervous system gets the memo: we’re not just surviving anymore, we’re allowed to slow down, relax, and live now. 

That’s one way to move out of survival mode: not by grinding less, but by feeling more.

5. Play, Dance, Laugh: Your Nervous System’s Favorite Language

All right… last one! Let’s talk about something wildly underrated: movement for the sake of joy. Not for cardio, not for reps, and not to burn anything. Just to move.

Dance is one of the oldest rituals on Earth, and it still works. When you dance without choreography - when you shake, sway, stretch, spin, laugh - you’re doing more than letting loose. You’re releasing trapped energy from your nervous system. You’re moving emotion into motion.

The same goes for laughter and play. They’re not “extras.” They’re regulators. Rebooters. Rituals of aliveness. Laughter floods your system with dopamine and oxytocin. Play activates neuroplasticity and breaks fear loops.

Back in the 1960s there was a man named Norman Cousins. He was a respected journalist and editor and he was diagnosed with a rare, painful, and potentially fatal connective tissue disease. His doctors gave him little chance of recovery.

But Cousins believed in the power of the mind to influence the body, so he checked himself out of the hospital, got off most of his medications, and began a radical self-directed treatment: Daily high doses of vitamin C and a prescription of non-stop laughter.

He watched old comedy films like Abbott and Costello, the Marx Brothers, and Candid Camera and simply laughed for hours every day. And here’s the wild part - he began to get better. "

“I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep,” Cousins later wrote.

Eventually, his condition improved so dramatically that he returned to work full-time—and went on to write the bestselling book Anatomy of an Illness, which helped spark the mind-body medicine movement.

If you’re exhausted, uninspired, depressed, anxious, or just off your game, it could be because you are long overdue for reconnection.

This week, try:

• Step outside every day - even for ten minutes. Let nature do what she does best.

• Create something just for the joy of it. No pressure and no productivity allowed.

• Inject beauty in your space: music, light, scent, softness. Your brain will thank you.

• Revisit your why. Ask yourself what gives this season meaning. What is your soul trying to express through you?

• Move your body. Dance. Play. Be ridiculous on purpose. Laughter floods your system with healing chemistry. Play rewires your brain. And dancing (especially with zero choreography and full freedom) lets stuck energy become motion again.

You don’t need a total life overhaul. You just need to remember that your biology needs to be nourished, not managed. It’s wired for connection, rhythm, and beauty - and it starts asking for help when those things are missing!

Life Updates:

• Xander had a band concert last night and it was…. epic! He also played in a sax quartet: tenor, alto, soprano, and baritone. He was the alto… he had a ripping high solo and he nailed it like a boss!

• This weekend we have a nephew’s high school graduation party. So crazy how fast time goes! We also got invited to a birthday party where we are told there will be karaoke going down!

• Little Dally went to the groomer and gave her a run for her money! We brush him and give him baths somewhat regularly, but he hasn’t been to a groomer for quite awhile. He HATES having his paws messed with and she had to muzzle him to try to trim his nails. THEN he pooped on her table and stepped in it after she had given him a bath… so back to the bath he went!

• Sunny’s Dad was in town last week so her two sisters, her Dad, her niece, and an old high school friend (who was also our family band’s drummer all through high school) got together and had a little jam session.

• We subbed in a pickleball league last Thursday…. it was fun!

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