By, Patricia Gutierrez, Founder of BrainGear
In today’s world it’s easy to feel fatigued, burnt out, exhausted, or anxious. Before I share a few tips + tricks to calm the mind, rebalance, and stay focused on what matters, let’s dive into what burnout really means. Between workplace corporate wellness, mindfulness, exercise, nutrition, and work-life balance, there are so many aspects of our modern life that can easily step on top of each other. It’s hard to do it all, I know from my own experience. After a successful career in tech, I found myself in a total fog. Before we get to the solutions, let’s address what burnout really means.
So what IS burnout?
According to the World Health Organization Burn-out is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed. It is characterized by three dimensions:
feelings of energy depletion or exhaustion;
increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one's job; and
reduced professional efficacy.
Burn-out refers specifically to phenomena in the occupational context and should not be applied to describe experiences in other areas of life. It has now been classified in the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11).
I knew my symptoms but I didn’t have a way to get clarity on what my diagnosis was. I knew I was tired, exhausted really, groggy, foggy, and unfocused among other things. Every area of my life was impacted. I knew I needed to get some professional advice and diagnosis in order to move forward. I saw numerous doctors, trying to figure out how to feel like myself again. I eventually found my way to a neurologist at Stanford University who put me on a 13-supplements-a-day regimen, and after a few weeks, I was back to myself! Finding this solution gave me the motivation to start BrainGear. I wanted to bottle the magic of those 13 supplements into an easy to take shot, accessible to anyone, anywhere.
It was also important to me to follow a few core principles as I launched the brand to a mass audience:
Transparency: all our ingredients are clearly labeled in the ingredient panel and on our website with a lot of extra education so you can learn the how and the why of the ingredients you’re ingesting
Quality: we use the best most high-quality ingredients we can find. Our 13 all-natural, clinically proven ingredients are backed by science so you feel like your best self, every day
Sustainability and accessibility: we are vegetarian, cruelty-free, non-GMO, BPA free, sugar-free and soy-free. We make these extra efforts to ensure we use as few potential allergens as possible and the most health-conscious packaging.
Happy customers: no matter what, our customers are our lifeline. The results they feel, the testimonials they share, show me that BrainGear really can help others!
Now that we have a better understanding of burnout and the core brand values of BrainGear, here are my best tips to keep your mind, body, and brain, feeling fresh!
Make good choices. This may sound basic, but we make 35,000 choices each day*. That is SO much information and most of the decisions we make aren’t even a conscious “choice”. It’s instinct. So how can we harness our power to make more of our choices in a proactive way, and best-suited to success. If you can make an effort to eat a vegetable or a banana instead of a granola bar, swap one meat-based meal for plant-based, use non-GMO products where possible, get an extra 1000 steps a day in, instead of the extra breakfast pastry, all these little changes will add up to a real noticeable difference! You will feel SO good!
Exercise. We’re all motivated differently but exercise is key to endorphins and general wellbeing. You don’t need to be running marathons, but move your body every day. Go for a walk, jump rope, do jumping jacks, take a yoga class online, just do something to get your blood flowing. It’s good for your body mind and soul.
Invest in your brain. The brain is our most valuable asset, yet we all do very little for our brain on a daily basis. When was the last time you did something to make your brain happy? There are a few things we recommend to have the healthiest strongest brain. BrainGear gives you all the nutrients you need to nourish your brain today, tomorrow, and every day after that. Think of it as a green juice for your brain!
Sleep. No matter what muscle or organ we’re talking about, everything works better on a full-night sleep. Don’t short-change yourself. Getting good sleep, and rest is proven to boost productivity. More hours of working do not equal more results or more success. Give your body and brain the rest it deserves and try to get at least 7 hours a night. Wind down before bed, skip the blue lights, or minimally turn off devices 30 minutes before lights out. Daily use of BrainGear helps with proper sleep, too.
I hope the lessons I learned from my own burnout, help you!
*Psychology Today, 9/27/18
Patricia Gutierrez
Our founder Patricia started BrainGear because she knew how incredibly taxing it can be when your brain isn’t at its best. After long days and sleepless nights while working at a tech startup, she suddenly started experiencing daily brain fog, memory loss, a lack of concentration and sleep.
Concerned she had a major issue, she visited numerous neurologists who told her nothing was wrong with her brain. Refusing to accept her symptoms were simply a part of aging, she finally met with a world-renowned neurologist who told her the symptoms were a result of her high-stress, overworked lifestyle. He started her on a regimen of 13 daily brain nutrients.
After taking them for a few weeks Patricia felt like new again. Despite its benefits, the daily regimen of 13 pills was just not sustainable. That’s when she worked with top neurologists and scientists to create a more convenient, palatable, daily solution and BrainGear was born.
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