Extensive syllabus, extracurricular activities, relationships, social media, and family, being a teen isn’t an easy task.


All these tasks are demanding and require dedicated time and attentiveness. While trying to strike a perfect balance between their personal and professional life, teens often start feeling overwhelmed.

Stress and anxiety start disrupting their daily lives, making it quite difficult to bring life back on track.

All these are signs of burnout. In simple words, burnout is a phase when kids overwork for long periods while feeling a lack of control over the situation and have little or no passion for the work.

Long term burnout can also make them vulnerable to illnesses like colds and flu. It is important to have these signs of burnout at the correct time to help overcome the complex situation.

Here are 5 signs to identify burnout in teens.

1. Anxiety

Anxiety is your body’s natural response to stress, characterised by feelings of worry, anxiety or fear that are strong enough to interfere with daily life. When stress level exceeds the normal level, it often leads to anxiety, which is the first sign of burnout. Your teenager might feel anxious for no known reason. He or she may find it unable to relax or even sleep at night. In some cases, they may also have vivid dreams and restlessness.

2. ​Insomnia

Burnout may also affect the quantity and quality of your sleep. It is a result of excessive stress and overwhelming feeling. Stress increases the level of the cortisol hormones in the blood, which increases the risk of insomnia. Sleepless nights make kids feel tired the other morning. This affects their mood as well as their choice of foods.

3. ​Physical pain

Burnout not only affects your teenager’s mind but might also have an impact on their physical well-being. They may often experience neck, back or stomach pain. Dizziness, dryness of the throat and mouth, might be some other visible signs of burnout in the high school going kids. In case of girls, missing periods is an evident sign of burnout.

4. Emotional behaviour

Burnout is a stage of emotional and physical exhaustion. Excessive stress makes teens feel emotionally worn out and drained which causes them to behave differently. They may often feel stuck or trapped in a situation. They might be dealing with several emotions at one time and might express them in different ways like impulsive behaviour, decreased motivation, fear and anger.

`5. Risky behaviour

Burnout is also a phase where kids start to take a risk and engage in risky behaviours. Experimenting with drugs, alcohol, sex for the first time all are indications that things are not well with your kid. These are just ways to momentarily escape from stress and feel good.