Why Work Feels Like It’s Burning (and What to Do About It)

You wake up with a full inbox.

Your calendar is jammed with meetings.

Your neck is tight. Your brain foggy. You swear you just blinked—and somehow it’s 3:47 p.m.

You tell yourself, “I’m just a little burned out.”
But you’re not. Not yet.

What you’re feeling is something more subtle.
More dangerous.

You’re inflamed.

Yes—workplace inflammation is real.

It’s not loud. It doesn't look like drama.

It’s a slow simmer.
A silent spark that never fully goes out.

It shows up as:

• Short tempers in Slack messages

• Constant urgency, but no clarity

• Coffee-fueled mornings and no-lunch afternoons

• Meetings about meetings

• And that tightness in your chest that no stretch can fix

This is what I call the Burnout Loop:

Overwork → Under-recovery → Disconnection → Dysfunction → Repeat.

You start surviving your workday instead of living it.
You breathe—but not deeply.
You show up—but not fully.
You lead—but from a place of depletion.

The scary part?

It feels normal.

You start to think maybe you’re the problem.
Perhaps you just need more sleep. More protein. Another planner.

But it’s not you.

It’s inflammation.

Like in the body, chronic stress at work creates internal heat.
And science backs it up—psychological stress triggers the same inflammatory responses as physical illness.
The cortisol. The tension. The brain fog.
All of it.

So, how do we cool the system?

Not with ping-pong tables or pizza Fridays.

But with small, meaningful shifts:
✔️ Micro breaks that let your brain reset
✔️ Breathwork that calms your nervous system (yes, you’re probably breathing wrong)
✔️ Real connection—not just collaboration, but actual human contact

Think of it like this:
If stress is the match…
Cadence is your fire extinguisher.

You don’t need to push through.

You need to pause.

Let your workplace exhale.

Because when we treat inflammation early, we don’t have to treat burnout later.

And when we bring rhythm back into the workday?

We don’t just perform better.
We feel better.

Are YOU working in inflammation?
What would it take to build a workplace that could breathe?