A certain normal level of stress can feel manageable or even productive. But increased or unmanageable levels of stress can mean you feel constantly overwhelmed and that there is little or no relief from this sense of pressure. High stress can begin to affect your ability to perform your responsibilities or tasks and impact on your relationships.

If you feel highly stressed you might find that you can't think clearly or decide what to do first, or decide what to do at all, which will increase your stress, and can also result in negative consequences. This can then increase all your physical stress responses and this, again,increases your stress and can lead to burnout. Anxiety, perfectionism, and unrealistic expectations of yourself or from others can greatly increase stress

Burnout results from prolonged stress. In burnout your body no is longer able to return to a resting state, and it can feel that no amount of rest would be adequate. Because, even at rest, your body is still in the stress response.

1. Breathe.
One of the things that happens when you are stressed is that your breathing becomes shallow as if you are almost holding your breath. This causes alarm reactions in your body at a purely physical level. Notice your breathing. Link this to something you do regularly, like putting the kettle on, or getting a glass of water. Breathe slowly and calmly, a longer outbreath than inbreath. Bring your body systems out of panic. Find a mindfulness CD or exercise that works for you so you can build this muscle daily and learn to decrease your physical stress response.

2. Get into action, however small.
When you are too stressed to make decisions on what to do first, decide to get into action anyway. Make a decision of what to do in the next fifteen minutes, set a timer, and get something done, anything. At the end of fifteen minutes take a break, make a drink, walk down the corridor, sit outside for 5 minutes. This task can be as simple as doing the dishes, taking the dog for a walk, or even making a list of what you need to do. Taking action lowers your stress response, increases feel good neurotransmitters that help to manage stress, and helps you engage your prefrontal lobe so you are thinking rather than reacting.

3. Protect yourself from burnout.
According to the authors of Burnout, a certain percent of your time should be in rest activities. In addition to sleep, this is a minimum of another 2 hours every day. They suggest 30 minutes each of exercise, eating without distractions, talking to someone you trust, and a wild card, doing anything you want. This is a balance to strive for.

Burnout: The secret to unlocking the stress cycle. By Emily Nagoski & Ameila Nagoski.
This is about managing stress and its impact on your body, and how to interrupt and recover, especially for women. It’s very accessible and straightforward, with some of the best layperson descriptions of how stress and overwhelm works and what you can do about it. They also have a TED talk. The Dose Effect. . By TJ Powers. This books focuses on the four neurotranmitters that impact our mood, motivation etc. The book offers straightfoward explanations and evidence, and evidence-based behaviour changes and small habits that can have a positive impact on your levels of neurotransmitters, on lowering stress and burnout, and on overall wellbeing.
Self-compassion : the proven power of being kind to yourselfBy Kristin Neff. Self compassion is an essential component of resilience. Self compassion involves protecting ourselves and also motivating ourselves towards action. Being protective and supportive of ourselves builds emotional resilience to face the difficulties in life. We are better able to deal with stressful situations. This is how to build resilience.
The Reality Slap. By Russ Harris. Learn how to cope effectively when life hurts or causes anxiety. You can also download an MP3[link] of the exercises in the book, very useful for developing self-compassion and learning to address anxiety and lower stress levels.
Full Catastrophe Living: Using the Wisdom of Your Body and Mind to Face Stress, Pain, and Illness. By John Kabat-Zinn, M.D. The heart of the book is based on Kabat-Zinn’s renowned mindfulness-based stress reduction program at the University at Massachusetts Medical Center.
Note: Any books by this person looking at mindfulness, offering mindfulness meditations and ways of understanding mindfulness are useful.