Episode 154: The Biology of Burnout (Part 2): What Understanding Can't Do

In part one, we learned why so many of us stay stuck despite trying everything. This episode reveals what actually worked for the dogs in that study. Spoiler: it wasn't understanding. It was somatic movement. I share Claire's breakthrough moment standing at her kitchen sink. What she felt in those 90 seconds changed everything.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• [01:08] How the Dogs Learned to Jump Again: Researchers had to physically move their legs—explaining jumping didn't work

• [03:30] Why Understanding Isn't Enough: The gap between knowing what to do and being able to do it

• [05:09] Claire's Aha Moment: Why all her knowledge hadn't created lasting change

• [08:30] What Happens When We Don't Complete Stress: Two options—complete it or head into burnout

• [10:04] The Startle Response: How to stop activation before it becomes a full stress response

• [12:09] The Cost of Not Looking: Avoiding problems drains the energy we need for real demands

• [15:19] Trying Better, Not Harder: Starting small creates new experiences instead of depletion

• [18:18] Claire's Kitchen Sink Moment: What completing a stress response actually feels like

• [20:02] Stress as a Sprint: Why we need the exhale, not just the push

• [23:35] The Body Already Knows: Our nervous system knows how to complete—we just block it

  
  

Main Takeaways

• The nervous system learns through experience, not information. Books and podcasts won't reprogram our default responses. Only new somatic experiences can.

• Completing a stress response takes about 90 seconds. When we ride the wave through the discomfort, our body gains a reference point it never forgets.

• Avoiding problems drains energy. Not looking creates constant background stress. When real demands come, we have nothing left.

• Stress is designed as a sprint, not a marathon. Without the exhale, our body eventually forces a shutdown.

• The goal isn't reducing or managing stress. It's generating a good response, completing it, and resetting.

• Our body already knows how to complete stress responses. This is programmed from birth. We just need to stop blocking it.

Notable Quotes

"The nervous system is reprogrammed through a new experience... that is why somatic work is critical."

"It wasn't about trying harder. Instead of trying harder, it's about trying better."

"If we don't complete the stress response, we just go into overwhelm and burnout. That's the only two options."

"Stress is a sprint. Unless you are able to generate the energy for that sprint, you're not going to make it across the wall."

"The body already knows how to complete these responses. We just block it."

Episode Takeaway

What I most want you to take from this episode: understanding is not enough.

I spent years accumulating knowledge about nervous systems and breathwork and the healing journey. I see so many others doing the same. But the breakthrough doesn't come from another book or podcast. It comes from giving our body a new experience.

The researchers didn't reprogram those dogs by explaining jumping to them. They moved their legs. That's what somatic work does for us.

When Claire stood at her kitchen sink and paused—when she felt that tightness in her chest and stayed with it for 60 seconds—that was the reprogramming. It wasn't dramatic. A softening. Some tears. A little shaking. And suddenly her body remembered.

Start small. Not with trying harder, but with trying differently. The next time you feel that familiar contraction, pause. Look at what's actually there. Let your body complete what it already knows how to do.

Resources/Guides:

• Biology of Trauma book - Available now everywhere books are sold. Get your copy

• Becoming More Calm Alive - A song about the exhale. Learning to let our body complete what it's been holding.

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Related Podcast Episodes:

• Episode 153 (Part 1): The Biology of Burnout: Why Pushing Through Stops Working

• Episode 121: Finding Your Why: How to Break Free from Burnout and Build Meaningful Work

Your host: Dr. Aimie Apigian, double board-certified physician (Preventive/Addiction Medicine) with master's degrees in biochemistry and public health, and author of the national bestselling book "The Biology of Trauma" (foreword by Gabor Maté) that transforms our understanding of how the body experiences and holds trauma. After foster-adopting a child during medical school sparked her journey, she desperately sought for answers that would only continue as she developed chronic health issues. Through her practitioner training, podcast, YouTube channel, and international speaking, she bridges functional medicine, attachment and trauma therapy, facilitating accelerated repair of trauma's impact on the mind, body and biology.

Why Understanding Burnout Doesn't Heal It: The 90-Second Shift

You've read the books. You've listened to the podcasts. You can explain the stress response. So why are you still exhausted?

This question haunted Claire, a patient I write about in chapter two of my book Biology of Trauma. She had gone from Energizer Bunny to chronic fatigue. Her fourteen-year-old daughter Emma was becoming the caregiver. Claire understood nervous system regulation. But understanding hadn't changed anything.

What Claire discovered is what the researchers found with those dogs in the learned helplessness study. The nervous system doesn't reprogram through information. It reprograms through experience.

What the Dogs Taught Us About Recovery

In part one of this burnout series, I shared the learned helplessness research from the 1960s. Dogs who had been restrained stopped trying to escape. Even when nothing was holding them back anymore.

Here's what most people don't know: those dogs recovered. Not through explanation or motivation. The researchers physically moved their legs in the motion of jumping. Over and over, until their muscle memory returned.

Reading books to them about jumping didn't work. They needed the actual movement. They needed their bodies to remember. When they finally had that physical experience, they started jumping on their own again.

Why Knowledge Alone Can't Heal Our Nervous System

There's a gap between knowing and feeling. Between intellectual understanding and visceral body knowing. There's a difference between knowing what to do and being able to do it.

Claire had accumulated years of knowledge about nervous systems and breathwork. She understood so much. But until the body has a different experience, we continue to play out our previous patterns. That's why somatic work is critical. It's the actual movement of the body that reprograms the nervous system.

Claire's Programmed Default Response

Just like the dogs had been programmed to believe they couldn't jump, Claire's body defaulted to overwhelm. As soon as something hard came her way, she was drained. She felt depleted. She went straight back into chronic fatigue.

She had been trying to think her way to healing. But the body needs something different. The very first time we complete a stress response all the way through, our body gains a new experience it can remember.

What Happens When We Don't Complete Stress

Here's the reality: if we don't complete the stress response, we go into overwhelm and burnout. Those are the only two options. Once we reach stress, we either complete it or we're headed into burnout.

This is why the startle response matters. If we can stop activation at the startle level, we don't reach full stress. Those dogs who knew how to jump—when the shock happened again, it was just a startle. They responded and moved on. It didn't create ongoing stress for their whole day.

The Hidden Cost of Not Looking

One of my course members realized she had been avoiding looking at problems. She thought that's what would be overwhelming. But by not looking, those problems remain a constant source of background stress.

All that energy goes into not focusing, not acknowledging. Then when we need to generate a stress response for a real demand, we have nothing left. Not looking drains our energy before the real stress even arrives.

Claire had to sit with this. All those years of not wanting to see even her fatigue. Not wanting to acknowledge the caffeine wasn't working. She thought avoiding it would protect her. But avoiding had been leading her into overwhelm.

Trying Better, Not Harder

Claire had been trying hard for a very long time. That's what a lot of people get wrong. They think they're not trying hard enough. So they try harder until they deplete themselves completely.

Instead of trying harder, it's about trying better. How do I create a different experience? We start small. Not big energy, but small experiences that create new reference points.

Claire's Kitchen Sink Moment

One evening at the kitchen sink, Claire felt that familiar tightness. The dishes are piling up. Emma needs help with homework. So much to do.

The old pattern would have been to avoid, go into overwhelm, lay down. But this time she paused. She allowed herself to be with the tightness. She actually looked: How many dishes? How long for homework?

By looking, her body could break it into pieces. We can do this, then that. If she had gone into overwhelm, her body would have said there's no energy for any of this.

What Completing a Stress Response Actually Feels Like

The hardest part was sitting with the discomfort. The tightness. The anxiety rising. It's natural to want to make that go away.

Instead, Claire paused. She supported the body with physical contact. She gave the message: it's okay, I got you. And something started to shift. A bit of relief. Relaxation in the chest.

It wasn't dramatic. A softening. Some tears came up. A little shaking in her legs. About 60 seconds. And suddenly her body remembered what it was supposed to do. Once we ride the wave through discomfort, the body gains a reference point it never forgets.

Stress Is Designed as a Sprint

I describe stress in my book as a sprint. Unless we can generate energy for that sprint, we don't make it across the wall. The body falls back into overwhelm.

Think about Olympic runners. How long can they sprint full-on? Not more than 60 seconds. But what if we keep pushing and never let the body stop? This is what so many miss. They never let their bodies have that exhale.

That's what happened to me. I didn't know I needed to stop. So my body did it for me. Full burnout. Three months off work. The body will say no if we push it there.

The Goal: Generate, Complete, Reset

Our intention shouldn't be to reduce or manage stress. Let's take those words out of our vocabulary. Just like 'should' is gone. Just like perfectionism is gone.

What we want is to generate a good stress response, complete it, and reset. The body already knows how to complete. It's programmed in our nervous system from birth. We just block it. That's why it leads to overwhelm and shutdown.

Start Your Own 90-Second Practice Today

The shift doesn't come from another book or podcast. It comes from giving the body a new experience.

Immediate actions:

1. When you feel that familiar contraction, pause. Don't push through. Don't retreat. Just pause.

2. Look at what's actually there. How big is this stress? Break it into pieces.

3. Support the body with physical contact—a hand on the chest—and give the message: it's okay, I got you.

4. Stay with the discomfort for 60-90 seconds. Notice what wants to happen—shaking, tears, sighing—and let it.

5. Practice with small stresses first. Build muscle memory before the big demands come.

   
   

Each time the body completes a stress response, it gains a reference point. Once we know what completion feels like, we can never go back to not knowing.

Helpful Research

1. Learned Helplessness and Neuroplasticity Maier, S.F. & Seligman, M.E.P. (2016). "Learned helplessness at fifty: Insights from neuroscience." Psychological Review, 123(4), 349-367. This updated research on the original learned helplessness experiments shows that passivity and giving up are actually the default brain state. The prefrontal cortex must actively inhibit this default response. When we're overwhelmed, the brain loses this inhibitory capacity, explaining why understanding alone doesn't create change—the body needs direct experience to restore regulatory function.

2. Stress Response Completion and Health Sapolsky, R.M. (2004). "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers." New York: Holt Paperbacks. Sapolsky's work demonstrates that animals naturally complete stress responses through physical discharge—running, shaking, trembling. Humans often interrupt this completion cycle. When stress hormones remain elevated without physical completion, chronic health issues develop. This validates why somatic completion practices help prevent the accumulation of stress on the body.

3. The Emotional Wave Bolte Taylor, J. (2006). "My Stroke of Insight." New York: Viking. Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor observed that the physiological component of an emotion in the body tends to last approximately 90 seconds when we allow it to flow through. When we allow sensations without suppression or amplification, the body's natural process completes. This provides context for why staying with discomfort for 60-90 seconds often allows completion.

Listen to Episode 154 →

Disclaimer

This podcast is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical or mental health advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The information shared reflects my clinical expertise and research, but every person's biology and healing journey is unique. Always consult with qualified healthcare providers before making changes to your treatment plan or starting new interventions. If you're experiencing a mental health crisis, please contact emergency services or a crisis helpline immediately.

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