How College Faculty Can Tackle Burnout Even When It Feels Like There’s No Time to Rest
What faculty exhaustion reveals about the quiet power of intentional recovery
This week, three different people told me the same thing in three different ways: “I finally took a day off and still felt drained afterwards.”
They’d done what we’re all told to do when we’re tired: step away, stop working, and rest. Each person described heeding this advice. Yet, when they woke up the next day, they didn’t feel refreshed. Even worse, they now felt guilt about “wasting time” and their mind was still foggy.
These conversations reminded me of two studies I’ve read in the last few years—one from MIT, another from Harvard—both pointing to the same conclusion: most of us don’t know how to rest properly.
A Lesson from Oaxaca: Rest as Cultural Practice
When I was in college, I spent a summer living with a host family in Oaxaca, Mexico. Each day, we ate lunch together. I volunteered on the other side of town and walked back “home” from the office around noon to be a part of this tradition.
As we ate, we talked and enjoyed our time together. Then, after we finished, we all rested.
Some family members napped.
Others sat outside, reading or talking quietly.
Around 2:00 p.m., everyone returned to work to finish the day.
For years afterward, I told anyone who would listen that I wished the United States had a similar cultural norm. Anyone who’s worked a 9-to-5 job knows the 3:00 p.m. crash, yet we push through it as if exhaustion were a badge of honor.
The benefits of this cultural practice I learned while in Oaxaca—commonly known as siestas—are backed by science. The scientific consensus is clear: our brains recover best through intentional rest. In fact, research suggests that the type of rest matters just as much as the amount of time spent resting.
What struck me most wasn’t the nap itself—it was that the rest was built into the rhythm of their day, not squeezed into it. That difference—intentional vs. reactive rest—is at the heart of what we so often miss.
At MIT, researchers found that even a 45-minute nap can increase creativity by 43%.
At Harvard, researchers studying “proactive recovery” discovered that people who set personal goals for their time off—like connecting with friends, cooking, or organizing their spaces—reported being 8–13% happier and less burned out than those who passively relaxed.
Below are four practices to help you intentionally recharge—even when time feels scarce. The first technique takes ten minutes, the second and third don’t even require you to leave your desk, and the final one helps you restore your emotional energy. Each draws on current research in cognitive science and faculty development—and each can help you protect your most limited resource: mental space.
Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash