You barely have time to wash your hair, let alone listen to a podcast. Here to help, we did it for you. This week we’re diving into Overloaded, Exhausted, and Ready for a Reset, a new Mel Robbins podcast shining light on a dark topic, caregiver burnout.
ICYMI (in case you missed it)
📬 Big change coming for Social Security recipients: starting September 30, 2025, the government will stop mailing paper checks to nearly 500,000 people—including many older adults and those receiving SSI. Payments will move to direct deposit or prepaid debit cards to reduce fraud and delays. While less than 1% of recipients are affected, many live in rural areas or aren’t online. Translation: caregivers may need to step in to help loved ones make the switch in time. It’s a small action that can prevent a big disruption.
🧩 In 2024, Hilarity for Charity delivered 475,000 hours of free in-home respite care—plus caregiver grants, support groups, and virtual events like CareCon—reaching about 2 million people and boosting caregivers’ well-being, stress relief, and sense of community. Surveys say 90% of respite recipients feel more present, 91% of support group members report less stress, and every CareCon attendee feels seen and connected. That’s caregiving care, in action.
Caregiver Syndrome
You wake up before dawn, mentally triaging everyone’s needs—kids, work, aging parents—all while already running on fumes. That’s caregiver syndrome. It's not weakness, it's chronic stress, and bordering on burnout. As Mel Robbins’ episode “Overloaded, Exhausted, and Ready for a Reset” points out, you're not alone, this is a public health crisis.
Who’s in the Conversation?
Mel brings in three physician‑caregivers, all doctors who have lived this firsthand:
Dr. Aditi Nerurkar – Harvard physician and stress researcher. Dr. Nerukar brings evidence that chronic caregiving stress isn’t your failure, it’s systemic, and it's waging war on public health. She begins 13:50 minutes into the podcast.
Dr. Pooja Lakshmin – A psychiatrist and bestselling author. Dr. Lakshmin guides you in setting guilt‑free boundaries, flipping the script, and reclaiming your life, even in tiny steps. She enters the podcast 22:30 minutes in.
Dr. Rangan Chatterjee – British MD, bestselling author, BBC medical expert, host of Europe’s top health podcast. He shares his own caregiving journey and a rooted, four‑pillar health system to stop disappearing into caregiving. Dr. Chatterjee rounds out the episode 49:41 minutes into the podcast.
Why Caregiving Wears You Down
It triggers a chronic stress response. Your body thinks you're being hunted, not caring for loved ones—raising cortisol, messing with sleep, mood, and immunity.
The mental load never ends—appointments, schedules, emotional labor. Your brain has you running on an endless loop.
Nagging guilt? It’s what Dr. Lakshmin calls the “guilt conveyor”, keeping you trapped under expectations that you have to do it all.
Questions to Reclaim Control
Dr. Lakshmin shares five powerful check‑ins to surface what's slowly draining you:
Are you motivated, or overwhelmed/apathetic?
Which people or tasks drain your energy most?
Do you build real rest into your routine?
Do you accept help, and actually receive it?
Are you making time for things you care about?
Any “no” here? That’s a sign: it's time to pause, prioritize, protect.
Dr. Lakshmin compares your mind to a sushi conveyor: guilt dishes keep rolling. You can’t stop them all. But you can pick one and let it pass. That’s how you begin to silence the guilt.
Try this:
Breathe deeply before shifting into caregiver gear.
Take time to eat or move, without an agenda.
Speak a truth: “This is hard. I need a break.”
These act like reps at the gym: tiny at first, but over time, they rebuild your nervous system.
Dr. Chatterjee’s 4‑Pillar Health Framework
Mel speaks with Dr. Chatterjee about managing caregiver stress via a holistic health model. Nothing you haven’t heard, but something to be mindful of:
Food – Go for minimally processed, single‑ingredient foods to stabilize energy and mood.
Movement – Five‑minute strength circuits (push‑ups, squats, calf raises) done daily—even in pajamas—rebuilds body and mind.
Sleep – Create a nightly routine; keep screens out of the bedroom, use wind‑down rituals that recreate childhood calm.
Relaxation – Daily solitude and simple breathwork resets your nervous system (e.g., inhale 3 seconds, hold 4 seconds, exhale 5 seconds) to pull you out of stress mode.
These pillars support each other. Start small and watch ripple effects show up with more energy, clarity, and compassion.
Rewriting Your Caregiver Story
Dr. Chatterjee shares a guilt-driven story so many of us narrate: “If I don’t do it, it’ll fall apart.” He lived it, while balancing caregiving duties with a full time career and family, he began experiencing chronic pain. Only after rewriting that internal script did he reclaim life and health.
Your 5‑Minute Burnout Reset
Pick one of Dr. Lakshmin’s questions that stings most.
Declare one micro‑boundary (“I’m taking 5 true minutes for myself today”).
Expect the guilt and do it anyway.
Tune in, how does it shift your heart, your body?
Repeat daily. Watch that boundary set multiply.
Takeaway
Caregiver burnout isn't personal failure, it’s a stress epidemic that needs tending.
Use Dr. Lakshmin’s check‑ins & micro‑boundaries to start reclaiming agency.
Lean on Dr. Chatterjee’s four pillars to rebuild your foundation.
Nudge yourself gently, with compassion. You are allowed to care for yourself too.
You matter. Burnout isn’t a footnote, it’s part of your story in need of a plot twist. Recovery doesn’t need to be dramatic, it’s simply a chapter that requires a thoughtful rewrite.
What’s Good
Helpful care-focused finds we’ve identified and researched so you don’t have to.
For caregivers who don’t have time for a full workout (or even a full thought). Move More Minute dropped a free, special edition newsletter for caregivers and Gray Monster readers.
Turns out, tiny movement snacks—like air squats or sit-to-stands—can do big things: lower insulin spikes, boost energy, and protect your muscles. Just ten squats every 45 minutes? That’s it. Toss in a minute of box breathing or alternate-nostril breathing, and you’re on your way to a nervous system reset.
Likely not the snack you had in mind but definitely the one you need.
