The workforce is tired. While sustainable job performance requires us to thrive at work, only 32% of employees across the globe say they’re thriving. With 43% reporting high levels of daily stress, it’s no surprise that a wealth of employees feel like they’re on the edge of burnout, with some reports suggesting that up to 61% of U.S. professionals feel like they’re burning out at any moment in time.  Those who feel tense or stressed out during the workday are more than three times as likely to seek employment elsewhere.

Because of this, employees increasingly demand mental health support, and more employers have responded by offering benefits like virtual mental health support, spontaneous days or even weeks off, meeting-free days, and flexible work scheduling. Despite these efforts and the increasing number of employees buying into the importance of wellness, the effort is lost if you don’t actually recover. So, if you feel like you’re burning out, what works when it comes to recovering from stress?

Understanding stress recovery

Recovery is the process of restoring symptoms of work stress (anxiety, exhaustion, and elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol) back to pre-stressor levels. We refer to recovery as a skill, because knowing how and when you can best recover from stress requires both knowledge (of what works for you) and practice (actually doing it).

The skill of recovery is well known in fields that require performance under extreme pressure or are characterized by the need for prolonged periods of intense concentration, where errors can be costly or even deadly. Consider a pilot on a critical mission or an athlete who has their entire career hanging on a single performance. These people learn quickly that physical and mental recovery is crucial for achieving and sustaining high performance under pressure. Pilots are even officially required to recover for defined time periods during and between duty in order to maintain safety standards, and a wealth of research explores how athletes can best recover.

Importantly, recovery in these fields doesn’t just happen when individuals feel depleted or burned out — it’s an essential part of the training and performance strategy. Effectively recovering from periods of stress, performance, or concentration is important for emotions, moods, energy, learning integration and growth, and ultimately performance, mental and physical health, and relationships.

The paradox of recovery

The process of recovery introduces a paradox. Research shows that when our bodies and minds need to recover and reset the most (i.e., when we’re most depleted), we’re the least likely — and able — to do something about it. For example, when work is demanding and we’re feeling overwhelmed, we quickly slide into a negative cycle of working longer hours and taking fewer breaks. During those stressful times, we also tend to eat less healthily, even though adequate nutrition and hydration are important to replenishing energy levels. Further depleted, we have less energy and motivation to take time out to relax or engage in exercise, leading to low recovery and in turn further exhaustion the next day. Rinse and repeat. Organizational cultures that celebrate working on little sleep or that work in a constant state of emergency can exacerbate this, because despite your body begging to recover, there’s an underlying assumption that you can (and should) push through it.

To overcome this paradox, you must learn what works best for you and devise a recovery plan. It’s important to note that what actually works for stress recovery is not always as intuitive as you think. There are five ways to make recovery work for you based on industry- and research-based insights.