Energy Series #3: Pitta: Feeling Burned Out? Chill & Recharge | Ep. 130

Hi there. Welcome to the Holistic Inner Balance. This is Dr. Nicole. And I'm Happy Healthy Hadlee. And we are doing a series on how to improve your energy in the short term and in the long term, but with a twist. We talk a lot here about Ayurveda and how when we're out of balance, Ayurveda can help us really zero in on the ways we're out of balance and specific and actionable steps to take to get back in balance. And so if you deal with low energy or you get tired really easily, or maybe you even have a diagnosis of chronic fatigue, then this series is absolutely going to be the one for you. Today we're going to be talking to Hadlee specifically about Pitta and Pitta fatigue. And I'm really looking forward to this because not often do we associate pitta with fatigue. We associate pitta more with that energy and that fire. And so I'm really excited to learn from you today, Hadlee. Let's jump in. And what I'm kind of curious to start with is if you can describe to me what a person who's in a pitta imbalance state, but also fatigued, what that might look like. Yeah.

Totally. So Pitta is obviously, if you don't know much about the doshas, go back and watch or go back and listen to— we have so many episodes about it. But Pitta, to give you the briefest of brief overviews, is basically the fire element. And this can, this can like really have a lot, have a lot of like impact on the physical body when we have a lot of fire in our constitution. Like Dr. Cain was saying, we might think of someone who has a lot of fire as someone who is super ambitious, someone who's like a go-getter. You're gonna get stuff done, and you know, you're not— you're no nonsense. We're just gonna get stuff done, right? And what happens when someone with a lot of pitta in their constitution or someone who has a pitta imbalance, even if they don't have a lot of it in their constitution, what happens when they're feeling low energy is different from when someone is vata with low energy or when someone has more low energy because of kapha. So with— we talked about in the, in the vata episode how that feels more like depletion. And for Pitta, it's gonna feel more like you have burned out. So this is like the easiest way to kind of frame it. Like, people know what burnout is, right? It's like you have done a bunch of stuff, like too much stuff, and then you burn out, and you then feel this typically a depletion. It might It might be a depletion, it might be like more lethargy, but it was preceded by doing too much and doing too much stuff that you don't actually like doing. So I find that for pittas, pittas are really, really good at getting stuff done and not thinking about like, oh, is this something I even want to be doing? We talked about this in our energy management episode where We talked about how a lot of times we think we need better time management, especially pittas. We're like, oh, if only I could manage my time better, I could get so much more done. But really, we need to be managing our energy. And so if we do a bunch of stuff that we just like don't like doing and we just push through, that's going to create that burnout. Other things that can contribute to this pitta Yeah. Like this pitta low-energy state is we could do a bunch of things nutritionally and with like our practices and stuff where we might bring in too much heat in the physical body. So we might eat foods that are really heating, and we might have practices that are really heating, like You know, a lot of times people who are— who do a lot of high-intensity interval training, or they run marathons or different things like that, those things are very— they're hard on the body, right? They— we push ourselves with those things, and that can create burnout. Anytime we're pushing ourselves over the edge, we are going to create that burnout. And so that is what causes the pitta low-energy state.

I'm kind of thinking about burnout and breaking that down into emotional burnout and mental burnout. And I'm thinking about how sometimes a sign for me that I'm getting really burned out is that I'm just emotionally exhausted and irritable. And if you just come at me, I'm just so tired. I just have to— it's like a fight, flight, freeze, like a fight. I'm just like, ugh. And we see this in polyvagal theory, right, where you're in the green zone, and then as you become more aroused, that autonomic arousal, you'll go through the yellow zone and you can get more anxiety and agitation. But that's not as you're getting more relaxed. It's as you're burning the body out, for all intents and purposes. The stress centers are all firing until you get into the red, and then that ends with collapse. Yeah. And then you have to reverse yourself out of that, which we talk about that in another podcast. So if you want to learn more about polyvagal theory, And the vagus nerve. So for me, it's like very— when I'm really kind of fatigued and burned out and it's from overworking and being in that fiery kind of pitch of state, it's like irritability, agitation, just like I have no emotional energy. And then my thoughts are fast and darting and often about work, but I just don't have any of the emotional space to do anything about it. It's just like all over the place.

Totally. Yeah. And you might go back into like old patterns and like old emotional patterns that you're like, I thought I worked through this. Like, I thought that I was over this, like, kind of thing. And really, that, that burnout is basically you're like, you're overcapacity. You don't have any more capacity. And yeah, your, your emotions can reflect that. Your mind, your thoughts can reflect that. And also your body can very much reflect it as well.

In the body, I'm thinking about— I'm trying to bring up things that you've taught me in the past. And so the muscles— I've had patients who describe when they're just in a state of chronic fatigue, they may have soreness and burning and pain in their muscles. It's just from just sheer exhaustion. Their muscles hurt.

Totally. Yeah. And there's a bit of vata involved in there too, because when you say like fatigue, that's, that's like that, that vata depletion. But pitta can cause vata depletion. That would be called like pitta pushing vata where you, you've burned out, you've burned out, you've burned out. Now you're at a vata stage because you've burned away everything and now you're at depletion. So, so we can— we want to bring in both what's going to cool down the fire of pitta that, that is burning you out and all Also, we want to nourish that vata depletion as well.

Oh, I love that. Okay, so let's talk about that. So you want to cool the fire of pitta.

Yes.

And then you want to nourish the vata.

Yeah. So if you're at a state where you're so depleted, so fatigued, go back and listen to the vata episode because you need that nourishment first. We want to make sure that you have just enough Just enough, enough of that nurturing, essentially, to be able to handle other things. So like the nervous system regulation, that kind of thing, we need that first. And then we want to— we can sort of think of it as like, okay, I'm at this point right now. I have burned out. Now I'm going to nourish myself and I'm going to bring in these pitta-pacifying things as I continue? Because, you know, you probably have some things that you want to accomplish. You probably have goals. And I'm— we— a lot of times people are like, with burnout, it's like, oh, just take care of yourself and like stop focusing so much on your goals. And like, as someone who has a lot of pitta in her constitution, like, I am not about to tell you that you need to give up on your goals. Like, I love the goals. And we want to bring in a couple of these other elements as you're pursuing the goals that are going to really help you to not only not burn out, but actually optimize your energy so that you have sort of like a wellspring of energy that just like keeps coming, that like you're like, oh my gosh, I have so much stamina. So you want to hear what they are?

I want to— I want to validate what you're saying from a functional perspective, and then I want to hear what they are. And so whenever we're thinking about doing a detox, for example, we always teach build, build, build first.

Yes.

And so if you're going to do a liver detox, you want to nourish and build up the organs that you're going to be asking to do the hard work of detoxing. Or in therapy, before somebody does EMDR, the bilateral stimulation part, we want to build them up with emotional tolerance Skill. When in doubt, always build. And I love that Ayurveda teaches that too, because go to the vata first, nourish and build, and then you can do the second part of the pitta.

So good. Yes, exactly. Exactly. So we want to take care of that depletion first. And then with pitta, we want to bring in This is gonna sound like, what? But we want to bring in fun and humor.

You're good at that.

Well, I have to be. It's because otherwise I would take everything way too seriously because I have so much bits. So

I feel like I laugh with you more than almost anybody else.

Oh, I love that. That makes me so happy.

They get on this podcast for 45 minutes and we're like, that was fun. Who's next?

Yeah, right. Totally. Oh my gosh. That, that's like the best compliment.

Yeah. Behind me, actually, there's this book by, um, it's called How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman, I think is how you say his name. And he wrote the book. There's this book he wrote about hope. And of course, when I need to know right now, I can't think of it, but I'll remember it at 3:00 a.m. when it doesn't matter and my pitch is blank. But one of the chapters that he writes about in that book, and he's writing about chronic illness and really severe symptoms, and he has a whole chapter dedicated to levity.

Yes.

Like, one person got this really horrific cancer diagnosis. They locked themselves in a hotel room for a whole weekend and watched their favorite comedies and just laughed.

Aww.

And there's a really beautiful story of healing and triumphing in victory in that person's journey that he writes about, which is, you know, he attributes it to the power of laughter and joy. So anyway, just to validate more of what you're saying.

Yes, it matters. And if you are someone who has experienced burnout, if you're in a place where you're like, okay, yeah, that seems like just not good advice. It's like, what do I actually need to do? What do I actually need to do? Especially if you have a lot of pits in your constitution, you're gonna be like, but what are the steps? What do I need to do? To do, because that's what we tend to do as Pittas is like, okay, but give me, give me the actual steps. But actually bringing in fun, bringing in humor, bringing in lightness is going to help you to disengage from that intensity. It's going to help you to have a wider perspective. So like, instead of being so hyperfocused on getting to the goal, which actually makes it so that not only that you might burn out, but also it makes it so that you don't even see opportunities that could come your way that could get you to the goal faster and in a, you know, more fun way and in a, you know, more enjoyable way. So we bringing in that, that lightness, that levity, that perspective of like, I always— there's a really good word in Sanskrit called lila. It's— it essentially means divine play. It's my favorite word. It's like we're all just players on a stage and it's all— it's nothing is as important as we think it is. It's just all play. When we can get into that perspective, that's like the most helpful thing for pitta and for burnout. So, and for an instant energy boost, we're like doing something that actually feels fun will instantly boost your energy and not something that you pitch as you're like, well, well, running 10 miles is fun. I'm not talking about type 2 fun, guys, where you're like, oh yeah. If no one's heard of type 2 fun, it's like I learned this a couple of years ago and it was like It's like the kind of fun that you look back on and you're like, oh my gosh, that was a great story fun. That's not what I'm talking about. Like, I've had plenty of those where I've been backpacking and, you know, some disaster happens. Or like I've told on the podcast where it was like type 2 fun because we went up a mountain and I thought I was gonna die on the top of a mountain. And that's type 2 fun. Running 10 miles. is type 2 fun. Even if you're someone who says, yes, I actually love running, I want you to find something that's fun, creative fun, light fun. It doesn't involve a bunch of ambition and pushing.

Yes.

And bringing in spontaneity is also incredibly helpful for pitta. Pitta likes to plan it all out. And so if you can do something spontaneous, Like right now, that, that feels so fun. That's going to be an instant energy boost for pizza.

Oh, that's such a good hack. Spontaneity, fun, humor. Love it. What else do you got?

So in terms of like, you know, the health coaching, like, I mean, I do all of this stuff with my clients, including the fun, including, including all of the mindset stuff. But, you know, as far as like nutrition and like that kind of thing, we want to also Yeah. Make sure that we are cooling and hydrating ourselves because when we burn out, we are essentially— we have more of that fire in our constitution. So if you've ever felt super hot and low energy on a summer day, or if you've been in the tropics or in the desert or whatever, and you're just like, oh my God, I'm so hot. What is going to give you energy in that moment?

Jumping into a cold pool.

Yes, jumping into a cold pool. Uh, what kind of food?

Cooling food. I'm thinking like cukes, maybe a little bit of, um, cilantro. Is cilantro cooling?

Super cooling.

Yeah. Watermelon, especially in summer, like a cold watermelon. I'm thinking about other cooling things like peppermint.

Yep.

Coconut water.

Anything coconut, actually. Anything coconut.

Yeah.

So we want to bring in cooling qualities, especially if you are feeling actually overheated. We don't want to necessarily bring in a bunch of watermelon in the dead of winter. That's not going to be like seasonally appropriate. It's also probably not gonna be very tasty because it's gonna be like mealy, and like you don't wanna eat watermelon in the winter. But hydrating, making sure that you're staying hydrated and cool, like having a peppermint tea in the winter if you're feeling like really like Overheated, like burning out, that kind of thing, bringing in some— it can be warm temperature, but it's still a cooling herb. Mint, peppermint, spearmint, any of the mints are gonna still be a cooling herb. I also put cilantro on top of my food basically all year round because I have so much pitta in my constitution. So you can bring in stuff even if it's not like seasonally the time to be eating like Cucumbers and watermelon and all of the cooling vegetables and fruits and stuff. So, but yeah, bringing in that is going to be really helpful. And then like you said, the pool, going in a pool, I mean, any time of year, going in any type, any body of water at any time of year can be really, really beneficial for Pitta. Because, I mean, it has the cooling properties and also it's like sort of supportive of like— pittas also tend to be very rigid and structured. So if you have— if you've burned out, you've probably been very rigid and structured. And water helps you to kind of just like dissolve that structure. And like if you like float on your back and look up at the sky or the ceiling, if you're like in an indoor pool or whatever, That can be really, really, really helpful for Pitta. I was a swimmer. I had to be.

I love that. And so if you're a city person, then a lot of gyms have pools, especially if you want to go in the winter, like all-season pools. That's a really good idea. Lakes. I love the idea of water. Or you could float in your tub or something like that.

Totally. You can take a bath and just don't make the water like scalding hot. Just make it like a temper— like, I have a confession. I like have never liked baths. And it's because they always made them— I know.

Scandalous.

Like everyone's like, oh, self-care, take a bath. And I'm like, I don't really like baths. It's because I always made them too hot because I thought I was supposed to, and then I would overheat, and then they would get too cold after that, and it was just like a whole thing. So same with hot tubs, you know.

I don't like baths or hot tubs because they're wet.

Oh, funny. Interesting.

I don't like to get wet. It's

interesting.

It's a lot of work.

I didn't know that about you, that you don't like to get wet.

Ever. I mean, I bathe every day, don't get me wrong, but I don't—

That's like my sister. My sister never wanted to go in the water with me.

Really? I'm like Abby. Yeah, yeah. See, it's just such a nuisance. And maybe if I didn't have so much hair, you could just like get out and shake off like a dog.

Yeah, totally. Yeah, I get that.

It's like every time I come out of any sort of Shower, pool, tub, anything. It's like I'm always cold immediately. So that's

because of your vata. Yeah, that's the same with my sister. That's why she doesn't like it either. Yeah, yeah. She's

being cold is the worst.

Yeah,

but it's good for pitta. So if you're already constitutionally toasty, then it's kind of a little bit— just don't roast yourself in the tub.

Yeah, right. Just— and you could even add like some fun essential oils that like rose or like I like will put like rose petals in the bath. Those— that's really cooling. And that kind of thing is like super nurturing on your body and soothing. So like with vata, we want nourishing. With pitta, we want soothing. There's a slight difference because soothing implies a little bit of the cooling property. So soothing, it's like if something is inflamed and you put a balm, a soothing balm on it, it's going to Cool down the inflammation, if that makes sense.

Love it.

Yeah.

And so what if somebody is— they're burned out, they're Pitta, they have to get up and they have to get themselves moving to a meeting? For me, what is coming to mind is like, I need a burst of energy. I'm thinking like an alternating hot and cold shower. That can be really good. And we always teach end on cold.

Yes.

And so maybe it's more like Tepid, cold, tepid, cold, whatever is for your constitution. But do you have any quick hacks for the burned-out person who's got to get going?

Yeah. Okay. So I would say for someone that's super burned out, I would say don't do the cold water. Like, don't do the— just because it's forcing. So it could bring you even further into Burnout because you're forcing it. Like, no one's like, excited to go in the cold shower, right? Unless you're like in like a really, really, really hot environment, which I have been before. It does feel good then. But I would say like sing a song or have a dance party, 1-minute dance party before you go. That's going to— Mm-hmm. Like, boost your energy so high because it's fun. It also, like, brings in a little bit of movement and it's like, it's light. Whereas I would say I am a really big fan of cold, cold exposure, especially for pittas. Like, I take cold showers, but if I'm feeling like depleted and burnt out, I actually won't do it that day. I will save it

until the next day.

It builds resilience, but if your resilience is too tapped out, I would say don't do it until you have a little bit more resilience, and then it will build it over time so that you have more resilience in the future. Does that make sense?

So maybe the nuance here is if it's like pure Pitta versus Pitta, which is pushing Vata, and then you have the depletion. And so like pure Pitta, yes, cold, bring it on. But if really the underlying cause or the underlying factor is that your Vata is in need of support, Like me, cold makes this worse. And I like that because I think using hydrotherapy is sort of the beginning of functional medicine, integrative medicine. And so it's like, how can we incorporate that? Because it's a free resource in a lot of cases. Hopefully you have water and it's just a matter of optimizing the temperature. But I love that piece of it, Hadlee. It's like, okay, is it just like straight? Like, I have all these heat and fire symptoms and the cool actually sounds like a good idea? Or does that feel like, oh my gosh, that would make me 1,000 times worse, listen to that.

Yeah.

Because it's possible you have that pitta, but the underneath piece could be the vata telling you, like, nope, that's bad for us.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Yeah. Ooh, that's so good. Yes. Yeah. So, yeah. So quick things that you can do, though, are like one-song dance party. You know, you just like put on your favorite song, do a dance party. That's going to be— that's actually going to be helpful for like all of the doshas because it is nourishing. It is also fun. We'll talk more about kapha in the kapha episode, but it's also movement, which lightens things for kapha, which is helpful. But yeah, for pitta, it's fun and you get the wiggles out, and that can be helpful. Or if you like to sing, like I, at one point, my naturopathic doctor, was like, prescribed me singing one song every morning before I— like, while I was getting ready for my day. So I'd like play whatever song I wanted, and I would sing one song doing that. So—

And you have a beautiful singing voice.

Oh, thank you. But you can do it even if you don't have a beautiful singing voice. It's

just nice for the people around you when you're doing your homework. Because it sounds so pretty.

Yeah. Or bringing in something, something else that's creative. So like, for me, I love acting. So I've taken some acting classes recently. Like, I hadn't done it in like years since high school. Like, I did a lot in middle school and high school, brought that in. And that is really helpful for just like, yes, soothing that burnout. It's like it brings in the fun, it brings in the levity and the— and it nurtures, that nurtures you. So

that's so good.

Yeah,

this has been great. So for all our pittas, let us know what helps you, and definitely check out the vata episode and the kapha episode. We're looking forward to helping you improve your energy now and in the future.

Yes. Yay! So excited. See ya, everyone.

See ya. Bye.

Bye.