Putting in regular 12 to 15 hour days with the need to be there for your spouse, your parents, and your children puts on the pressure. Now with Spring upon us you can add keeping the lawn and garden looking somewhat presentable so the neighbors don't start a picket line, and being there for at least some of the scheduled Little League games, and it's no wonder caregivers feel stretched beyond belief. Fail to deal with the effects of stress and you'll destroy yourself faster than you can say "I quit!"

A little stress can keep you at the top of your game. Pressure to make a great impression on the boss can give you the adrenaline you need to put in extra evenings on that important presentation. Researching a new diagnosis and coming up with critical information to make sense of what the doctors are saying can give you a renewed sense of power. This kind of stress can keep you productive and focused on the task at hand.

Excessive and never-ending stress, on the other hand, can make us physically and emotionally ill. It's important to recognize the symptoms of burnout before they reach the critical level and begin to destroy the very things we care about most.

Signs of Approaching Burnout

• Our bodies respond to too much stress by getting sick. Headaches, muscle tension and pain, sleeplessness, exhaustion, and forgetfulness, an unusual number of colds or other illnesses can be warning signs.

• More days than not you're getting up on the wrong side of the bed. Irritability with family and friends and a "bad mood" that rarely seems to improve is a sign that burnout has arrived.

• Feeling overwhelmed by your responsibilities and having trouble setting priorities and goals. A sense of hopelessness and helplessness is a real indicator that you're burned out.

In most cases the reason for caregiver burnout is the feeling that you have lost control. "You" have been buried by your duties and obligations. The best antidote to burnout is finding the right balance between those duties and obligations on one side, and "you" on the other.

Three Strategies For Avoiding Burnout

1. Do Nothing

Doing nothing really is doing something. Even 15 or 20 minutes of peace and quiet can help you re-charge. Do something you personally enjoy for an hour or two and stop feeling guilty about it. Think of it as a lifesaving prescription from your doctor.

2. Refuse to be "On-Call" 24/7

Let the answering machine take your calls. Feel free to check your messages if ignoring them will make you feel even more stressed, but don't feel you have to talk to everyone who calls - even your parent - just because they want to talk. If it's an emergency (and really, how often is it truly an emergency?) you can meet them at the hospital. Just make sure everyone who lives alone is capable of calling 911.

If you're caregiving for someone in your home 24/7 and not getting at least 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep, start looking at your alternatives. You won't be able to keep this up for any length of time without both you and your care recipient suffering.

3. Spread the Work

You truly don't need to, and shouldn't, do everything yourself. Delegate the things you dislike the most or that someone else can do faster and better than you. There are good people out there who can help. Don't say, "Yes, but...." Find them.

Burnout can do more than give you a headache. It can really hurt you, and by extension it can really hurt the people you care about, both physically and emotionally. Take steps to prevent burnout "before" you need to, for everyone's sake.