What is burnout and how does somebody know if that's really where they are versus just, oh, I'm so stressed?

It's basically that you've lost a sense of meaning.

Going through infertility is one of the most psychologically destabilizing experiences that anybody can go through.

We see people who have a totally different life,

but they're doing this perfect morning routine routine and they feel like they're balancing their

stress so well. This isn't your fault. We live in a country where 30 million Americans don't

have health insurance. You can't meditate your way out of a 40-hour work week with no child care.

Our entire economy is built on the guilt of women.

Every day I see how chronic stress and burnout deplete the body,

from disrupting cycles, affecting ovulation, and contributing to inflammation.

But so often, women are told the solution is simply to do more without ever addressing the underlying systems that are driving burnout in the first place. Today's guest is Dr. Pujail

Lakshman, a board-certified psychiatrist and one of the leading voices redefining what

self-care actually means for women. She's the best-selling author of real self-care, and her work

focuses on burnout boundaries and the invisible pressure women carry that impact not just their mental health, but their physical health, hormones, and overall well-being. Dr. Lachman, thank you so much for being here today. It's such a pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me, Natalie. I know. We've been trying to get this episode scheduled for such a long time, but you have been so busy in your own world, both personally and professionally.

And I'm glad to sit down with you because this topic is one that's personal to me as somebody who's been burnt out, who often puts my own mental health and self-care on the very bottom of the podium as I'm caring for other people.

And I've got to

imagine that that's not a unique experience as a woman who's juggling so many balls in the air.

No, it's not. This whole kind of topic of self-care and what real self-care is came to me

through my practice because I had so many patients, women coming in and being like, Dr Lachshman, I'm stressed out, I'm burnt out. I'm not eating well. I'm not sleeping well. And I feel like it's my fault because I have the meditation app on my phone. I know I'm supposed to be doing yoga. But at the end of the day, when the kids are in bed and, you know, I'm done with work, the last thing I want to do is meditate. All I can do is just like sit on the couch and doom scroll or watch real housewives. And then I feel bad. And I kept, you know, I found myself saying it over and over again, this isn't your fault. This isn't your fault. We live in a country where 30 million Americans don't have health insurance, where a quarter of American workers can't take a paid sick day, where we still don't have federally mandated paid leave.

This is a systemic issue.

I always like to say you can't meditate your way out of a 40-hour work week with no child care.

I mean, it's true.

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