Burnout And Sleep: The Impact Of Summer Fatigue

For most of us, summer is a time of relief, relaxation, and lazy days spent lounging about in our gardens or on our balconies. However, despite all the good things that summer brings with it, this season in particular can also be pretty disruptive to our sleeping patterns and mental health.

Whether it’s a sudden heat wave that leaves you and your sheets drenched in sweat at 2am, or early morning sunrises that wake you up far sooner than you’d like, it’s safe to say that those glorious rays of sunshine we spend all year chasing come with their own set of drawbacks.

Naturally, such interruptions to your daily sleep schedule can leave you feeling a touched sleep deprived and groggy – but in extreme cases, they could push you down the slippery slope towards summer burnout!

A recent phenomenon that’s made itself increasingly well-known in recent years, rising mid-year burnout rates stand in sharp contrast to the idea of summer being all about rest and rejuvenation, with a surprising volume of people in the UK, EU, and US reporting increased levels of stress, anxiety, and exhaustion over the summer months.

As you might have already guessed, part of this increased level of burnout is down to the aforementioned seasonal fatigue, but evidence also suggests that less people are taking annual leave around the summer period (assuming they have enough annual leave to take time off to begin with), all of which compounds together to create a high-stress, low-rest environment.

With this in mind, our team of sleep experts wanted to go into greater detail about what burnout is, its relation to sleep, and the steps you can take to recover from it. Not only that, but they also analysed data from major cities around the world to highlight the worst offenders for sleep deprivation and burnout.

Take a look at what we discovered below.

What is burnout?

While not a diagnosable medical condition, the term burnout is most often used to define a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion, often characterised by a sense of being overwhelmed, exhausted, or disengaged from your work, social life, or relationships.

In most cases, this burnout occurs after excessive and consistent exposure to certain intense stressors or pressures over a long period of time while simultaneously neglecting your own personal needs (such as failing to get consistent and quality levels of sleep) – eventually, you run out of steam, and your mind and body crash out as a result.

What are the symptoms of burnout?

Although the concept of burnout is relatively easy to define, the symptoms of burnout are varied and far-reaching. Simply put, they manifest differently in everyone and are rarely noticed to begin with unless you know what you’re looking for.

It’s important to note as well that burnout is not an instantaneous thing (even though it can often feel like it when it hits you all of a sudden) – it’s far more insidious than that – building up gradually over time until you simply feel like you no longer have the energy to do anything, and your motivation dries up entirely.

And it's this subtle creep more than anything that makes burnout so difficult to identify. However, there are a few more common symptoms of burnout you can keep an eye out for if you suspect you might be suffering from its early stages, such as:

• Feeling excessively stressed, even when you’re not working.
• Experiencing regular depressive symptoms despite good mental health.
• Sudden and random bouts of anxiety.
• A feeling of utter exhaustion, even after a full night’s sleep.
• An inability to sleep continually.
• Random episodes of insomnia.
• Headaches and unusual bodily discomfort.
• A distant but persistent sense of helplessness.
• A feeling of detachment, both inside and outside of work.
• A lack of motivation and satisfaction from work, hobbies, and social activities. 
• A general sense of being depleted.

In other words, burnout makes you feel, well, burnt out.

How does burnout affect your sleep?

Despite burnout making you feel tired and exhausted, many people who report having burnout can’t sleep consistently. Why this is the case for some people and not others is still unclear, but many experts suggest that poor sleep and burnout may be linked if your symptoms manifest as increased levels of anxiety and stress – after all, too much cortisol can affect sleep quality.

Alternatively, and in stark contrast to this, plenty of other people report having burnout and sleeping a lot. This is just as bad for you, however, as too much sleep will only worsen any sense of exhaustion and depression you might be feeling.

Again, because burnout affects everyone differently, there’s no guarantee it will impact your sleep. But if you are experiencing poor sleep and burnout is on your mind, then it’s certainly worth pausing to think about whether or not you’re experiencing any of the symptoms laid out above.

Does sleep help burnout?

Although you might experience sleep troubles with burnout, the good news is that getting regular and dedicated sleep in and of itself will absolutely help reduce the most serious symptoms of burnout.

Good sleep in general is essential for mental clarity, and it will help put you in the right frame of mind for handling your current workload and managing any other ongoing burnout symptoms you might be experiencing.

Basically, if you want to kick-start the burnout recovery process, then sleep prioritisation should be the initial area you focus on.

How to recover from burnout

If you think you might be experiencing the early stages of burnout, or you’ve been experiencing burnout for a while, then it might feel like you’re stuck in place and unable to move. But, fortunately, countless studies and personal examples show that you can absolutely recover from it – it can just take a little bit of time to get started.

With that in mind, here are our top tips for how to recover from burnout:

• Prioritise good sleep – as we just noted, and given the clear link between poor sleep and burnout, putting in the effort to improve your sleep hygiene will go a long way towards curbing the worst of your burnout symptoms.
• Make time for hobbies – one of the major causes of burnout is not making time for those hobbies and activities you love to do in your free time to help you relax. So, if you want to break a burnout cycle, putting time aside to do these is a great idea.
• Don’t neglect socialising – similar to neglecting your hobbies, not making time to socialise with friends and family can also worsen the effects of burnout, so take the time to give a close friend a call or meet them for a coffee; you’ll be amazed at just how much difference it can make.
• Find time to exercise – exercise has long been shown to help combat stress and improve our sleep, so if you want to speed up your recovery from burnout, then squeezing in a daily walk or regular fun exercise activity will absolutely help.
• Reprioritise your tasks – finally, in order to climb out of a burnout spiral and prevent yourself from slipping into it again, you need to look at what caused your burnout to begin with and limit its impact. Do you have too much on your plate at work? Speak to your manager about creating a more sustainable workload. Is your current work environment impacting your mental health? Consider switching jobs if possible. At the end of the day, if you can remove the primary cause of your burnout, your recovery will come that much faster.

Of course, while all of the above tips and advice can certainly help with burnout recovery, if you feel your current state of exhaustion is having a seriously detrimental impact on your health, then we’d recommend speaking with your doctor or GP for further advice.

Which cities around the world are the worst for burnout?

Now that we’ve touched on exactly what burnout is, its symptoms, and how to fix burnout if you’re ever unlucky enough to experience it, let’s take a look at which cities around the world see the highest levels of burnout over summer.

Which UK cities are the worst for burnout?

When it comes to summer in the UK, we’re no strangers to busy city living and sudden heatwaves upsetting our sleep. But, with that being said, certain UK cities are definitely worse for burnout and stress than others:

1. Manchester

For anyone who was expecting the UK capital to top our list for UK burnout cities, we’re sorry to disappoint. It turns out Manchester actually has the highest burnout levels, with a total score of 69.92 out of 100 (but don’t worry, we’ll get to London very soon).

Indeed, according to our UK data set, Manchester is number one for searches around work stress, sleep troubles, and burnout, sitting at 640, 6,622, and 1,318 searches per 100,000 people in the last year alone – this is in spite of Manchester having the 3^rd lowest average working hours per week (36.2)!

Furthermore, Manchester has excellent access to green spaces, placing 6^th best overall by virtue of having 34.71% of the city sitting in this category, and with a daily commute taking just 24.9 minutes, it’s actually a little surprising that Manchester ranked number one on our list.

However, a clue to this might lie in the type of burnout, sleep deprivation, and work stress searches being made, with data showing yearly UK search volumes around burnout (161,400), insomnia (970,500), stress at work (24,400), and work-life balance (78,500) sitting at all-time highs.

In other words, while life around work in Manchester might not be stressful, the volume, type, and intensity of the work being done, in tandem with a disruptive summer sleeping environment, make burnout in this city a lot more common.

2. London

Moving swiftly on to our second-place city, we have the very heart of the UK – London. Scoring 57.61 out of 100, it’s absolutely no surprise that the capital of the UK made it into our top three UK cities.

First and foremost, and to the shock of no one, London has the worst average travel time for a commute at a frustrating 33.3 minutes, while also placing 4^th worst for green space, with only 22.29% of the city fitting into this category.

And much like Manchester, Londoners are no strangers to work stress, with 276 searches being made per 100,000 residents in the last year (5^th worst) – though it does seem that workers in London make fewer overall searches around sleep troubles (2,370) and burnout (628), positioning it lower than Manchester in both areas.

Combine these results with a surprisingly low number of average weekly working hours for a capital city (36.8), and this helps to explain why London didn’t end up claiming the top spot for our total rankings.

3. Birmingham

Last, but not least, rounding out our top 3 UK cities is Birmingham. Being the second biggest city in the UK, Birmingham’s high position is again no real surprise, with the Second City landing a total score of 56.72.

However, in stark contrast to Manchester and London, Birmingham is actually one of the cities with the highest average weekly work hours, placing joint-second worst in this category at 37. And on top of this, Birmingham had the worst unemployment rate in our UK data set at a staggering 10.6%.

But, with that being said, these stats are somewhat offset by the fact that Birmingham travel times are pretty good, with an average daily commute time of 20.8 minutes. Though when you consider that search volume for local residents around work stress, sleep troubles, and burnout are all in the top 10 of our ranking, Birmingham is unable to prevent itself from landing in third place.

Which EU cities are the worst for burnout?

Hopping over the channel and onto the continent, how do EU cities compare to the UK when it comes to burnout rates?

1. Athens

Taking pole position for EU cities that see the highest levels of burnout, we have Athens. Earning an overall score of 62, the capital of Greece might be known for its coffee and culture, but it also seems to be a hub for stressful working conditions and fast-paced living.

To start off with, Athens had the highest volume of searches around sleeping issues per 100,000 residents at a massive 10,255 in the last year, alongside having the 5^th worst percentage of green space available with only 20.38%.

Commute times are also not ideal in Athens, clocking in at an average of 29.7 minutes (7^th worst), and being made that much more frustrating by the fact that Athenians get just 29 paid days off throughout the year. (3^rd worst).

Top this off with the second highest average working hours per week (39.8) and there’s a clear reason as to why Athens took the top spot for our EU data set – though interestingly, the city placed towards the bottom of our list for burnout and work stress searches, perhaps hinting at cultural differences when it comes to handling these areas.

2. Belgrade

After Athens, we move on to the Serbian capital of Belgrade and its score of 49.83. Nestled in the heart of the Balkans, Belgrade is a cultural vacation hotspot while simultaneously being one of the most stressed-out cities in Europe.

Case and point, the residents of Belgrade work the most hours out of any European city, clocking in an intense average of 41.7 per week. This then goes hand in hand with local searches around sleep trouble, with Belgrade placing 5^th in this factor (4,247 per 100,000 people), as well as being the joint 5^th worst for city paid days off, with employees getting 31 for the year.

From our other data points, however, Belgrade does pretty well for itself, placing in the bottom half of the table for burnout and work stress searches per 100,000 residents (481 and 81, respectively), as well as maintaining a reasonable happiness index score of 6.6 – placing it right in the middle of the table for that category.

Still, while these mid-table factor rankings do help to stop Belgrade from taking the top spot for EU cities suffering from burnout, the fact that it placed so highly for average weekly hours and searches around sleep issues is enough to propel the city to second place overall.

3. Berlin

Finally, in third place for EU cities with burnout, we have Berlin, which scored 46.31. Another European capital hitting our rankings, Berliners clearly work as hard as they party, with this being reflected in the city’s high placement for many of our factors.

Starting off with search terms around burnout, Berlin actually placed 5^th here, with 1,365 searches being made around the topic per 100,000 residents, alongside coming 6^th overall for work stress searches at 401.

On top of this, workers in Berlin definitely have a lower-than-average number of days off, placing joint-fourth in this area at 30 days, not to mention the fact that the city has the third highest rate of unemployment out of all the European cities we analysed – currently sitting at a hefty 10.3%.

Still, Berliners can rejoice in the fact that they also have very low average working hours, with most people squeezing in around 34 hours per week and helping to keep the German capital from placing any higher on our table.

Which US cities are the worst for burnout?

Finally, let’s turn our sights to our cousins across the pond and see which US cities could learn a thing or two about slowing down to curb excessive mid-year burnout:

1. Las Vegas

The gambling capital of America and home to countless bright lights, billboards, and all-night parties, is it really any wonder that Las Vegas is the US city with the highest rate of burnout? Scoring 69.93 (which makes it our most stressed city overall, beating Manchester by just 0.01 points), Vegas residents are some of the most sleep-deprived out there.

For one thing, Vegas came 1^st for sleep trouble searches per 100,000 residents at 5,796, while also placing 4^th for burnout searches (816) and 6^th for work stress (290). Worse still, Vegas residents have the 2^nd-worst levels of sleep in general, with 38.9% of residents reporting less than 7 hours of sleep on average.

Whether or not this is caused by the constant sights and sounds of the city is up for debate, but when you consider that the average summer temperatures in Las Vegas can reach 87.6 °F (that’s 30 degrees), there’s a good chance the heat plays a role here, too.

And, sadly, the news keeps getting worse for Vegas, as the city is also home to the highest rate of unemployment on our US list, coming in at 5.5% - all of which is to say that Las Vegas residents really have it rough when it comes to handling burnout symptoms, work stress, and sleep deprivation.

2. Seattle

Heading north up the West Coast, our next US city is Seattle, which scored 60.06. The Emerald City is absolutely a gorgeous place to live, with easy access to the great outdoors on all sides. However, as we’ll soon see, Seattle residents have to contend with similar sleep issues to those living in Vegas.

Right off the bat, Seattle places 3^rd for searches around sleep troubles, seeing 4,802 searches being made per 100,000 residents each year – this is despite Seattle placing near the bottom of our table for the percentage of people getting less than 7 hours sleep on average (32.4%).

However, this isn’t even the worst of it, as Seattle actually came in top for burnout searches at 1,106 per 100,000, which is then backed by the prevalence of mental illnesses in the city. Indeed, Seattle came 2^nd here, with 27.14% of residents registering some form of mental health problem at some point in the last year.

In other words, work stress is high in Seattle, and this is being reflected in their regular, if stressful and fitful, levels of sleep. On the positive side, however, Seattle enjoys very low temperatures throughout the year, with the average being only 63.5 °F, reducing the impact summer heat might have on their sleep and thus making it easier to manage more intense burnout symptoms.

3. Washington D.C.

To wrap our study up, in third place for US cities dealing with burnout, we have one final capital city! Landing a total score of 52.67, Washington D.C. is apparently very familiar with burnout and work-related stress in general.

And speaking of work stress, Washington actually tops the list for work stress searches per 100,00 people at 384 in the last year. Like Seattle, such worries are being partially reflected in the rate of recorded mental illness, with an average of 26.63% of the population registered as falling into this category over the past 12 months.

Burnout searches and sleep trouble searches also register quite highly in Washington, sitting at 750 and 384 per 100,000 residents, respectively, and the capital is certainly no slouch for average work hours either, placing 10^th with an overall average of 34.7 per week.

Still, Washington D.C. residents are at least getting consistent sleep, matching Seattle for the percentage of residents getting less than 7 hours (31.9%), which helps to keep the US capital from ranking any higher.

What can you do to reduce the impact of burnout?

From our suite of data, it’s pretty clear that burnout is most prominent in big cities around the world, which makes knowing how to handle burnout and sleep, and proper moderation of its symptoms, a crucial step in minimising its impact.

Again, we absolutely recommend trying all the various pieces of advice we laid out at the start of our article, but our head sleep expert and CEO of MattressNextDay, Martin Seeley, also had this to say on the topic:

“To say sleep is important to our physical and mental health would be a monumental understatement, but it’s clear that many people around the world are still not giving their nighttime rest the attention it deserves – hence why we’re seeing increasing levels of burnout worldwide, and particularly in cities.

“Cities, by their very nature, are busy, hectic, and noisy places to live, so it’s not really a shock to hear that they aren’t exactly conducive with good sleep hygiene – which means residents have to put more effort into making their bedrooms that much more sleep-friendly.

“From installing blackout blinds and making use of earplugs to drown out that classic city soundscape, to investing in breathable bedding and a mattress with temperature regulation features to keep you cool at night, there are plenty of ways to make your bedroom a sleep sanctuary that will give you the rest you need.”

Get better sleep with MattressNextDay

Ultimately, if you want to properly minimise and offset the impact of burnout, then it’s clear that you need to make regular and good-quality sleep your priority, especially if you live in a busy city –and that’s exactly where the team at MattressNextDay can help! 

Needless to say, making sure you have the right mattress is crucial to getting a restful night’s sleep. So, if you’re old bed is in desperate need of an upgrade, then why not consider a new memory foam mattress for a sink-in sleeping experience. Or if you have the room, a king-sized mattress and bed combo so you can properly spread out!

And, of course, if you want more advice and insights into how to improve your sleep hygiene, then be sure to visit our sleep hub and guide pages, where we have pieces on everything from the benefits of sleep for your skin to the benefits of using a silk pillowcase.

Methodology

UK and EU data:

This dataset contains 2 rankings: one ranking 25 UK cities and the other 30 European cities, based on how burnt out their residents feel.

To do this, 7 different factors were used for the UK ranking, and 9 for Europe, and once the data for the factors was collected, each factor’s results were normalised to provide a score between 0 and 1 – if data was not available, a score of 0 was given.

These normalised values were then summed and multiplied to give each city a total score out of 100, and the cities were then ranked from highest to lowest, based on their total scores.

The factors used were as follows:

• Average weekly working hours – the average number of hours worked a week for an employee in each city. [EU country level]
• Unemployment rate – the rate of unemployment in each city, using the latest data available. In the case where city data wasn't available for EU cities, regional data was used instead.
• Happiness Index score – a score representing the happiness levels in each country. [EU only and country level]
• Minimum paid days off – the minimum amount of paid leave available in each country (as a combination of vacation days and public holidays). [EU only and country level]
• Average travel time per 10km – the average duration of a 10km car journey in each city, as of 2024.
• Green space – the percentage of area in each city officially defined as green space, i.e., parks, gardens, etc.
• Burnout searches per 100k – the total number of searches in each city for the prompts: "burnout", "feeling exhausted", "job burnout", and "signs of burnout", per 100,000 people, between Jul 24 - Jun 25.
• Sleep trouble searches per 100k – the total number of searches in each city for the prompts: "can't sleep", "insomnia", "sleep trouble", "tired all the time", and "too hot to sleep", per 100,000 people, between Jul 24 - Jun 25.
• Work stress searches per 100k – the total number of searches in each city for the prompts: "job stress", "stress at work", "work stress", and "work life balance", per 100,000 people, between Jul 24 - Jun 25.

The factors were then indexed as follows:

• Average weekly working hours – higher is worse.
• Unemployment rate – higher is worse.
• Happiness Index score – lower is worse.
• Minimum paid days off – lower is worse.
• Average travel time per 10km – higher is worse.
• Green space – lower is worse.
• Burnout searches per 100k – higher is worse.
• Sleep trouble searches per 100k – higher is worse.
• Work stress searches per 100k – higher is worse.

All data is correct as of 15/07/25. The ranking data shown is a compilation of multiple data sources and may not be representative of real life. All data is accurate with regard to the sources provided.

US data:

This dataset ranks 30 US cities based on how burnt out their residents feel.

To do this, 9 different factors were used, and once the data for the factors was collected, each factor’s results were normalised to provide a score between 0 and 1 – if data was not available, a score of 0 was given.

The normalised values were then summed and multiplied to give each city a total score out of 100, and the cities were then ranked from highest to lowest, based on their total scores.

The factors used are as follows:

• Average weekly working hours – the average weekly working hours of all private employees in each metropolitan area, as of May 25.
• Unemployment rate – the unemployment rate in each metropolitan area, as of May 25.
• Average summer temperature – the average temperature in each city between Jun-Sep, in Fahrenheit.
• Average travel time per 10km – the average duration of a 10km car journey in each city, as of 2024.
• Recorded mental health incidents – the percentage of adults in each state recorded as living experiencing a mental illness incident in the past year, as of 2024. [State Level]
• Adults getting under 7 hours sleep – the percentage of adults who reported regularly sleeping, on average, less than 7 hours in a 24-hour period. [State Level]
• Burnout searches per 100k – the total number of searches in each city for the prompts: "burnout", "feeling exhausted", "job burnout", and "signs of burnout", per 100,000 people, between Jul 24 - Jun 25.
• Sleep trouble searches per 100k – the total number of searches in each city for the prompts: "can't sleep", "insomnia", "sleep trouble", "tired all the time", and "too hot to sleep", per 100,000 people, between Jul 24 - Jun 25.
• Work stress searches per 100k – the total number of searches in each city for the prompts: "job stress", "stress at work", "work stress", and "work life balance", per 100,000 people, between Jul 24 - Jun 25.

The factors were then indexed as follows:

• Average weekly working hours – higher is worse.
• Unemployment rate – higher is worse.
• Average summer temperature – higher is worse.
• Average travel time per 10km – higher is worse.
• Recorded mental health incidents – higher is worse.
• Adults getting under 7 hours sleep – higher is worse.
• Burnout searches per 100k – higher is worse.
• Sleep trouble searches per 100k – higher is worse.
• Work stress searches per 100k – higher is worse.

All data is correct as of 15/07/25. The ranking data shown is a compilation of multiple data sources and may not be representative of real life. All data is accurate with regard to the sources provided.