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Burnout” syndrome, “burn out” syndrome or work fatigue syndrome, is a state of emotional, mental and physical exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. This syndrome creates increasing concern as stress and exhaustion have dramatically increased over the past decade. In 2000, it was already declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an occupational risk factor, due to its ability to affect quality of life, mental health and even put the life of the individual who suffers from it at risk. These days, a step further is being taken, and the fact is that the “burn” syndrome will appear in the next International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) of the World Health Organization (WHO) as a problem associated with employment or unemployment. A 2017 survey showed that 37 percent of adults in the United States had experienced an increase in their level of stress in the past year compared to previous years, and other data indicate that 14 percent of respondents between 18 and 29 years of age knew a family member or close friend who had been diagnosed with exhaustion syndrome. Common symptoms include physical and emotional exhaustion and a feeling of underperformance in working life, with demotivation and a “feeling of not arriving”, anxiety and depression

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Since the middle of the last century, the beneficial effects that a group of plant substances grouped under the name of “adaptogens” could have on stress, given their proven activity in improving physical and intellectual resistance and immunity, by regulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HHA) axis, which is responsible for the production of hormones and neurotransmitters in response to stress, have been studied.

Among the most studied adaptogens is rhodiola root (Rhodiola rosea), on which multiple studies have been conducted and published. Specifically related to burnout syndrome, in 2017, an interesting, open-label, single-branch, exploratory clinical study was published in the journal Neuropsychiatry Dis Treat, which examined the clinical results of 118 patients diagnosed with bournot exhaustion and who were treated with 400 mg daily of a patented extract of Rhodiola rosea for 12 weeks. A wide range of rating scales were investigated and evaluated in an exploratory data analysis to generate hypotheses about clinical courses and provide a basis for planning subsequent studies.

The results showed a significant improvement in most of the symptoms, confirming that several parameters had already improved after 1 week of treatment and continued to improve until the end of the study, with very good tolerance.