Could YOU be on the verge of a breakdown?

Take our quiz to find out — and, if you are on the edge, learn how to ‘press pause’ before it’s too late

ONe day in 2009 I woke up and found that I couldn’t get out of bed. After years of pushing myself to the limit, my body wouldn’t function. I was in my mid 30s, running training companies in singapore. I loved my job. I had a great time socialising, but I wasn’t looking after myself. I was living in a lovely apartment, but I remember walking through the door and thinking, ‘I don’t really live here, because I’m away so often’.

I would send emails at 3am, then be up again at 6am. I was on a treadmill that I couldn’t see was having an effect.

Looking back, there were signs I chose to ignore. I was three stone heavier than I am today; my joints ached constantly. I found it hard to sleep, although I was exhausted. On the fateful day my body refused to wake up, I was halfway through running a five-day training programme for executives. It took a week before I’d recovered enough to get up, but only when my boss said ‘do you think you need a holiday?’ did it seep in that I might not be well.

I went on holiday to Cornwall. A week turned into three months. I went into lockdown, total retreat. I had no contact with the outside world. Once a week, I’d travel to London to see a therapist. I slept more than I could ever imagine.

My experience isn’t that unusual. the World Health Organisation predicts that work-related stress, burnout and depression will top the list of the world’s most prevalent diseases by 2020. Increasingly, none of us can truly get away from the office — we check our phones on average 221 times a day.

Last year, stress accounted for 45 per cent of UK working days lost and 37per cent of work-related illnesses. so I started Pause retreats as a way to help other people to recognise the signs of burnout. they’re the same whether you’re a mother ploughing through an impossible to-do list or negotiating a high-powered deal.