Healing Lab: Can Heat + Tiny Creative Moments Really Help With Burnout? Here’s What I Learned
Burnout isn’t just “being tired.”
It’s a full-body, full-brain depletion that can make even simple things feel overwhelming. And during November’s burnout theme on the Healing Is My Hobby podcast, I wanted to put two gentle, accessible practices to the test — not theoretical self-care, but real-life experiments I could do as a busy therapist, mom, and human who’s sometimes running on fumes.
So this month’s Healing Lab explored two questions:
1. Does warm-water therapy actually melt burnout?
2. Can tiny glittery dots (AKA diamond painting) calm a fried nervous system?
Here’s what happened when I tried both.
🔥 Experiment 1: Warm-Water Immersion (A.K.A. Heat Therapy)
Why I Tried It
Burnout lives in the body. When we’re overwhelmed, our stress response system, specifically the sympathetic nervous system, gets stuck on “high alert.” Warm water naturally helps shift the body into rest mode. Research shows that passive heat therapy:
Lowers cortisol
Reduces muscle tension
Improves sleep quality
Activates the parasympathetic “rest & restore” mode
In other words: heat helps your body breathe again.
What I Tested
To make this experiment realistic (because not every night allows for a spa-level routine), I tried three versions:
1. A nightly 10-minute hot tub ritual
No phone, soft lighting, silence.
2. An Epsom salt bath with calming music
A little at-home retreat energy.
3. A foot soak + breathwork combo
Perfect for busy days when I didn’t have time or energy for more.
What I Noticed
It was almost shocking how quickly my body responded. Within seconds of getting into warm water, my shoulders dropped. My breath slowed. That “tight chest burnout feeling” loosened.
Here’s what stood out:
The hot tub helped me sleep deeper and wake up less tense.
The bath was the most soothing emotionally—I felt genuinely comforted.
The foot soak was the easiest and most surprisingly effective. Paired with slow breathing, it gave me a full nervous system reset in under five minutes.
Does heat therapy melt burnout?
Not magically. But yes, it softens it. It creates space. It helps the body remember what calm feels like.
🎨 Experiment 2: Diamond Painting & Slow Crafting
Why I Tried It
Burnout isn’t just physical exhaustion, it’s cognitive overload.
Slow, repetitive creative activities activate “flow,” a state that:
Decreases rumination
Boosts mood through gentle dopamine release
Restores attention
Helps the brain focus on one soothing task
Diamond painting felt like the perfect low-pressure entry point.
What I Tested
Diamond painting bookmarks (small + doable)
Mini cross-stitch
Paint-by-number
Clay bead bracelet making
What I Noticed
Starting was the hardest part, burnout makes initiation feel huge. But once I began, something shifted:
Diamond painting was my favorite. It was calming, structured, and offered tiny sparkles of joy (literally).
Cross-stitch was the most meditative but required more patience.
Paint-by-number was soothing but better for longer stretches.
Bracelet-making was fun, bright, and perfect to do with my kids.
Do tiny glittery dots fix burnout?
Not completely.
But they absolutely helped my brain downshift, get present, and find micro-moments of joy, which are essential for recovery.
💛 The Big Takeaway
Burnout recovery doesn’t have to be dramatic.
It doesn’t require quitting your job, running away to a cabin, or reinventing your entire life.
It requires small, consistent moments of nervous-system repair.
Warm water softened my body.
Slow crafting softened my mind.
Together, they created space for me to breathe again — little windows of “me” within the chaos.
And that’s the whole spirit of the Healing Lab: tiny experiments that help us come home to ourselves.
✨ Try It Yourself: A Mini Healing Practice
If you want to try your own version of this Healing Lab experiment, choose one of these:
A 5-minute warm foot soak
A 2-minute diamond painting session
One small row of a slow craft
Set a timer.
Let it be imperfect.
Let your nervous system downshift.
And if you try it, I’d love to hear about your experience — you can tag me on Instagram @healingismyhobby or send me a message.
