About a quarter of UK workers say they feel unable to handle work stress, while 63% of us seem to show signs of burnout.

But sometimes, it feels like the advice for those going through it ― especially considering some think burnout can take years to recover from ― is incompatible with the realities of people’s lives.

Speaking to HuffPost UK, NHS GP Dr Helen Wall said: “I do get a little bit irritated when people talk about self-care and, you know, just relax and do some exercise and do some mindfulness and all of this carry on because actually there’s more to it with burnout than that.”

Though she does think there’s a case to be made for taking time off when work stress becomes exhausting, she added, “burnout doesn’t resolve just through rest”.

Here, she explained why burnout can feel like such a trap, and shared her tips for handling it if leaving your role doesn’t feel like an immediately viable option.

Dr Wall said that taking time off “doesn’t fix the causes of burnout, which are often linked to the amount of workload, lack of control around the workload, or… feeling that their values are conflicted” at work, she told us.

In fact, a phenomenon called “moral injury” is common in healthcare, “where you feel like what you should be doing for a patient is not what you’re able to do. That can happen in all kinds of work.”

Chronic understaffing is yet another issue contributing to burnout, she added. And she doesn’t think time off alone will solve that.

That’s why “if I’m signing somebody off work because of… burnout, I like to encourage them to share that with work, whether that’s on the sick note or whether that’s them asking for an occupational health review or speaking to a line manager.”

Without these structural changes, she added, burnout will return. And if people feel they have no choice but to stay put due to mortgages, childcare costs, and/or housing expenses, “they become shamed and fearful and isolated,” may worry about redundancy, “and all of those things can worsen that burnout”.

Unhelpfully, burnout can leave people “in a really dark place [where they] can’t think outside of what they need to do or what will help them” to leave.

Dr Hall referred to something called the Maslach model, which says that at least one of the following six levers needs to be moving for a person to begin to recover from burnout:

“It might not just be about reducing your hours, but the cognitive load of what you’re doing when you’re actually working or the emotional load of what you’re being asked to do while you’re working,” said Dr Hall.

“Having that autonomy over how and when work is done and feeling that you’ve got some control over that, things are not being done to you.

“Everybody likes a pay rise, what with the cost of living crisis etc, but actually there’s a lot of studies being done to show that reward in your job and feeling personal satisfaction and value actually lasts longer in terms of how you feel.”

This, the GP said, involves “feeling psychologically safe within the workplace, feeling that you’ve got a good team and the people you work with can have your back and support you”.

Percieved injustices can fuel burnout, the doctor explained. “Feeling that things are not fair and not equitable and people are not playing by the rules or handling situations right, that can really chip away at somebody’s happiness at work.”

This is a little like Dr Hall’s former point about moral injury. It happens, she said, “when people feel like they can’t work in line with their values”.

Luckily, she added, “There’s some evidence to show that even just moving one of these in the right direction can ease burnout and improve burnout.

“I always encourage people to try to have a chat with their line manager… or whoever they can trust at work to try and look at changing some of these things.”

If this feels completely impossible, however, unfortunately “it’s about thinking, what else can you do? Is there another option? Is there another job you can apply for? Is there another route of career or something that you can work towards?”

The head of a Labour-backing trade union has called for Keir Starmer to be replaced as prime minister.

Steve Wright, general secretary of the left-wing Fire Brigades Union, said Labour MPs need to demand “change” in Downing Street.

His intervention came amid mounting speculation that the prime minister is set to be ousted amid public fury at his decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to America.

Starmer was forced to sack him last September after fresh revelations about his association with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The former Labour peer now faces a criminal investigation after a new tranche of decuments appeared to show him passing market-sensitive information to Epstein when he was business secretary in the wake of the 2008 financial crash.

Starmer has said Mandelson lied to him about the extent of his friendship with Epstein when he was being vetted for the ambassador’s job.

Appearing on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg, Wright said: “I think we need to see change. I think 18 months ago the general public wanted to see that change – and we’re not seeing it, we’re just seeing a continuation of what happened before – and I think that needs to be a leadership change. I think MPs need to be calling for that.”

Asked if he thinks Starmer should go, Wright said: “I think everybody’s thinking it, we’re just not saying it at the moment.

“Unfortunately we’re seeing MPs being wheeled out again today to sweep up the mess behind the prime minister at the moment. It seems the prime minister isn’t taking advice from elected people within his own government.

“He didn’t listen to the former deputy prime minister, he hasn’t listened to the current deputy prime minister, he’s listening to a factional group which are making bad decisions it seems .

“I want to see the change that was promised that this country needs.”

But work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden defended the PM and said Labour should “not drop the pilot after 18 months” in office.

Asked about demands for a vote of confidence vote in Starmer by Labour MPs, he replied: “Why would we have a confidence vote when he won a general election 18 months ago? He should carry on with what he’s doing.”

When I’m typing on my laptop, I transform from a human woman into a shrimp. As the day goes on, I curl forward as I clatter away on my keyboard, and I know I’m not the only person who becomes a crustacean under deadline pressure.

The idea of a “desk shrimp” is so familiar that it has become a popular internet meme, but it’s not just a joke. If you keep hunching forward over your phone and computer screens, you could be putting your body and mind at real risk.

“If you hunch forward over something, you’re doing yourself a disservice,” said Alan Hedge, an ergonomics expert and professor emeritus for the human centred design department at Cornell University.

“You are creating lot of muscle tension in the back as your body leans forward. You’re actually reducing air capacity to the lungs. You’re restricting blood flow as you lean forward.”

The more we “shrimp” forward while working, the more our bodies pay a price.

“Over time, things will get worse and worse for you, and you will end up with an injury, and it will either be a neck, back, hip injury or a hand, wrist, arm, elbow injury,” Hedge said about the common injuries that “desk shrimping” causes, like carpal tunnel syndrome.

The first early warning sign that your “desk shrimping” is hurting your body will often simply be stiffness or a bodily twinge.

“You’ll be rubbing your wrists, or something’s not comfortable. Don’t ignore that,” Hedge said. “Discomfort is the first stage of the path to injury.”

Your hunched posture adds up to pain over time.

“Slouching can lead to severe neck, back and shoulder issues, which can not only cause pain but upper back weakness, joint stiffness and even disc degeneration,” said Karen Loesing, owner of The Ergonomic Expert, which evaluates ergonomics for businesses. “Unnatural positions can even cause numbness, tingling and pain due to nerve compression.”

If you deal with indigestion, being a “desk shrimp” might also be a cause, because this posture compresses your abdomen and restricts space for digestion, which in turn slows metabolism and increases abdominal pressure, Loesing said.

“Compression forces stomach acid upwards,” she said. “This can lead to acid reflux, constipation and bloating. Any abdominal pressure makes it harder for the body to process food effectively.”

Beyond your stomach and other body aches, there’s also a mental toll to being a “desk shrimp”. Minor headaches, twinging wrists and neck aches become bigger distractions. “It becomes much more difficult for you to think clearly about things,” Hedge warned. “If your back starts twinging, that distracts you.”

This distraction will lead to fatigue, which will start to cause more mistakes at work too. “When you get tired, your error rate goes up, your decision-making abilities go down,” Hedge said.

To avoid shrimping, you need to relax the tension in your body; the more we relax, the more we naturally lean back. “As you sit back, your back comes into contact with a chair back, and that takes some of the body weight, so you get less weight going through to the hips. Your ability to breathe improves,” Hedge explained.

That’s why having an office chair with a back and setting it up properly for your height is so crucial. If you are using a laptop to type, get a laptop riser and a Bluetooth-connected keyboard, Hedge recommended. This way, you can adjust the height of the screen and avoid “desk shrimp” behaviour.

Loesing said the “most important rule is to know that [computer] monitor height dictates your posture”.

“If your monitor is too low, you will likely be flexing downward. If your monitor is too high, you will crank your neck into extension,” she said. “Keep your eyes aligned with your shoulders. Rolling shoulders back and down can help.”

And if you are a shrimp while using your phone, try lifting your phone to eye level, or rest your elbows on a surface or your body if possible for support, Loesing suggested.

These adjustments take practice, but it’s better than being a desk shrimp for life with aches and debilitating pains. Your human body will thank you.

A cabinet minister has called on Peter Mandelson to give up the five-figure taxpayer-funded pay-off he received after being sacked as the UK’s ambassador to Washington.

Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden suggested the disgraced peer donate the money to a charity for female victims of violence.

The Sunday Times reported that Mandelson received between £38,750 and £55,000 – equivalent to three months’ salary – after Keir Starmer sacked him last September over his association with the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The former Labour peer now faces a criminal investigation into allegations he passed market-sensitive information to Epstein when he was business secretary between 2008 and 2010.

On Sky News this morning, McFadden was asked whether Mandelson should give up the pay-off.

He said: “I think he probably should, yes – either give it back or give it to a charity, perhaps one involving violence against women and girls.

“I think taking a pay-off in these circumstances, I don’t think the public will think much of that.”

A No 10 source told the Press Association: “Given what we know now, Mandelson should either pay the money back or give it to a charity to support victims.”

Shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said: “A five-figure taxpayer funded payout for Lord Mandelson is a disgusting betrayal Epstein’s victims.

“The government must ensure Mandelson’s golden goodbye is recovered in full.”

A Foreign Office spokesman said the pay-off was being “reviewed” by officials.

He said: “Peter Mandelson’s civil service employment was terminated in September 2025 in accordance with legal advice and the terms and conditions of his employment.

“As we have consistently said to parliament, normal civil service HR processes were followed.

“Further information will be provided to parliament as part of the government response to the motion passed last week which is being co-ordinated by Cabinet Office.

“A review has been instigated in light of further information that has now been revealed and the ongoing police investigation.”