Hormones and Burnout: Why Nutrition, Movement, and Sleep Matter for BCBAs

This presentation explores how chronic stress contributes to burnout by disrupting hormone regulation, and how everyday behaviors like nutrition, movement, sleep, and recovery play a direct role in restoring balance. Attendees will learn how hormonal shifts can function as motivating operations and influence the three-term contingency, reinforcing behavioral patterns that keep burnout in motion.

Using a behavior-analytic framework, participants will assess their own hormone-supportive behaviors, set measurable goals, and practice interpreting self-monitoring data to guide change. This session offers BCBAs practical and evidence-based tools to reduce physical symptoms of burnout and improve energy, recovery, and long-term resilience through behavior, not just your generic self care check list.

Learning Objectives:

• The participant will explain how hormonal signals function within the three-term contingency and their role in burnout.
• The participant will identify hormone-friendly behaviors that influence energy regulation and stress resilience.
• The participant will provide examples of indirect assessment methods for evaluating baseline hormone-supportive behaviors.
• The participant will develop measurable goals to increase hormone-supportive behaviors and align them with socially significant outcomes.
• The participant will analyze graphed data to make data-based decisions for modifying goals and prevention strategies related to burnout.

Megan Patterson is a BCBA and certified nutrition and fitness coach who helps busy women build energy, consistency, and strength without extremes. After experiencing severe burnout as a practitioner and gaining over 70 pounds, she realized that mindset alone wasn’t enough — her body was in survival mode. That experience led her to combine ABA, ACT, and hormone-informed health coaching to support long-term recovery through behavior change. Megan is the founder of Elevate Coaching and creator of the Elevate ACTions course, where she helps others take action even on their hardest days.