Happy Monday and welcome to your mental health mini.
This week is a solo and we are talking college burnout.
What are the best ways to treat and address burnout in college?
Very common thing. So many students I hear at Penn
are struggling with burnout and overwhelm and stress.
My biggest tip here is almost from a prevention perspective
and then I'll get some tips. If you're like I'm already burnt
out, there's nothing that can be done at this point.
Please help me. If you are finding yourself more
stressed, you're like, I'm not sure if this is sustainable.
This is a lot to handle, especially if you're starting a
new semester, a new class load, a new school, whatever it is.
I think it's essential that on a day-to-day basis you are having
a sustainable balance and moving in an upwards trajectory.
What I mean by that is kind of the 8020 role.
You've probably seen this on social media, heard it in a
podcast, a book, everyday life, whatever.
The idea is that 80% of the time you are doing things that are
good for your most of the time it's from a health perspective.
So maybe you are getting daily movement, you're eating
balanced, you're sleeping enough.
And then the 20% is things where you're kind of letting loose.
Maybe you're going out with friends, maybe you're staying up
later, maybe you're watching ATV show that you love.
But because you have this 80% continuing on the positive
trajectory, the 20% doesn't make a difference in your overall
progress. You're still having a net
positive. What I found when looking back
at my mental health challenges and when I was at my lowest, my
80% was these really overwhelming, exhausting
negative mental health experiences.
And the 20%, if it was even 20%, was like, oh, this made me
happy. Today was great.
I just had a positive thought about myself and so I was
constantly regressing with respect to my mental health.
So from a burnout perspective, I think it's very important to
structure your day and your week to keep you on that upwards
trend. So maybe that's your morning
routine. I make my bed, I do it every
single day and it makes it a really enjoyable experience to
be in my room because I'm like, wow, everything looks so nice
and organized and tidy. I brush my teeth, I wash my
face, then I make a cup of coffee.
One of my biggest recommendations for college
students is to have a great in room coffee set up because
coffee is so expensive and something that brings me joy
every single morning. So maybe that's your morning to
routine, maybe that's your night routine.
I'm finishing up school work. I will shower and then I will
watch TV before I go to bed. And I know that you're probably
like, why are you doing that? Isn't that the worst thing you
can do for your mental health? So I did an interview this past
year. It's episode 104.
It's with Heather Turgeon and Julie Wright.
And I talked about this idea of watching something before you go
to bed. And they brought up something
super interesting that I hadn't necessarily thought about
before, which is that I forget what they called it.
You can listen to the episode, but it's like a mindless
background noise essentially is what it is.
So some people listen to a meditation while they will go to
sleep. Sometimes they listen to right
noise, some people will do like a self-guided meditation, some
people will breed. I am someone who cannot shut
their brain off. But I found when I watch one of
my favorite shows like The Office or Big Bang Theory,
specifically those two that I've seen many many many times, I
know what's going to happen and it works really well for me.
And it means that I can fall asleep within like 20 to 30
minutes rather than hours. Sleep is one of the biggest
determinants of mental health, especially for me.
So I would be getting like 8 hours every single night, non
negotiable. I would also make sure I'm
getting some kind of daily movement.
So maybe you're taking a walk every day, maybe you're working
out. You're doing all these things to
improve your mental health in ways that you can control it.
You are setting up your study schedule so that you're not
completely overwhelmed and cramming for every single exam.
You're doing a little bit of your readings every day rather
than trying to sit down for six hours and do all your textbook
readings at one time. So you are planning a day to
make sure that that 80% is solved for and you are kind of
almost in control of that. And then the 20%, which is the
stress associated with school, maybe you get in an argument
with a friend, maybe you don't sleep well one night.
Yes, you will experience those challenges.
Those will lead to more stress, but they won't derail your
mental health and you won't be completely burnt out because
again, you are on that upwards trajectory and getting better
with your ability to cope with stress and life.
So that's my advice there. Be very mindful of what is
improving your mental health and improving your mood and ability
to cope with stress and what is not.
And really optimize for that 80% and be intentional.
If you are fully burnt out at this point, I go back to that
idea of the vacation retreat. Take a day, take a weekend, and
truly unplug. Don't study, don't open the
textbook. Do whatever it is that will
recharge you mentally. Maybe you're going to sleep in,
maybe you're going to spend time with friends, maybe you're going
to go on a walk, maybe you're going to go to the gym.
But whatever it is that has stressed you out to the point of
burnout, you need to completely take a step away from that for a
short period of time. Because if you're like, oh, I'm
so burned out, I'll study for one less hour today.
I honestly don't think that's going to make a huge difference
in the stress that you're experiencing.
So see if you can try and structure in that break that
unplugging from whatever it is that is making you stressed, and
then start to make shifts towards that 8020 balance and
make those improvements long term.
I would also ask for help. If you are really burnt out,
it's going to be difficult to keep up with your coursework.
It's a lot to stay on top of classes in college.
So loop in a friend, loop in a teacher, talk to a therapist,
parent, a family friend. Tell someone that you're feeling
really overwhelmed and that you're feeling really stressed.
Because if you're burnt out, it's not unlikely that your
mental health will start to struggle as well.
So loop someone in, ask for help, see if they have any
advice. Maybe you're approaching
coursework and effectively maybe you are doing all the readings
when you really only need to be doing readings for two classes
because the other ones aren't tested on.
Really ask around, see if you can learn from others
experiences and get support and take a more collaborative
approach. If you enjoyed this weeks mental
health mini, you can listen to the full episode.
It is episode 135 featuring yours truly.
The link to the full episode is in the show notes.
As always, make sure to leave a review, subscribe, share with a
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podcast. Thanks for listening.