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College Burnout: How Students Can Avoid It
Poor mental health is a very serious concern in today’s society, especially among college students who have to deal with constant stress and anxiety on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the stress and anxiety they always feel doesn’t just stem from a heavy course load.
With working long hours at multiple jobs, completing internships, and balancing a social life on top of all their academics, it’s no wonder students suffer from poor mental health. When students don’t receive the help they need to properly address these mental health concerns, college burnout is likely to occur.
The good new is burnout is very treatable if you’re able to recognize it. You can also recover from burnout if the symptoms have already set in. Below, you’ll find effective strategies you can use to avoid college burnout and improve your well-being.
What is College Burnout?
Students who endure prolonged amounts of intense stress, anxiety, and pressure are likely to suffer from college burnout. When burnout occurs, students will experience fatigue and extreme apathy towards their academics, social life, and any goals they have. As burnout progresses, it will start to carry over into every area of a person’s life.
Total lack of motivation and depression are common symptoms of college burnout. To sum it up, burnout can cause complete physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. There’s also quite a few physical symptoms, such as headaches, vulnerability to common illnesses, and muscle pains.
Some other indications of burnout include a constant feeling of cynicism, isolation, sense of failure, and self-medicating with drugs or alcohol.
Tips for Avoiding Burnout
College burnout is something that no student should have to go through. Unfortunately, the typical stressors students deal with on a daily basis has allowed burnout to become a pervasive problem.
That’s why it’s important to be aware of the early signs of burnout so you can work on avoiding it. Luckily, there’s a variety effective strategies and useful methods for students to utilize when dealing with burnout and trying to overcome it.
1. Recognize Early Signs
As mentioned above, burnout has a variety of symptoms — which all have different degrees of severity — that need to be recognized early so the right steps can be taken to prevent it.
If you’re experiencing constant stress, you need to look out for early burnout signs: exhaustion, lack of motivation, and decreased enthusiasm. Once you’re aware of these early warning signs, you can follow the tips below to work on improving your mental health.
2. Find a Healthy Coping Mechanism
In college, it’s easy to give into unhealthy coping mechanisms. This can be things like binge eating unhealthy foods, isolating yourself from people, or impulse buying. These are the type of coping mechanisms you want to avoid. It’s best to work on developing a healthy coping mechanism that will have a positive impact on your life.
Healthy coping strategies aren’t meant to distract you from your problems; they should do one of two things — help eliminate the distress in your life or help you find ways to tolerate and cope with that distress.
Fortunately, there’s several easy and simple healthy coping mechanisms and self-care strategies that any individual can try. Physical activity is one of the best ways to relieve stress, boost energy levels, and improve overall health. Relaxation strategies such as reading a book, meditating, listening to music, and engaging in hobbies are excellent, too.
If the causes of your stress and anxiety are becoming too overwhelming, you can develop problem-solving strategies that eliminate those causes by dealing with them more directly. This involves reaching out to individuals who can help you and taking a more proactive approach.
3. Talk to a Mental Health Counselor
One of the best ways you can avoid college burnout from happening is by talking to a counselor at college. With mental health issues among college students on the rise, there’s a good chance your college has counselors that offer mental health services. Some colleges also offer support groups, therapy groups, and drop-in clinics.
Counselors will be able to offer support to students who are struggling with mental and psychological issues. They’ll help find ways to cope with negative emotions and reduce symptoms to improve an individual’s overall well-being.
Some specific issues they’ll focus on include interpersonal relationship issues, depression, stress, anxiety, homesickness, and certain disorders.
Even if you aren’t experiencing any severe symptoms that are negatively affecting your mental health, it can still be worth talking to a professional and taking advantage of the mental health services at your college.
4. Don't Stretch Yourself Too Thin
To clarify, stretching yourself too thin is when someone tries doing too many things at once. This is a reality for many students who have to juggle work, academics, sports, clubs/organizations, internships, and any other commitments. Seems nearly impossible, right?
When you stretch yourself too thin, you’ll find yourself being constantly busy, having no time to take care of yourself, and putting constant strain on your body and your mind. As you can probably tell, this is the perfect formula for college burnout. If you find yourself in this situation, take a step back, reevaluate your priorities, and focus on what really matters to you.
5. Talk to Your College Advisor
College advisors exists for the sole purpose of helping you succeed. You should make an effort to meet with your advisor on a regular basis so you can utilize the guidance they’ll offer you. If you have any questions regarding your academics, an advisor can most-likely answer them. They’ll help with the nerve-racking transition from high school to college and the usual stressors that freshman experience.
Advisors also provide support for students who are academically struggling. They’ll work with students to create a plan that will get their academics back on track, encourage problem-solving skills, and help them take advantage of opportunities that will aid in their overall success.
As you can see, having this type of support system in college is very beneficial. With the proper advising, you’ll be able to avoid common college pitfalls like burnout.
6. Set Aside Time for Yourself
College burnout thrives when students don’t take a break from all their academic responsibilities. When I started college, I always felt the constant need to stay on top of all my coursework and other tasks so I didn’t stress myself out with late deadlines.
I was too focused on finishing things right away to actually make more time for myself. This caused me to be more exhausted, less focused, and less motivated than usual. If you don’t turn your brain off once in awhile, you’re going to find yourself mentally exhausted quite frequently.
Make it a priority to create some free time in college so you can mentally recharge, hangout with friends, and catch up with family.
7. Disconnect and Power Down
Being constantly connected to technology has increased the amount stress and anxiety students endure everyday. As mentioned before, all students need a break from college once in awhile — it’s hard to do that when they’re always being bombarded by school emails, coursework notifications, and campus news alerts.
Mindlessly scrolling through social media for hours at a time can also take big toll on their mental health. It can cause several negative feelings, such as envy, depression, and loneliness. Therefore, putting your phone down and taking a break from all the outside distractions can significantly improve your mental health.
This way, you can focus on living in the moment and appreciate what really matters in life. Moreover, limiting the amount time you spend on your devices can help improve your quality of sleep, limit procrastination, and improve productivity.
