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We’re getting to the home stretch of the academic year, the 9th inning if you will. For a lot of us, this means signs of fatigue are beginning to creep in, and our energy levels are beginning to deplete themselves. Exams are getting harder to study for, tasks are becoming overwhelming and even social interaction can feel like a burden. Now is the time of the semester where we should begin to evaluate where we are devoting our time and energy, checking to make sure these things are serving us and not draining us.
What is academic burnout?
Burnout is a state of chronic physical, emotional and mental exhaustion that results from prolonged academic stress. Burnout represents a deeper depletion of energy that can affect every aspect of a student’s life. Theres an imbalance between demands consistently placed on students and their capacity to cope, which creates a cumulative effect where stress compounds over time. Chronic stress produced by academic burnout significantly impairs cognitive function, memory retention and academic performance; all skills students need to succeed.
The 12 Stages of Burnout
Psychologists Herbert J. Freudenberger and Gail North described burnout as a 12-step-process that outlines the many ways burnout can manifest itself physically, mentally and emotionally.
- The compulsion to prove oneself: Overachieving starts to become over-ingrained into your identity, and you begin equating your self-worth to how much you are able to accomplish.
- Working harder: You start to become obsessed with the work you are doing, pushing past your limits.
- Neglecting your needs: Healthy habits and social connections are abandoned; you forget to prioritize yourself and your holistic needs.
- Displacement of conflicts: You start to become conscious of the problems arising from overworking yourself, but you decide to push past the discomfort. You start trying to distract yourself from these inner conflicts by self-medicating (frequent drinking and partying, overspending, dating, restrictive dieting.)
- Revision of values: Work achievements become fused with your perception of yourself. You go into survival mode, so to stop working and studying is to stop surviving. Your priorities and values begin to make drastic shifts.
- Denial of emerging problems: Denial sets in and engaging with new experiences and people can become a burden. You start to become inflexible and impatient, retreating into isolation.
- Withdrawal: You start to withdraw from the world around you, abandoning the things you once cared about. Social interactions begin to feel like a “performance.”
- Odd behavioral changes: You start to lose control of your emotions and your perception of reality. It becomes harder to decipher criticism and valid concerns from others. Your decision-making is clouded by inner chaos.
- Depersonalization: You are showing up physically, but you are mentally absent. You lose your ability to recover autonomously; you need help to rediscover your self-needs.
- Inner emptiness: You start to feel hollow and need to numb this emptiness through over-indulgence or unhealthy habits.
- Depression: Oversleeping, neglecting physical needs and going through the motions. Often manifests itself through anxiety and a desire to self-isolate.
- Burnout syndrome: A mental and physical collapse is imminent. You are rendered incapable of supporting yourself.
Tools to combat academic burnout
- Reevaluate your why: Redefine your end goal if you need to. Not everything is about “self-improvement” some things can be done just for their enjoyment. If something starts to feel obligatory but isn’t benefiting you mentally or emotionally, consider taking a step back.
- Say no! You have free will…exercise it! Be firm in your boundaries, if something is no longer serving you or you simply don’t have the time to tend to it, say no. Often times we are scared of letting others down, but often we are the ones left to make a sacrifice that may negatively impact us. Your relationships shouldn’t be transactional and measured only by how much you can do for someone else. If they are, here’s your wake-up call.
- Lean into spontaneity and self-care: Routines and structure are lovely things, but sometimes the monotony of our routines can weigh us down. Try mixing things up and letting go of control where you can. For instance, if it’s a beautiful day outside, maybe instead of spending time studying inside, take your studying outdoors for the day. Find little ways to make your life more interesting! On the opposite end of that spectrum, try incorporating designated rest days into your routine. Think slow days where you don’t have a detailed to-do list, you just exist however you want that day. If that means spending the afternoon learning to play chess or getting lost in a book you’ve been meaning to read, go for it! The key here is to have unstructured time not predetermined by a mental schedule.
- Try different studying and planning methods: Sometimes you just need a better way to stay organized and keep track of your tasks. Try online sites like Notion, Google Calendar and Better Campus. These sites are totally customizable, and you can manipulate them as you wish! In terms of studying, you may try the “Pomodoro method”, which consists of setting a timer for 25 minutes of uninterrupted work. After those 25 minutes you get 5 minutes to stretch, get water, do nothing or doom scroll however you spend those 5 minutes is up to you. You then repeat this cycle of 25 minutes on and 5 minutes off to maximize your productivity while giving yourself mini brain breaks.
- Celebrate your small wins: Acknowledge your accomplishments! You work so hard, you should get to reap what you sew. It doesn’t have to be a big elaborate gesture but doing things to let yourself know you did something cool and worthy of appreciation is a great way to stay motivated and present. Always be your biggest cheerleader!
- Set realistic goals: It’s important to be aware of your bandwidth and how much you are realistically capable of. If you’re having an off day, maybe don’t plan a jam-packed day that you know will be a mental test to get through. As students we are inherently very goal-oriented but it’s important to also give ourselves grace when we fall short. It’s inevitable and it will always be a part of life, get used to discomfort and not always being exceptional. Your identity doesn’t solely lie in your academic achievements.
The key to combating academic burnout is to take preventative action steps that will preserve your mental health and ensure sustained success. Burnout is not a “productivity tax”, something inevitable that you must inherit to work hard and find success. You always have the power to slow down and reevaluate; your future self will thank you for that. As we get to the end of the semester, continuously check in with yourself and give yourself grace even when it’s hard. Do the hard thing!
By Raigan Clay