A Student's Guide to Dealing with Mental Burnout
(Disclaimer – I am not a licensed medical professional; these are just some things that have drastically helped me deal with anxiety and burnout.)
You cannot talk about mental health nowadays without addressing the problem of mental burnout. Whether you are a 9-to-5 type of person or a university student, I'm certain we've all had those days where, no matter how hard we try, we can't seem to get any work done. "Oh, forget this!", "Does anything even matter?", you know what I am talking about. Well, as a university student who used to have, and still has, a billion things on his plate, I found myself burning out faster than ever before.
Now what is mental burnout? According to WebMD, it is defined as a form of exhaustion caused by constantly feeling swamped. It happens when we experience too much emotional, physical, and mental fatigue for too long. In the most basic sense, it is a feeling when you know you can do so much more, but you just can’t work at full mental capacity to do so.
I remember a time when I was in that same boat. I was juggling tasks between five different clubs and had an important research project that required hours of lab work. During that period earlier this year, I also found myself bombarded with a bunch of midterms and exams, and by the time finals rolled around, I was completely out of my element. To make things worse, I really couldn’t afford to take any academic hits because I was so close to getting an extension on my scholarship. So, what ended up happening? Well, I had to put my big boy pants on and push through regardless of what I was feeling mentally. Remember reader, nothing important in life comes easy.
Now that I am on the other side of that phase, I found myself thinking that there must be a better way to juggle tasks and ensure my productivity while reducing the chance of burnout. As a resident biology major and science nerd, I decided to dive into the neurobiology aspect of it all. Here is what I found about the physiological effects of mental burnout –
1) The Stress Alarm System
Think of your body like a high-tech security system. The HPA axis (also known as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis; try saying that three times fast) is your body’s alarm system for stress. When you enter high-stress situations or environments, the hypothalamus in your brain signals the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which then stimulates the adrenal glands to release cortisol (you may know it as the stress hormone) to help you deal with the problem. This is a natural process and is important for helping you handle those kinds of situations. Now, imagine being in this stress-elevated state for days or weeks on end, where your brain's alarm system is on high alert all the time. This, as you may have realized, leads to negative health outcomes, including mood disturbances, fatigue, and a weakened immune system.
2) The Emotional Control Room
If you've taken any undergraduate biopsychology or human anatomy courses, you're likely familiar with the amygdala. For those who aren’t, the amygdala is often described as the emotional control room of your brain, responsible for processing emotions such as fear and stress. When you are under chronic stress, the amygdala becomes hyperactive and constantly sends out distress signals. This increased amygdala activity also disrupts its communication with other brain areas, such as the prefrontal cortex, which is crucial for regulating emotional responses. As you can imagine, this isn't the best health scenario in the long run.
3) The Decision Maker
Ever found yourself trying to decide which shirt to wear on a date or which movie to put on for family movie night? Well, you’ve used a special part of your brain to help you in such situations. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for higher-order functions like decision-making, focus, and, to some extent, emotional regulation. However, when stress-related cortisol comes into play, the prefrontal cortex's ability to process information and regulate emotions takes a hit, reducing cognitive efficiency. Elevated cortisol levels can interfere with synaptic plasticity (the brain's ability to adapt and learn) which is essential for maintaining that sharp mental edge.
Chronic stress exposure has even been shown to cause atrophy (a decrease in size) in prefrontal cortex neurons (brain cells), weakening their performance. To top it off, stress can increase inhibitory neurotransmission in the prefrontal cortex, further impairing cognitive function and decision-making abilities.
4) The Communication Network
Not to be confused with the 2010 blockbuster hit "The Social Network" starring Jesse Eisenberg. We have something known as neurotransmitters, which can be referred to as your brain’s communication network. Neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine play crucial roles in regulating mood, motivation, and overall mental well-being. During periods of chronic stress, the balance of these “brain chemicals” is disrupted, leading to depression, anxiety, and overall cognitive decline. This ends up amplifying the symptoms of burnout and makes it much more difficult to recover to a baseline mental state.
Now, I could explain a dozen other factors regarding how your body experiences mental burnout, but that’s not our main focus here. The only reason I mentioned them is to help you understand that prolonged stress makes things worse physiologically and psychologically. So, how do you overcome this mental fatigue? Based on personal experience, certain lifestyle changes have significantly boosted my productivity to the point where I can work twice as much while drastically reducing the chances of mental burnout. So, enough of my yammering, here are 5 changes you can make to see similar results–
1) Prioritize Sleep
I know you want to stay in bed at night, scrolling through Instagram reels and TikToks until the crack of dawn. Or if you’re like me, spend most of your time tossing and turning in bed regretting downing two Redbull cans at 9 PM, thinking, "Oh, what could possibly go wrong?" Regardless of who you are, you don’t need a measly undergrad telling you that sleep is important.
For the past four months, I have been closely tracking my health metrics using my Samsung Fit3 fitness tracker, and I came to the realization that my sleep schedule was absolutely horrendous. I barely got four hours of restful sleep every single night and always found myself waking up groggy and drained. That is when I decided that summer break was probably the best time to get my sleep back in order, aiming for a sleep score of 80 to 90 every single night. Here is my process to ensuring a proper night's sleep:
Getting off the phone 1.5 hours before bed.
Finishing dinner at least 2 to 2.5 hours before bed.
Not drinking large amounts of fluids an hour or two before bed.
Fifteen minutes of deep breathing exercises before sleep.
Keeping my room temperature at 23 to 24°C (73.4 to 75.2 °F).
These may seem random, but I promise you that they are all backed by scientific literature. I plan to make a whole separate post about sleep in the future, where I will discuss all of these in more detail. At the time of this blog entry, I am on day 63 of this sleep program and my brain has never been healthier. I can get so much more deep work done every day, and that constant feeling of annoyance has gone away.
2) Fix Your Diet
Another thing that my generation likes to put on the back burner is proper nutrition. No, you cannot have a bag of Cheetos and a half-liter bottle of Mountain Dew and call that dinner. I have been guilty of doing this for the longest time, just eating the most nutrient-deficient foods in existence and wondering why I feel drained or tired all the time. Once I started a diet where I began eating whole, non-processed foods regularly and having three proper meals a day, I kid you not, I felt like a whole different person. Ever since then, my skin has cleared up, I feel energetic, I sleep so much better, and I just have a more positive mood.
We think about food like, "Oh, it has enough calories to get me through the day," but we fail to realize what our bodies require in terms of macros (fats, proteins, and carbohydrates) and micros (certain vitamins and minerals). If that is something you are interested in; I am currently working on a blog post with a student-friendly guide to basic nutrition where I will dive deeper into this topic.
3) Set Boundaries and Take Breaks
Now that I have covered the basics, let's get into certain things I have started doing to make sure I don’t clock out mentally in high-stress situations. I realized quite late that anything you do academically or career-wise shouldn't come at the cost of your health. We are caught up in a world that prides itself on excessive amounts of work, and hustle culture is on the rise. Trust me, I love hustle culture and the grind mentality, but pushing ourselves to the point where you are just an empty shell of a person is where we need to stop. The best way to do that is by simply setting boundaries. Know your limit, know how much work you can take on at once and make sure you stay within those confines.
Now, the reason I say set boundaries is because it's you who decides how far you can push yourself before snapping. For some people, certain tasks seem like a cakewalk, but for others, the same tasks may be a huge endeavor. So just sit down and figure out what your limit is and how far you can push it sustainably.
And please learn to take breaks. I have always been accused of being a workaholic, and I realized that was one of the reasons for my poor mental health. Go out for a walk, watch a movie, or just listen to music, whatever works for you. But make sure you do it in moderation. Remember, a break is a small part of your lifestyle, so keep it that way.
4) Simplify Your Tasks
I have always had people asking me, "Hey Ausaaf, how do you manage to work on so many things at once?" or "Hey Ausaaf, I am trying to work on these projects but can’t seem to find the time, what do I do?" Well, my friends, it's simple: plan your life out. We often get overwhelmed by the number of tasks we need to do, and as a result, we burn out mentally before we even get the chance to tackle these things systematically.
I was in the library a while ago and read this book (can't seem to remember the name), and one thing the book talked about was the habit of making a success list instead of a checklist. Unlike a checklist, where you have a bunch of stuff lined up that you need to complete by a set time, a success list is just a simplified form of that.
Now, ask yourself, "What stuff do I need to complete today to call this day a success?" Note those tasks down and get at it. This way, you see things from a different perspective. Instead of thinking, "I have 40 things to get done this week," you think, "I have only 8 things I need to get done today to call it a success." That way, you are more motivated to stick to a set plan and get things done without overwhelming yourself.
5) Don’t Beat Yourself Up
I recently listened to an episode of "The Checkup with Doctor Mike," a podcast by Dr. Mikhail Varshavski, a well-known medical professional and YouTuber. In the episode, it was mentioned that Gen Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) is considered the most depressed generation to date. The primary reason for this, as discussed, is the widespread influence of social media. It encourages constant comparison with others, leading many to feel inadequate; a mindset that can be incredibly harmful.
Instead of comparing ourselves to others, we must learn to compare our current selves to past versions of us. More often than not, you will see how far you have come, how much you have achieved, and how you have grown as an individual. So next time you feel yourself burning out and thinking, "What is the point of it all?" or "I am not good enough," think about how many victories, small or big, you have had to come to this point. Remember, no one can uplift you as much as you, so go easy on yourself from time to time.
If you have made it this far, I just want to let you know the journey is difficult, but if you can just push through it a little while longer, you will see that it was all worthwhile. So keep pushing yourself (sustainably, please), keep hustling, and keep leveling up. I will catch you guys in the next post.
