Perhaps unsurprisingly, anxiety and depression are two reasons that have 1 out of every 5 college students are seeking mental health help. Living the lifestyle of a college student can create a greater risk of developing burnout, depression and anxiety. In the last year, 20% of college students felt hopeless and overwhelmed due to a rigorous schedule.
Burnout
Are you worried about college burnout? College students need to take precautions when it comes to overdoing to avoid burnout. Life, as we adults know it, can become hectic especially when one is working and going to college full or part-time.
When a juggling college student’s life fills with work, college, socializing and extracurricular activities, their life can lead to burnout.
Burnout Signs
Three hundred college students gave their top reason they believe causes burnout. The majority of these college students said that professors and assignment overloads were the two main causes.
75% said that it comes from outside factors like financial struggles, family issues, and that their lack of time management contributes highly to burnout. 13% of these students report that the next top reason comes from a lack of personal, intrinsic motivation.
Along with the last 5% of these students reporting that that top reason comes from a mental or physical issue. Figuring out the problem, preventing it or resolving it is crucial.
A Texas A & M adviser believes that burnout happens after midterms but before finals. Somewhere in between these two exams, the excitement of college wears off and a feeling of being overwhelmed seeps in.
This is certainly not uncommon, and the adviser stated that there is no secret to keep this from happening. Located within one of their student service buildings are the crisis intervention and group counseling services. They provide these services to their students to help cope with all that goes on in a college student’s life.
There are several signs that you can watch for to know when you are on your way to being college burned out. Exhaustion, no motivation, frustration, poor grades, lack of focus, and disengagement are a few of the top things that are tell-tell signs of burnout.
Let’s get down to the nitty-gritty of things, burnout happens over time not overnight, taking months or years to build up. Regardless of how long you believe you’ve had signs of burnout; you should take the signs seriously.
Are you feeling the burn already? Change up your routine, reschedule your week and include an extra down time. Sleep more! Throw in an extra fifteen minute to thirty-minute nap instead of watching TV.
Acknowledging that you have burnout signs, is one of the best things that you can do for self-help. Talk to your adviser, they can help you reschedule and put your tasks in prospective. After all, they work with college students daily, so they’re bound to have a few tips up their sleeves.
Burnout’s not going to get you down! Here’s a few things you can do. Keep trudging through, one week at a time, or one day at a time or even one hour at a time; find a way to push forward.
Stay engaged, call up a friend just to chit chat for a bit. Go out to dinner, even if it’s a quick trip to a fast food restaurant. Invite a friend over for dinner and cook a small meal or just have sandwiches and watch your favorite TV sitcom.
Don’t let your routine become tedious
Entrepreneurs have found that they thrive and succeed more when they visualize their goals. They make a goal board to keep up with their progress. Cut out pictures from magazines or print them off from the computer, place them around your house so that you see your goal reminders daily.
You can also tape or glue them to a poster board and hang it somewhere where you will see it every day. This also lends a hand with keeping the end in mind, your dream come true moment.
Procrastination
Procrastination is not a friend of burnout. Therefore, don’t put things off and don’t wait till the last minute. Cram sessions are not all that fun. Schedule your week, managing your time is a crucial key element.
Make good use of your calendar or task app by figuring in the best time to study. Maybe your favorite TV show comes on Wednesday night, schedule more study time for Tuesday night. Set a timer during your studying so that you remind yourself to take a break, get up and stretch for 5 – 10 minutes, replenish your drink of choice, or start a load of laundry.
Do Your Chores
Do the dishes, that sink full of dishes can be washed throughout the night; nobody said they had to be done all at one time. Keep your study area neat and tidy that way you are ready to study the second you sit down. Put your phone on silent so that your distractions are limited.
Prioritize and organize what you need to study according to when it’s due. But schedule in study time daily, even if you sit down for fifteen minutes and flip through homemade flash cards of formulas or vocabulary.
Be A Little Selfish
Limit your volunteer time! College students look for ways to volunteer so that they may include it on their resume. Volunteering doesn’t have to consume a large amount of time. It’s okay to say no or to give a time limit that you feel is a fair amount of time to lend a hand.
Be realistic with your time schedule, find a good balance between volunteering, socializing, studying and working. Your time is valuable; prioritize your needs first. If you find that you can’t say no, then set clear expectations and boundaries for your time.
Self-Care is the Best Care
Take care of you! Making time for self-care is essential. Try a yoga class; it’s very beneficial because stretching all your muscles during yoga class can be extremely relaxing. College students prefer these places in Dallas, TX: Uptown Yoga, Dallas Yoga Center and City Yoga Dallas. Students may even check to see if there are yoga classes on campus.
Dance to Your Heart’s Content
Blast the radio! Jam out to your favorite upbeat song. College students usually have a built-in iTunes song list that is their go-to music of choice. KODA-FM (Sunny 99.1), KHKS-FM (106.1 Kiss FM), KDMX-FM (NOW 102.9), KBXX-FM (97.9 The Box) and KKHH-FM (Hot 95.7) are the top five popular radio stations in Dallas, TX.
Eye on the Prize
Remember your why! Why did you decide to pursue a college education? Why did you decide on what you are majoring in? Focusing on your intrinsic motivation will help ensure that you are working toward your goals. Remind yourself as often as you need to as to why you are working toward a better future.
Work/life Balance
Consider your course load! If you’re taking a full load of eighteen credit hours for the semester then you may want to consider taking only fifteen credit hours. Lessening your load could resolve several stressors.
Let It Go
Maybe you need a good cry! Play your favorite sad song. There’s no harm in cleansing your eyes with some refreshing tears. If you can’t seem to dig yourself out of your burnout phase, you may want to contact your family doctor and ask for some advice.
Depression vs Anxiety
As similar as people think they are, they are not. Depression is a feeling of severe despondency and dejection. Anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness or unease.
Although these two differ, people tend to put them in the same sentence. Depression is more like a slow moving, sad person where anxiety is more like an intensely, keyed-up person.
Depression
Depression, it’s a mood killer! Depression is more about your mood. In today’s college realm, students are unprepared for college life, they graduate with high financial debt and with the ever-growing population there are fewer choices in the work force employment.
Depression can also be caused from being homesick; due to separation anxiety from your family.
#1 Cause – Technology
Technology. Experts are pointing out that technology is now the number one proven source that causes depression. Mainly, social media is to blame. They say that college students are exhausted from living a double life. A double life that consist of a virtual life (the one you portray on social media) and a real life (the life that you are living in reality).
Your virtual life is a competition to make everyone believe that everything in your life is going your way. Selfies are polished up with apps which makes people look perfect all the time.
Ever woke up during the night to answer a text. Again, technology proving that it is of dire importance. More important than sleep. Not to mention, that once you’ve answered that text, chances are you will also flip through your social media pages.
Experts recommend during your sleep time that you put your phone on vibrate or you put your phone in another room while letting it charge. If you use your phone for an alarm, place it on vibrate so that you are not awakened by every notification that you have set; even on vibrate the alarm will still go off. Otherwise, purchase an alarm clock; they’re cheap starting around $5 at a local dollar store.
All this technology interaction is creating a mobile phone addiction. Our society has become so dependent on our cellphones that we can’t leave them and wander into a different room for a brief time without it.
Are you guilty of texting and scrolling through social media while sitting on the toilet? You’re not alone; 75% of Americans admit doing this. Experts recommend that you simply put the phone away and take care of business.
Ever been cyberbullied? A social media phenomenon that has doubled in the last decade. Inappropriate videos, texts and pictures are being splashed all over social media. This has significantly increased the risk of depression in college students.
Drugs
College students are seeking out stimulants. They believe they need this type of energy in order to be able to sustain their hectic college regimen. One doctor stated that the requests for Ritalin and Adderall have skyrocketed.
Whereas, a decade ago they had hardly any requests. While these drugs have been proven to be effective, they are on the prescription market only for those that have been accurately diagnosed with an attention deficit disorder.
However, doctors can prescribe medications that are made for depression. They can aid with sleep or lift your mood. If you are more into the homeopathic remedies, you can find some natural mood lifters as well.
Symptoms
Depression increases mental and physical health risks. Most people ignore their symptoms until it’s too late. Symptoms can include sadness, fatigue, sleep agitation, trouble focusing, anger, craving unhealthy foods, poor performance at work or school, and physical pain like headaches.
Overcoming Depression
Avoid depression! Stay physically fit by exercising; it’s not only good for the body it’s also good for the brain. Endorphins are created when you exercise therefore positive energy flows throughout your body. The Dallas, TX area has several beautiful, local walking trails such as Katy Trail, Preston Ridge Trail, and Cedar Ridge Preserve. They also have several gorgeous biking and hiking trails such as Spring Creek Forest, Cedar Ridge Nature Center, and Arbor Hills Nature Center. Buy some hiking boots and/or a bicycle and get to climbing.
Stay active and interactive! College students find themselves becoming a hermit due to their studying caseload. This is a sure-fire way to sink into a slump. Set aside time to socialize between work, classes and studying. Laughing and having a good time with friends can rejuvenate your mind. Dallas, TX also offers eatery venues with outside patios like Toller Patio, The Porch, Ck Billiards, and Hero.
Minimize your use of technology! Limit yourself to spending quality time on your phone like calling and video chatting with friends and family members. This will also ease that homesick feeling you may get if you’re away from family and friends while at college.
Sleep! Doctors recommend that adults should sleep between 7 to 9 hours each night. Sleep is essential to helping your body regulate your emotions, appetite control, building your immune system and maintaining a good metabolic rate to help aid with weight control. Within our bodies, we have a built-in internal clock. This internal clock tells us when we should be sleepy or wide awake.
Research shows that you stick to a sleep schedule and keep yourself in good health. Maybe your bed isn’t comfy and cozy enough to lure you in. Check out Sleep Experts Dallas, Rooms To Go, and My Ergo Bed; these are located in the heart of Dallas, TX. You can also find the softest, silkiest sheets at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Careful, you may not want to get out of your new bed!
Anxiety
Anxiety has eclipsed past depression in college students. According to experts, this is the number one reason college students are now seeking counseling. Anxiety tops out and effects 41.6%, whereas depression effects 36.4%.
It is the most prevalent, everyday mental health issue students face in today’s world. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 3 out of 4 of the 18 million enrolled college students experience anxiety.
Anxiety has several different types; separation anxiety, panic disorder, phobias, etc. People with anxiety are laden with nervous energy and tend to be keyed-up most the time.
Symptoms
Anxiety is more about being distressed. Symptoms can include excessive worry, restlessness, fatigue, trouble concentrating, irritability, sleep agitation, and muscle tension. There are some duplicated symptoms between depression and anxiety such as sleep agitation, fatigue and trouble concentrating.
Overcoming Anxiety
Much like that of depression, anxiety can be controlled by doing similar activities such as exercise, socializing, and fun distractions. Doctors recommend magnesium and other vitamins, desensitizing therapy, breathing exercises, yelling, and goal setting.
Anxiety has several off-the-wall therapies that you may try. Such as desensitizing therapy. This treatment is proven to be very successful among college students. Depending on where your anxiety originates like phobias, will depend on what type of desensitization you will focus on. College students may have a phobia of people and we all know how populated a college campus can be.
In order to help overcome this phobia, students may actively seek out events that have a small crowd and then continue until you find that you are somewhat comfortable in a large crowd. Some students have a fear of interacting with their professor or speaking out in class.
To help overcome this, try a couple of these methods. Think about which professor seems the less intimidating, greet them as you walk into the room. You may even keep it as simple as eye contact for the first week. Then, as you become more comfortable in class orally greet your teacher. Fear of speaking aloud in class, this is a biggie since a lot of colleges require that you take a public speaking class.
One great start would be to sit at the front of the class. Then when you are ready to begin asking questions, you should be comfortable with everyone’s attention being on the front of the room. Word your questions so that it’s a short question or maybe just confirming a small detail that they covered in class.
Herbal supplements like magnesium, kava, passionflower and other vitamins may be recommended by health experts to help alleviate symptoms. If you are taking any other medications, please check with your doctor before trying these supplements.
College students should be prepared to enter the college world. (could tie in the unprepared blog here) By being prepared, you can avoid burnout, depression and anxiety. College life should be taken seriously. However, one should remember to include time for fun and relaxation.