It happens to the best of us: you start off the quarter feeling ready for your new classes and then as the quarter progresses, you feel as though you’re just going through the motions. If you’re feeling like this, there is a high chance you’re experiencing academic burnout. Academic burnout is a negative emotional, physical, and mental reaction to studying for prolonged periods of time, working on the same project for a while, or being in school for years and feeling the stress of it weighing down on you. Other factors that can lead to burnout include lack of sleep, poor eating habits, poor time management, piles of schoolwork, and prolonged stress due to studying. Burnout can happen when you start to feel overwhelmed with your workload and in turn, this might cause you to lose motivation and energy.
Signs of academic burnout
Feeling exhausted
Lacking motivation for assignments
Lacking motivation to participate in class
Incapability to meet deadlines
Tension in your body, such as headaches or sore muscles
Inability to concentrate
Increased stress and irritability
Increased feelings of anxiety or depression
Ways to avoid academic burnout
Try to schedule time for enjoyable activities and take time for yourself
Try to increase your physical activity
Weather permitting, go outside and enjoy nature
Develop good relationships with your professors and take advantage of office hours
Create small goals for yourself
Avoid procrastination as much as possible
Develop better time management skills
Try to create a better work-life balance
Give yourself grace and accept that you’re only human
If you find yourself experiencing academic burnout, one way to manage it is to reach out to others. This can be a trusted professor, student success advisor, family member, or friend, really anyone you feel comfortable sharing your feelings with. You do not have to silently suffer and having someone to confide in will help ease some of your mental stress. Another way to manage it is to not compare yourself to classmates. This will put unnecessary pressure on you to perform a certain way, which will cause more stress. Instead, create smaller, more manageable goals for yourself and remember that every student works at their own pace.
You should also check out the library’s LibGuide on student wellness. This guide provides resources that will help you manage stress, feelings of anxiety and depression, and more. There is a tab dedicated to mental wellness, and here you can find eBooks and articles related to understanding signs of depression as well as how to prioritize your wellbeing. There are eBooks talking about the power of gratitude and how practicing daily gratitude can shift your whole perspective.
Albert Einstein College of Medicine. (n.d.). Dealing with study burnout. https://www.einsteinmed.edu/education/student-affairs/academic-support-counseling/medical-school-challenges/study-burnout.aspx
University of the People. (2023, October 13). What is academic burnout? https://www.uopeople.edu/blog/what-is-academic-burnout/
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