Medicine is hard work. Once you enter medical school, It contributes to stressors in your life which not everyone can handle. Time and again you are handed with tasks, deadlines, expectations and Juggling all at once is exhausting and draining. Hence, burnout in medical school is a REAL THING! And it’s ok if you are currently going through one.
The U.S national academy of medicine defines burnout as a syndrome, characterized by, high emotional exhaustion, high depersonalization, low self-esteem and low sense of personal accomplishment. Unfortunately, medical schools in Pakistan do not currently identify and address medical school burnout as an actual issue. Medical students are burdened with A LOT of expectations and that sadly leads to their bad mental health.
Symptoms of Medical School Burnout
- Exhaustion: Extreme Tiredness is the most common symptom of medical school burnout. Intense study schedules, class hours and too much information can cause students to experience burnout related exhaustion. Good amount of sleep is essential to not only function well but also to retain information.
- Emotional Detachment: Someone who was once a passionate student, willing to work hard and put in all the effort and chirping with positivity. Suddenly becomes apathetic, stressed and worried most of the time about any and everything, they could be experiencing burnout.
- Feeling incompetent or Useless: Too much unhealthy and unnecessary competition at medical school can lead you to feel useless.
- Constant Headaches and spacing out
- Insomnia and changing sleep patterns
- Irritability
- Becoming physically Ill more often
- Neglect Self-care
These can be detrimental to not only medical school performance but personal lives as well. Here are few ways you can use to create self-regulating habits that can help you keep a check on your mental health, physical well-being and your performance at medical school.
1. Learn to take breaks
Your body and mind needs rest. listen to them. It’s ok to take breaks and rest. If you slow down and rest, it doesn’t mean you are weak or you lost the battle. It only means you are realigning and readjusting yourself for a healthier tomorrow.
2. Get Enough Sleep
Do not! I repeat, Do not underestimate power of a good night sleep. Your 8 hours of sleep is extremely important to charge you and prepare you for the next day.
3. Detach yourself from Toxicity
You need to understand and differentiate between people in your lives. Those who motivate you and those who drain you. Your mental health can only take so much. In order to lives a healthy, peaceful and prospering life you need to associate with people who love you for who you are and motivate you to work for your dreams.
4. Set Boundaries
Setting clear boundaries is extremely important. Set boundaries with yourself (Don’t overeat, don’t eat wrong, sleep on time, discipline yourself). Similarly, set boundaries with friends, family, work, study hours, everything else in your life. Your priority should be YOU!
5. Have a balanced schedule
When Rihanna said “Work, Work, Work, Work” I felt that! Jokes apart, you can’t always be work, work, work, yeah? You need to be work and fun. Live and Learn. If you only keep on working, you’ll keep on draining and exhausting. I understand getting all As are important, GPA is important but even if you don’t, it doesn’t make you any less of a good doctor. A good doctor always remains a good doctor. So try having a balanced work-life schedule and try to make time for activities that are not only fun but also bring you happiness and peace and TAKE A CHILL PILL!
6. Have constructive hobbies
Hobbies are important! No matter what age, what phase or what chapter of life you are at. Hobbies keep us all going. Your hobbies can be anything. NO! It doesn’t have to be reading! Anything that opens your health to peace and creativity. For some, it’s cooking, dancing, drawing, painting, sewing, It really could be ANYTHING! Stick to them, work with them, build on them, live them.
7. Make friends and talk to them
We, as medical students, are total LONERS! I am one too! We are so downed in our book avalanche that it leaves us no time for social life and for making friends. I keep trying every day to find time to talk about my day and my feelings with people around me, Let’s keep trying and let’s start talking!
I know, burnout gets the best of us and its high time medical schools start realizing this and making an effort to easing things for students. If you are someone who has been experiencing burnout and would like to talk to someone about it, you can get in touch with me on my Instagram handle @scrubsandbooks
If you are still evaluating if you should pursue medicine as a career read my blog post on How to decide if medicine is right career for you!