I think it’s factual to say that at least one point in a student’s life, they’ve experienced stress
from their workload. However, sometimes a lot of students don’t recognise when they
experience academic burnout. The Global Student Survey found that 44 percent of students
amongst 11,706 undergraduate students aged 18-21 had experienced academic burnout.
Symptoms of this may present themselves to be exhaustion, irritability, feeling like
procrastinating rather than working, and also sometimes seeing a decline in academic
performance. Here are some ways to reverse academic burnout, and get back on track with
studies.
Slowing down and changing your routine will also allow you to try and reverse the effects of
academic burnout. Try and pinpoint the source of your stress and attempt to eliminate it by
going at a slower pace than usual. For example, if you’re working towards a deadline,
instead of sitting down and doing 4 hours of work at a time, try one-hour intervals with 20-
minute breaks in between. Utilise these breaks by watching an episode of your favourite tv
show, having a snack, or even having a quick nap. To make sure that you stick to your work
schedule and breaktimes, you could use an app such as Flora, that helps you to stay off your
phone for a certain amount of time as well as to alert you when your break’s over. Through
using an app such as Flora and by allowing yourself more breaks, you’re not only holding
yourself accountable but also working at a manageable pace, which will help you to alleviate
the stress caused by academic burnout.
Engaging in something other than your studies ties into the idea of slowing down and
changing your routine, but in a non-academic sense. It’s important to create time for
yourself, rather than just designating all your time to your studies, especially because solely
focusing on your coursework or exams could increase your anxiety and wear you out. For
example, instead of meeting with your friends for your routine study date, it may be better
for your mental wellbeing to designate a coffee date that allows you to debrief about the
week, and also share how you’re feeling, without mentioning wanting to revise. Or, you and
your friends can do other stress-relieving activities such as pottery painting, going to an
arcade, a rage room, or even having a sleepover where you put on face masks, bake and
watch a comfort movie.
Speaking to someone about how you’re feeling is arguably, is the most important step when
it comes to dealing with academic burnout. Letting people know that you’re struggling with
your workload, especially your lecturers or module convenors, could mean that you could
get the relevant and advice and support that you need. Doing this step may be scary, but it
could result in a lot of benefits such as essay advice, or extensions on your deadlines. This
will then allow you to restart your routine in a way that helps you escape the cycle of
academic burnout.
As well as letting lecturers know, even letting friends know how you’re feeling about the
stress from your workload could mean that your friends will also open up to you about how
stressed they are too. It may not necessarily fix the academic burnout, but it’s nice to know
that someone is in the same boat as you, and that you’re not alone in how you’re feeling.