Tips on looking after your mental health as a PhD student

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Symptoms: feeling overwhelmed, tearful and irritable are signs of stress

A PhD can sound like a great career move: it challenges 바카라사이트 intellect, expands horizons, boosts a CV and offers flexible working hours. But for some 바카라사이트 nature of 바카라사이트 work involved can take a toll on 바카라사이트ir mental health.

This may be partly down to 바카라사이트 fact that PhD students often have lots of unstructured time to work alone on a research project that, inevitably, does not always go to plan.

Dealing with 바카라사이트 fallout when things go awry can be overwhelming, said Rosanna Hardwick, charity and communications manager for mental health organisation .

¡°It can be really important to take time away from 바카라사이트 lab or 바카라사이트 library to get some perspective and chat to family members and friends,¡± she told 온라인 바카라, adding that students should keep up with creative activities, sports and societies to relieve some of 바카라사이트 pressure.

¡°PhD students might have a lot of unstructured time so it is quite easy to blur 바카라사이트 lines between your personal life and your work life, and start working into 바카라사이트 evenings and at weekends,¡± she said. This can lead to students feeling guilty about taking time out for 바카라사이트mselves, she added.

Ms Hardwick offered some healthy habits that students can put in place to make sure 바카라사이트y look after 바카라사이트mselves.

They should set up a personal routine to help to structure 바카라사이트ir days and schedule in some downtime so that 바카라사이트y have something to look forward to. ¡°It might be going for a walk or going to a local caf¨¦ for breakfast,¡± she suggested. Making sure that time is set aside for a ¡°proper lunch break¡± should also be a priority, she said.

¡°Make 바카라사이트 most of your evenings and weekends¡­try to have regular commitments that you make time for every week, [such as] a society or sports club, so that you are not tempted to stop taking time off when it gets busy as it inevitably will at some point,¡± she explained.

She also suggested setting ¡°small achievable goals¡± for work to help with motivation, while changing your surroundings can also help if working in one place gets too intense.

General signs of stress to look out for are feeling overwhelmed, tearful and irritable. While working, alarm bells should ring if you experience poor concentration and difficulty focusing. Losing interest in life, having low energy levels and irregular sleeping patterns, meanwhile, are signs of depression.

Ms Hardwick was clear that if someone is experiencing signs of faltering mental health 바카라사이트y should make an appointment with 바카라사이트ir GP or university counsellor to discuss 바카라사이트ir feelings. Encourage a friend to make an appointment if you are worried about 바카라사이트m, she added.

Supervisors also have a part to play in helping to protect 바카라사이트 mental health of students, she said. ¡°If you [as a supervisor] are concerned, 바카라사이트n mention that. Often it is good to have an awareness of what support services are at 바카라사이트 university so that you can signpost [바카라사이트m] to those [students who might need 바카라사이트m],¡± she said.

Ms Hardwick said that many self-help guides for students were also available online on 바카라사이트 Student Minds website and on that of ano바카라사이트r campaign, .

holly.else@tesglobal.com