Student Health Center coordinator shares mental health advice

You have five assignments due at 11:59 tonight and you’ve only finished one of them. You got around five hours of sleep last night, so to compensate you’ve probably had enough caffeine to give someone a little older heart palpitations. Truth be told, you may have skipped a couple of meals too. “But I’m fine,” you tell yourself.  

As a college student, it can be easy to think that you’re invincible. However, you’re not invincible, and sometimes you might find it hard to bounce back. According to a 2021-2022 survey by the Mayo Clinic across 133 college campuses, 44% of students reported symptoms of depression. 

Many depressive symptoms are caused by unhealthy behaviors that fuel stress and cause burnout. These unhealthy behaviors include ignoring the body’s basic needs by skipping meals, not hydrating properly, not getting enough sleep and overindulging in caffeine and sugary drinks. 

“If we engage in these behaviors, it sets our brain into a fight or flight response, which means your anxiety levels are elevated and you’re more apt to depressive symptoms and more stress,” Melissa Partridge, research assessment coordinator for the Student Health Center and Wellness Initiative, said. 

Partridge learned this lesson from personal experience. When she was a graduate student working on her thesis, she spent a few days subsisting solely on coffee and Cheetos because she felt she didn’t have enough time to eat. However, these behaviors came with consequences. 

“I realized that I could no longer make sense of what I was writing. My body just refused to work,” Partridge said.

According to Partridge, being burnt out is characterized by “maladaptive coping strategies such as isolating yourself, trying to escape from stress, and not nourishing your body.” When someone is burnt out, they’ll find themselves acting in extremes, either sleeping too much or too little, binge eating or barely eating at all, manic about getting work done or simply not caring. 

So how can a college student avoid becoming burnt out?

College life can be stressful, but there are plenty of ways to avoid working yourself to the brink. Based on academic research, her own experience and conversations with students, Partridge created this list of advice for stress management. (See list to the right.)

If you think you’re burnt out and that you’ve pushed yourself a little too far, don’t panic. One of the first things to do is make sure your body’s basic needs are being met. That means eating properly, hydrating and making sure that you’re getting enough rest. That may include giving up on all-nighters to do homework. 

“There’s no need to sacrifice sleep on the altar of achievement,” Partridge said. “At the end of the day, your body is essentially a machine that requires fuel in order to work efficiently.” 

While it may seem like your body can handle anything, taking care of your body properly is the start to avoiding burnout.   

For more resources, visit this website.

Perez is a feature reporter for the Liberty Champion