Burning out
Stress can be good, as it motivates students to do and accomplish daily tasks of living, said Dr. Jim Davis, director of the Student Health and Wellness Center.
“From a doctor’s point of view, student burnout doesn’t exist,” Davis said. “There isn’t a diagnosis of burnout. It’s not that we don’t see it, and it’s not that we don’t recognize it as burnout. What we do see is an increase in stress and a decrease in performance.”
USU staff psychologist Mark Nafziger said the body is like a bank account. Students are constantly spending and not putting money back into their bank accounts.
Davis said personality characteristics are related to the tendency to burn out. People with type A personalities – the driven, hard, obsessed individuals – tend to burn out faster than laid-back individuals, Davis said.
Depression, stress, adjustment disorder and acute anxiety disorder are some of the diagnoses seen in the Student Health and Wellness Center that can cause burnout, Davis said.
“Most times we’re talking about things that are psychological rather than physical,” he said. “Certainly physical symptoms will occur, such as fatigue, restlessness, insomnia, appetite changes, weight loss and maybe eating disorders.
“Anxiety disorder is our number eight diagnosis (at the Student Health and Wellness Center). Depression is our number one.”
Nafziger said burnout can lead to depression or depression can lead to burnout.
The number one reason nationally that students miss class, Davis said, is because of stress.
Cramming for a test the night before doesn’t help, he said. It doesn’t help short-term or long-term memory.
Jade Knowles, senior majoring in operations management, said he hadn’t attended classes for six days because he had lost all interest.
“I’m running out of fuel,” Knowles said.
One of the ways Knowles said he has learned to cope with stress is to reward himself every once in a while.
“You work hard, you play hard,” he said.
Natalie Archibald, senior in public relations, said she always over-schedules herself in her daily activities.
“I never have enough time to do what I schedule,” Archibald said.
Visualizing, meditating and writing down what stresses her out are a few ways Archibald said this class has broadened her outlook on the many ways to deal with stress and avoid burning out.
“Eating the right foods and getting enough sleep can keep your stress level down too,” she said.
“Everything intuitively would tell you that the more you attend class and the more you study, the better you ought to do, but the opposite is true,” Davis said. “Having a social life is actually important so that you don’t burn out.”
Nafziger said students can save themselves grief by thinking realistically so they can perform the way they want to academically and have time for other parts in life.
“I think where people really get themselves into trouble sometimes is they just think, ‘Well these are all good things to do. These are all things I wanna do, so I’m not going to prioritize and I’m not going to choose. I’m just gonna try to do everything,'” Nafziger said.
“We have stopped teaching students how to prioritize,” Davis said. “Some things are more important than others. Being able to look at a series of things and decide which one has the most inherent importance. The number one stressor of college students nationally is relationship issues.”
The key, Davis said, is to keep healthy – be well-fed, well-rested, well-hydrated and in peak performance, like an athlete.
Exercise is a de-stressor, Davis said. Also, brain foods, such as fruit or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, are good complex carbohydrates for a diet, he said.
Preparation, meeting deadlines and breaking assignments into small success prone packets will also eliminate stress, Davis said.
– T.Dixon@aggiemail.usu.edu