Academic Burnout

By Reade Fenner

Modern students face a variety of challenges in addition to the basic requirements of learning and studying. Along with the expected difficulties and stress revolving around receiving an education, students must face issues with their mental health. As students are not robots whose sole purpose is to complete colossal amounts of work, when a student gets overwhelmed by their responsibilities, they may experience academic burnout. Academic burnout occurs when an extended period of studying and schooling spanning anywhere from weeks to years leads to feelings of exhaustion, frustration and a lack of motivation. Burnout is not merely the occasional annoyance due to long hours of studying or fatigue after staying up all night to complete an assignment, but a chronic condition due to prolonged schooling.

An important step to recovering from academic burnout is identifying the symptoms. Academic burnout may lead to constant exhaustion and fatigue, even after sleeping for sufficient periods of time, as well as insomnia. While facing burnout, students can also experience a lack of motivation or creative inspiration, and an inability to meet important deadlines. Burnout can induce poor habits including nail biting, poor eating or later bedtimes. Students may feel disinterested in activities they previously enjoyed or other symptoms typically associated with anxiety and depression, as well as physical pain such as headaches or jaw tension.

Getting a handle on academic burnout can be extremely difficult, as fixing one’s mental health while continuing to keep up with schoolwork can feel like an insurmountable obstacle. When battling burnout, it is vital to take frequent breaks from studying, as burnout occurs when you’ve worked your brain too hard and for too long; allowing yourself to take a breath will help you recover and get back to work without facing mental exhaustion. Taking care of yourself is also very important; ensure you drink plenty of water, eat health, and get enough sleep and exercise, often more than you think you need, as basic health allows your brain to more effectively combat stress related to burnout.

Partaking in activities you enjoy and hanging out with friends is also very important. Though socializing can be difficult due to the coronavirus pandemic, keeping in contact via text or FaceTime can be just as effective as seeing your friends in person. Being around other people grants your brain a break from constant work, making it easier to return to studying later on, after you’ve given yourself sufficient time to recover.

Setting reasonable goals and avoiding procrastination can also help with recovery from burnout. Creating a schedule where you budget your time and manage it responsibly, given you include plenty of breaks, may help you to get a handle on schoolwork. Aside from taking all possible actions you can to prevent burnout, it is perfectly acceptable and sometimes necessary to ask for help. If school becomes so overwhelming to the point that you feel you cannot manage it, talking to a counselor or parent about how you feel could be beneficial, and having a discussion with your teachers about your situation can only help them to better understand why you may be struggling. Although academic burnout may seem like an enormous challenge with a difficult recovery process, it is never impossible to combat.