A Spotlight on Mental Well-Being: Your Mental Health Matters.
As students in healthcare, we often hear about burnout as if it is a norm and is something that we should simply accept as part of university life. This is also relatively common across the workforce, especially in many healthcare fields where countless professionals express concerns of burnout, compassion fatigue, or generally feeling overworked. While we navigate our undergraduate journey and begin thinking about our professional lives beyond these couple of years, it can become easy to fall into a routine of constant work and mental exhaustion, and thus cause us to neglect our mental health.
We want to remind you that your mental health matters. It’s not only essential to be aware of the state of your mental well-being, but also understanding how to foster positive mental health with everyday lifestyle practices that work for you.
In previous blog posts, we discussed the role of interdisciplinary care in the health sector, and how a holistic approach to healthcare contributes to ideal patient outcomes and positive experiences for professionals. A similar concept can be applied in this context—while studying hard for exams and maintaining academic standards is important, taking care of our own mental health allows us to be more productive in our studies.
In addition, a potential source of mental struggle can be found in the competitive aspects of the healthcare field, especially for those looking to pursue post-grad education. When it feels as though your peers are pitted against you, it can be difficult to seek help from people closest to you out of fear. Though this feeling can be overwhelming, it is crucial to remember that you are not alone in these experiences.
Mental health is never static, and it’s natural to feel stressed or anxious from time to time. However, it’s one step to identify and recognize these internal worries, but another to actually address them as a priority. Thus, we wanted to share some tips that you might find helpful in maintaining positive mental health and managing stress in your life.
Set time aside to indulge in hobbies and passions that make you happy.
Take good care of your body since your physical health is just as intertwined with your mental health. Try to eat nutritious meals, drink lots of water, stick to a regular sleeping schedule, and regularly partake in physical activity.
Connect with your support system, whether that may include your family, friends, or other members of your communities.
Don’t spread yourself too thin. Many people may be inclined to act ambitiously and take on too many initiatives, which often leads to burnout. Be reasonable with yourself and engage in self-reflection so that you can better understand your limitations.
Practice self-compassion. This could look like writing a letter to yourself with encouraging words, meditating, being mindful of your emotions, or simply forgiving yourself.
Ask a professional for help. Seeking help takes courage, regardless of the context, but it can also be eye-opening and provide a new perspective for change. There are many mental health resources and services available to students that we encourage you to take advantage of (we have also provided some in our ‘Resources’ tab).
Although the long-term benefits of self-care practices may not be immediately obvious, it is worth noting that establishing these habits early in our professional lives will lay the foundation for better working experiences in the future. Not only will we be better equipped to upkeep our own mental health and productivity, but we will also be better equipped to care for patients or other individuals experiencing mental health struggles as healthcare providers. Especially in helping professions, it’s so important to be accepting and understanding of yourself, rather than critical. Just like how we mentioned self-compassion above, you must first be able to care for yourself, which can give you the strength and energy to help others.
The stigma surrounding mental health unfortunately still exists to this day, but it’s clear that this conversation is necessary to shed light upon the importance of nurturing one’s mental well-being on a daily basis. There are many little acts of self-care that you can do for yourself, which can have an immense impact on your attitudes and relationships (with both yourself and others). Your mental health does matter, even when you might not realize it yourself. So, make sure you spend time doing activities that promote positive mental health every now and then, just like how you would with your physical health. As always, don’t forget to be kind to yourself.
“Being kind to yourself is one of the greatest kindness” - Charlie Mackesy, The Boy, The Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Your Healthcare Prospectives Team
