Burnout is a feeling of exhaust and excessive stress. It can be caused by excessive school work and lack of sleep. It can make it difficult to focus and complete work, often, it makes you so tired that you have little to no interest in doing anything. According to crowncounceling.com, over 55% of students are affected by academic burnout.
As someone who does occasionally deal with burnout, I believe that it isn’t talked about as much as it needs to be. Burnout is a difficult thing to deal with because it makes completing tasks and work so much more difficult.
As well as students, teachers also suffer from burnout. They create the work that students do, they create lesson plans for the year, they have meetings throughout the day, and much more. So when you complain to your teacher that they are giving out too much work, remember, you are making their job harder.
Burnout can be difficult to deal with however, often burnout is our own fault. It may not feel like it but if you think about how you are spending your time you may realize where you went wrong. For example, if you are complaining that you are staying up late doing all of your work, all the work you were doing is likely not what’s making your burnout worse.
According to isu.edu lack of sleep can lead to physical exhaustion, which can affect your ability to concentrate and take in information during class or while studying. This can cause you to fall behind. So, instead of staying up late doing work, go to bed at a reasonable time, get your eight hours of sleep, do your work in the morning or during lunch, and if you’re still having trouble with your workload, ask for a possible extension.
Another possible solution to academic burnout is taking breaks throughout the day. According to health.cornell.edu taking purposeful breaks from studying to refresh your brain can increase your energy, productivity and ability to focus. Although it may seem like breaks can set you behind, they are an excellent way to refresh your mind and increase your focus.
Even though it can be difficult, focusing on one task at a time can make your workload so much less stressful. Focus on one assignment at a time so you don’t overwhelm yourself. I recommend making a to-do list so it is easier to track your assignments.
Just remember that if you spend your time constantly stressing over all the work that you have, nothing is going to change. Take a break to calm your mind, make a to-do list so you can track your progress, start your work one assignment at a time and ask for help if you need it.
As common as burnout is, it isn’t normalized enough. A lot of people see it as being dramatic but as someone who does sports and is in clubs, balancing work with that can be difficult. When I start to fall behind in my work, I remember these three strategies and they can help me get through my work without overwhelming myself.
