Whether you have an exam or an essay coming up, it is always important to practice self-care!
Research has shown that stress-induced burnout is associated with sleep deprivation, fatigue, and difficulty in employing creative thinking (Shchaufeli, Maslach, & Marek, 1993).
Practicing self-care, which can include exercising regularly, and occasional meditation is associated with less burnout and improved concentration. In fact, Passos and colleagues (2011) found that just four weeks of moderate aerobic exercise improved sleep quality and depression symptoms among subjects.
More recent research has shown, however, that everyone differs in their approaches to self-care, stemming from individual differences in stress tolerance: researchers have found that variables such as social support and.optimism can influence individual’s response to and appraisals of stressful events (Leavy, 1983; Taylor & Aspinwall, 1992).
So try some of the strategies mentioned, and if they don’t work for you, do something different!
-Sophia Meifang Wang
References
Passos, G. S., Poyares, D., Santana, M. G., D’Aurea, C. V., Youngstedt, S. D., Tufik, S., & Mello, M. T. (2011). Effects of moderate aerobic exercise training on chronic primary insomnia. Sleep Medicine,12(10), 1018-1027.
Schaufeli, W., Maslach, C., & Marek, T. (1993). Professional burnout: recent developments in theory and research. Washington, DC: Taylor & Francis.