How to prevent burnout.

With the Christmas holidays fast approaching, deadlines are on the rise and energy levels are on the fall. Burnout is a state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion from excessive and prolonged stress. It’s important to balance work, focus and motivation with looking after mental and physical health. Be careful not to burn the candle at both ends.

Disclaimer

Although this article provides advice you should make sure to seek help if you feel burnout, or any of the connected issues, are overwhelming you. You can check out our Student Welfare Hub for resources, or there are a number of online support services, such as student minds and music minds matter. They have a dedicated mental health support line and service for the whole UK music community, and you can call on 0808 802 8008, open 24 hours.

Spot the signs

There are a number of ways your body might be telling you it’s burning out, some of the signs might not be so obvious. If you notice yourself:

• feeling tired or lethargic
• feeling anxious
• lacking motivation
• losing sleep
• neglecting self care over work

– you might be experiencing burnout and should take steps to look after yourself to counteract it.

How to deal with burnout

Rest

No matter how much motivation and energy you have, your brain needs time to relax and reset so that it can function and perform effectively. This is particularly important when studying music and sound as your brain needs to be creative and analytical. You should try to regularly:

• Get a 8 hours sleep every night at consistent times
• Have an off-day at least twice a month where you don’t do anything related to your degree
• Take regular breaks throughout the working day, recommended at least 30 minutes every 6 hours
• Have a night in, where you can relax

Ear fatigue

A phenomenon that occurs after prolonged exposure to auditory stimulus or, in short, listening to music for too long. Symptoms can include tiredness, pain and discomfort in the ear, and loss of sensitivity. All of which could affect your ability to effectively work so it’s important to make sure you monitor at a reasonable level, have listening breaks throughout sessions and wear hearing protection when necessary.

Stay healthy

Your general wellbeing and energy levels are directly affected by eating healthily, not skipping meals and staying hydrated. If planned and managed correctly it’s often cheaper to eat healthy home cooked meals, even on a student budget. Research some cheap and healthy recipes, less money for more energy.

Go outside

Although it goes without saying, getting outside whether for exercise or just walking round the block can have huge benefits on your health. It helps with sleep, increases serotonin (happy hormones) and gives your brain time to rest.

Unplug and unwind

This is particularly important as music and sound students as it’s very likely your downtime will include music. Whether this is going to events or listening to music at home, you might not be allowing yourself to fully switch off and rest.

Keen ears might take inspiration or critically analyse music, reverse engineer a mixdown, shazam tracks for your next set or wonder how out of key that singer is. All of which is great research for your career, but not rest. It’s important to recognise this time as ‘work’ and to do non-music related activities to unwind.

You might find you are more creative after having a listen to the sounds of the world around you whether that’s the stillness of the peak district or the bustle of Piccadilly gardens. However if you’d rather have some thing to listen to, try audio books which are now included free with Spotify premium.

Studying efficiently

An important factor of fighting a burnout is to study effectively, work smarter not harder!
This can be adopted in a number of ways, such as:

• planning your days and your work load
• managing distractions
• set yourself clear, manageable goals
• prioritise tasks that are going to maximise progress and productivity

Most importantly, ask for help. Talk to others and express if you are feeling overwhelmed or struggling with things. They may be experiencing similar problems. Talk to your tutors, they have a lot of experience with students in similar situations and might have some useful tips.