Medical school life, as many people would say is not at all a bed of roses. The intense academic workloads, the limited time of relaxation, financial burden, academic stress, parental expectations, unhealthy competition and the homesickness are few of the common stressors I’ve experienced thus far.
Research has shown that about 50 percent of medical students experience symptoms of burnout as a result of all the stressors listed above.
Everyone has a coping strategy to stress or stressful situations, below are some of the ways I cope with stress as a medical student.
Sleep
My average sleep time in a day is 5 hours. I’m a nocturnal person, I go to sleep very late at night either by spending the time learning or just scrolling through my phone after studies.
During my stressful days, the first defense mechanism is to sleep well. I get some sleep after class, thus in afternoon which I normally don’t do. When I wake up I feel totally refreshed to continue my day. Sometimes after a hot afternoon rest/sleep, the stress goes away.
Give myself a break
One of the other ways I cope with my stressful periods is to give myself some break. Break from everything including studies and especially my phone.
I’m a very studious person so it’s very difficult to just take a break from what I enjoy doing. It’s very hard sometimes but at the same time very helpful. I get to relax my mind, think about myself more and other things I might enjoy doing.
Other times I take the break and just lay in bed reminiscing about myself which helps replenish my attention, motivation and productivity.
Exercise
Exercise can be an excellent way to decompress. When one exercises, the brain produces a feel-good hormone called endorphins. Endorphins can act as natural painkiller and also improve the ability to sleep, which in turn reduces stress.
Some of the stress releasing exercises I do include going for a run, taking a walk around the campus or just sit still and watch the birds fly and listen to them sing.
Watch anime
Just a single episode from my favorite anime is enough to calm my nerves. Anime is like a good distraction to me. You could conclude that I watch anime to escape from reality sometimes. The enthralling storylines just makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Spend less time on my phone
One of the easiest ways I get stressed out is spending a lot of time on my phone, whether being on social medias, playing games or simply reading lecture slides on my phone.
Have you ever just got tired of using your phone and just feel like destroying it? That’s how It feels like to me sometimes, just throw the phone away and get away from it.
I’ll usually switch the phone off for some hours before switching it back on. I also set timers for how long I can use my social media even though I do not always comply with that. Lol
Call for support, in some cases.
I don’t usually practice this technique, but sometimes it gets overwhelming and I have to seek external support. I don’t like confiding in people with my personal matters. I feel I can handle a lot of them by myself with time. But sometimes it doesn’t go as plan and that’s when I call my mom to just cry my heart out. She knows how to comfort me, I mean she’s my mom.
Other times I talk to some friends, they share some advices with me, or other times we just have fun together. I feel good and relieved most of the times after just talking to them. I feel I’ll do that more often.
Thank you for reading!
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Student life is stressful, indeed and these are good pointers.
What do you find most contrasting or similar in Cuba versus your home country Ghana?
It’s quite difficult to get into medical schools in Ghana including exorbitant school fees. But I think both countries have well established medical institutions to facilitate learning. They’re both great.
Also, I think in the case of homesickness, it’d be quite minimal if I was studying in Ghana. It’d be easier to visit home especially during holidays. Here, it’s very expensive and the vacations are not as long enough to spend that much traveling home.
Ok, I visited Havana for a week in 2007. I had friends who lived there and they found it difficult to get common items like ketchup. Everything that they were used to back home suddenly became luxury items in Cuba.
I understand that it would be a distance to travel and also very expensive.
Enjoy your time there despite all the challenges and I do hope that you'll make life-ling friends while in Cuba:)))
Yes, Cuba is very hard to live in sometimes. The scarcity of basic stuff among others. However they’re a lot of amazing things about Cuba that I believe anyone would enjoy. I’ve also understood that my stay here is just temporal so I focus on the positives.
💯%
That's the right attitude.🤗
😊 yeah right.
Thanks for the engagement.
You're very welcome.
Engagement is important on the blockchain, so you should try to engage with other authors even on days when you are not posting.
Best wishes on your Hive journey 🤗
I love the fact that even though that medicine nature in you was peeking out a couple of times, you still made this incredibly relatable. I can understand everything you've said cause it's like a been there/still there situation for me. Which is why I get you completely. My own ways of dealing with stress are different though but I'm happy you can make yours work for you. Lots of !luv🥰
Wow I’m glad you related to this. Really glad.
I would love to read/hear your coping strategies some time.
😅❤️
I'd shared them time and again on the Blockchain but i could always do that another time too. Have a great day🤗
Okay, anticipating that. 😅🤲🏾
Have a good day too.
Life of a student is stressful but every student has a way of relieving themselves of any stress. The first one is sleep and I think it's common, the other things I do is watch movies, watch videos on social media, listen to music and try to have a physical chat with friends
Yes that’s true.
Everyone has a different way of adapting to stressful times.
I hope your own works perfectly for you.
Yes it does, thank you
Great 😊
Coping with stress be a student, a sit-at- mother, or father isn't easy to cope with stress. Keep doing the best to overcome this stress.
Thank you so much for your encouragement. 😊😊
I’m glad that you are able to find ways to decompress. We need more doctors in the world that’s for sure and putting so much pressure on them as it is is difficult but also not helping them decompress is difficult. Glad you’ve learned some techniques!
Thank you so much 😊.
It can be overwhelming sometimes and so it’s important to find ways to help myself.
Thank you.