How to prevent academic burnout
Work hard, rest harder
Door Ingrid Ştefan
By Ingrid Ştefan
Ingrid Ştefan
When Lucia left Portugal at seventeen to study in Groningen, she wasn’t quite sure about her choice of degree or country, though she still felt excited about her move.
But one block in, reality hit her: student life was much more stressful than she’d imagined. ‘There were just so many things to do, I always felt like I was behind. And no matter what I did, I could never get on top of my studies’, the biomedical engineering student, now eighteen, says. ‘I barely passed the exam I had worked on the most. It was very demotivating.’
As the weather got gloomier, so did Lucia’s days. ‘Getting out of bed felt like the hardest thing in the world. I just wanted to sleep all the time.’ Having to say hi to a colleague was a burden, as was cooking, which she used to love. ‘I would only eat rice and eggs, because I didn’t have the energy to go grocery shopping and cook.’ When the eggs were gone, she moved on to canned food.
Within a few months, apathy took over. ‘In Portugal, we have this strong mentality that suffering is part of being a grown-up. So I thought it was normal, that everyone hates getting out of bed and dreads every second they’re awake.’
She hit the breaking point when she failed all her exams by 0.2 points in the second block. ‘I went to talk to the study advisor and she said I was probably burnt out and I needed a break.’ Lucia didn’t get clinically diagnosed, but she did freeze the rest of her year and left soon after. ‘I couldn’t do it anymore.’
Exhaustion and stress
In 2023, 59 percent of students nationwide reported struggling with emotional exhaustion symptoms, like feeling mentally drained, while 56 percent experienced (a lot of) stress, according to the latest Higher Education Monitor by the Trimbos Institute. Though there are no numbers on burnout among students, anyone who’s been in university has probably heard the term before. But what is burnout exactly? And how can it manifest in students?
I would eat rice with an egg, because I didn’t have the energy to cook
Karen Huizing, UG psychologist and PhD trainer, says it’s not a black-and-white diagnosis. ‘In the latest Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, burnout doesn’t even exist. But it is included in the ICD-11, another diagnosis system.’ There, it’s described as an occupational phenomenon, resulting from chronic workplace stress. But academic burnout is also a widely studied and accepted concept in psychology.
It can be hard to differentiate between burnout and depression, says Huizing. ‘But the ICD-11 lists the main symptoms as exhaustion, emotional loss of control, cognitive loss of control – like memory and concentration problems and ultimately mental distancing – or cynicism.’
Four phases
They don’t all appear at once, but unfold as part of a longer process. ‘There are four phases a person goes through’, she explains. First, you start experiencing stress. Your body starts producing adrenaline, which is a healthy response of the body, but it becomes problematic if the stressful situation doesn’t end.
That’s when you enter phase two. ‘You’re always on edge, you can’t feel calm anymore. The stress influences the quality of your sleep, so you’re less rested’, she explains. ‘That means you also have less energy to spend, but you need that energy to keep up the performance.’ It’s usually the point where people realise something is wrong. And it’s easily fixable with a break, like a two-week vacation.
No break, however, leads to phase three, where you become so stressed you get ‘tunnel vision’, as Huizing says. ‘You’re only focused on what you have to do and you’re easily irritated. You become afraid that if you slow down, you’ll get a panic attack or a breakdown.’ If that goes on, you actually do break down. ‘You can’t do anything anymore. And the recovery time is at least one to two years.’
Panic attack
For Tomas (20), a third-year international relations student from Spain, a panic attack during his first year was his wake-up call. His parents had spent a lot of money on his studies and he was determined to excel academically. Then, he failed his very first exam, as well as the resit. By the third block, he was 10 ECTS behind.
Becoming detached, withdrawing from the world, that’s the most worrisome
‘It was very daunting. I thought to myself, shit, this isn’t going as I wanted.’ Tomas started spiraling. ‘I felt constant stress and anxiety. I was so afraid of failure and disappointing myself and my parents.’ Eventually, he lost his appetite and became very tired. ‘I didn’t have energy, but I required energy to be stressed.’
He didn’t see the signs building up, but the panic attack followed soon after. ‘I’ve asked myself since: did I have a proper burnout? And I think so, because that was the breaking point.’
Spectrum
Huizing feels a panic attack is more part of a phase than the final point of burnout, but to Maya Schroevers, associate professor of psychology at the UMCG, burnout is a spectrum. ‘You can have symptoms like fatigue or lack of motivation, but when you struggle with this daily for a long time, then it becomes burnout’.
She agrees with Huizing that cynicism is one of the last steps. ‘Becoming detached, withdrawing from the world, that’s the most worrisome.’
What they also agree on: burnout is not that easy to pinpoint. Which is why it’s so hard to say how prevalent it is among students. ‘It depends a lot on how you define it, and how you ask students about it’, Schroevers explains. Even so, there are some rules of thumb to prevent it or deal with the symptoms before it gets too bad.
Lifestyle
One is working on your lifestyle and trying to keep the biological rhythm in check by eating proper food, sleeping properly and staying consistent about it. Then, it’s important to find ways to relax. ‘Because burnout isn’t necessarily about working too hard, but about not getting enough rest. So work hard, but rest harder’, Huizing says.
Ask yourself what drains your energy and what gives you energy
Of course, even resting may require some training. ‘If you tell yourself you just have to relax, it might add to the pressure’, explains Schroevers. It’s about actually getting your mind to rest. ‘Some people need a mental approach to it, while for others it’s more physical, like through sports.’
What works for Tomas is running. ‘When I feel stressed, I put some music on and go for a run. It helps me decompress’, he says. ‘You know what they say, a healthy body keeps a healthy mind.’ For Lucia, on the other hand, relaxing is more about being around the right people. ‘Enjoying a dinner together, or going out for coffee, these are my ways to take a mental break.’
Recovery
But what do you do when the stress has already gotten out of control? Both psychologists recommend getting support, whether it’s from your social network or a professional.
‘Then, depending on how much it affects you, ask yourself what drains your energy and what gives you energy. There needs to be a balance’, Schroevers thinks. ‘And most importantly: can you reduce the stress on your own by working on your lifestyle, or do you need professional help?’
For Lucia, taking a six-month break was enough for her to recover and come back with renewed energy. ‘In the first month, I just slept continuously and did nothing else’, she says. ‘Then I started tutoring and found a sense of purpose.’
Being home and taking things slow really helped change her mindset. ‘I realised that those things I stressed so much about were not the end of the world, and that I was not a disappointment.’ Though she’s still dealing with the apathy that lingered on, waking up every day doesn’t feel like a burden anymore.
Tomas, too, needed a shift in mentality, and therapy helped with that. ‘I now have a more relaxed way of thinking’, he says. When he gets stressed, he tries to take it step by step, instead of imagining worst-case scenarios. ‘I know it sounds easier said than done, but there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. And that’s what I’m looking towards.’