College Academic Burnout and How It Pertains to Psychology!
Hi everyone! Thank you for tuning in this week for my first “official” post! This week, we will be talking about academic burnout (specifically in college students) and how this phenomenon is explained in various studies and psychological concepts. Let’s jump right in!!
What Even Is Burnout?
First off, the term “burnout” is thrown around a whole lot, but do we really define it adequately and at the right moments? Burnout is officially defined as “a complete state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion”. The word came about to describe humans in academia or occupation-related contexts as one of the definitions of the word is “the failure of an electrical device due to overheating”. So, in the metaphorical sense, we are the electrical device, and our version of “overheating” is basically over-exerting ourselves. This week’s topic is especially relatable to me right now, as I am currently writing this from my bed with strep throat (no doubt caused by stress)! Call me a method writer I guess.
Research on Burnout:
An article published by the NIH written by Zheng Liu and colleagues found that more than half of the approximately 22,000 college students surveyed in their study were experiencing burnout and that factors like their age, gender, and socioeconomic status predisposed them to greater feelings of burnout (2023). This study tested feelings of burnout amongst students using the Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), in which the inventory tests three factors of burnout: emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment (Liu et al., 2023). This study demonstrates that at least in the sample of this study, a majority of college students specifically seem to be experiencing burnout. Now let’s dive into Maslach’s theories of burnout in greater depth.
The MBI seeks to assess the three dimensions of burnout previously identified by Maslach in separate versions of the survey. There are also different versions of the MBI, including one designated specifically for students (though you need to pay to access it). According to an article published by Christina Maslach and Michael P. Leiter in the Harvard Business Review, the MBI also seeks to understand more about the three dimensions of burnout, namely if one comes before the others or if there is a specific cyclical direction one’s feelings must take for it to be classified as burnout (2021). Lastly, according to an article published by the University of Minnesota, Maslach has identified the following six variables as being common reasons for burnout: control, reward, workload, community, fairness, and values (2022).
My Feelings On the Matter:
In my personal experience (especially now as I’m sick and this is all hitting VERY close to home), I would theorize that emotional exhaustion is what initially causes and leads to feelings of depersonalization and reduced overall accomplishments. I feel that for the corporate world, the third dimension of burnout (reduced accomplishments) is the most threatening for employees to possess. That is, America possesses a very strong hustle culture, and with no employees outputting work, businesses can very easily crumble or fail. However, when it comes to us college students, I feel depersonalization is the most dangerous of the three dimensions. To me, emotional exhaustion, while impactful and certainly not anything minor, can be overcome.
Depersonalization is something I feel can last longer, into middle adulthood and beyond, and even in future family life. Depersonalization is essentially getting to the point where you are so exhausted with the things around you (and sometimes even life itself), that you begin to see those around you as objects rather than people. It sounds gloomy and scary to think about. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw a huge increase in car accidents. Now, I don’t know the exact facts or statistics here, but a teacher of mine stated that this was likely due to people forgetting that those around them are actually humans too. In other words, depersonalization can run deep. It can lead individuals to dangerous situations, and beyond that, simply a dangerous perception of themselves and others. This to me is why it is so important to implement rest into daily routines and stop overworking yourself.
Tips and Tricks To Avoid Burnout:
Hopefully I didn’t scare you away with that last paragraph! While these factors sound pretty worrisome, not everybody’s experiences are the same. By engaging in self-care, you likely won’t ever get to any of those dimensions. But, this will require effort from you and you only! Here are some of my top 5 personal tips for recovering from burnout:
1. Getting 8 or more hours of sleep per night.
I know this one is not attainable for everybody. I won’t sit here and pretend that it is. But often, we simply don’t prioritize our sleep when we are actively able to do so. For example, that extra hour that you spend doomscrolling on social media? That could have easily been an extra hour added to your sleep. While 8 hours may not be accomplished every night, try your best to implement habits to make your sleep more relaxing and make it easier to wind down every night.
2. Having habits that keep you mentally and physically healthy (and sane)
For me, these habits include daily yoga, meditation, and journaling for my mental health. For physical health, I go to the gym a couple of times a week and ensure I take my vitamins every day. Spoiler alert: wanna guess why I’m sick right now? Well, germs, obviously, but I also had not been doing any of these habits for almost a whole week! Implementing these things into your daily routine can seriously change your body and brain if your time allows for it.
3. Stop having a “my worth is based on my productivity” mindset.
This one is definitely a self-callout. It’s hard to get out of this way of thinking, especially when the work culture in America is basically backed by this principle. Reminding yourself that it is okay to take breaks, to put things off (within reason), and to treat taking care of yourself as one of your tasks can help with this.
4. Eating less junk food and more whole foods (this includes drinking enough water)!
The fuel you put into your body is imperative to your overall health and your cognitive brain function. Water in itself is essentially your brain’s coffee. Ever woken up in the morning feeling completely exhausted and then feeling perfectly refreshed after drinking a glass of water? This is why. When your brain is dehydrated, it simply does not work as well! The same goes for whole foods. Everybody deserves to treat themselves with sweet treats and their favorite unhealthy foods (and I am a big advocate for not restricting yourself when it comes to diet), but I feel it is so important to get in essential nutrients like fiber, protein, carbs, etc. Most of the time, these things simply don’t come in junk foods.
5. Saying “yes” to more experiences that make life interesting!
Having the same routine day in and day out of just work work work or school school school is naturally going to make you feel exhausted. I personally wouldn’t want to live the exact same day over and over again! Adding some variety into your school or work life can help to alleviate this feeling. When you are asked by your friend to go study together at a cafe, say yes! When a group of friends invites you on an adventurous outing or on a walk/hike, say yes! Doing these things can help your mind, body, and soul in the long run.
Well, that’s it from me! If you’re a college student like me feeling burnt out right now, know that summer is almost here! Or if it’s summer for you already, good for you! I am jealous but I know I will be right there with you soon! Take care of yourselves and I hope to see you all in the next post coming at you on Sunday, June 8th at 12:00 PM PST!
Love Your Favorite Undergrad,
Apama <3
References:
Liu, Z., Xie, Y., Sun, Z., Liu, D., Yin, H., & Shi, L. (2023, May 6). Factors associated with academic burnout and its prevalence among university students: A cross-sectional study. BMC medical education. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10163855/
Maslach, C., & Leiter, M. P. (2021, March 19). How to measure burnout accurately and ethically. Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2021/03/how-to-measure-burnout-accurately-and-ethically
Rothstein , L., & Stromme, D. (2022). Burnout with dr. Christina Maslach. Positive Psychology | UMN Extension. https://extension.umn.edu/two-you-video-series/burnout-dr-christina-maslach
