On managing academic stress
(image above is click-through link to related UC Berkeley article)
Most of us have probably heard at some point in our lives that stress is not entirely a bad thing. Acute stress, such as having an upcoming deadline or being about to take a test, can boost your motivation to rise to the challenge and “get it done”. However, chronic stress (often times characteristic of “the grad school experience”) can have adverse (and enduring) effects if not managed properly. As someone who has an (undiagnosed) impulse control disorder that is exacerbated stress and who was diagnosed with IBS during my third year of grad school, I know this all too well. It wasn’t until I started having IRL conversations with other academics that I realized that academic stress is both real and commonplace.
Apparently, I wasn’t the only one with IBS, waking up in the middle of the night feeling like I was having a heart attack (if you haven’t experienced this, count yourself lucky), and reaching those times of feeling overwhelmed/burnt out. It also didn’t help that there’s this notion that stress just comes with academia (i.e. it is something to be expected and handled) and nobody really feels comfortable talking about openly. It’s almost as though to admit that you are feeling stressed out is equivalent to being weak. Before I proceed, allow me to try to convince you that this notion is antiquated and incorrect. Academia is stressful for pretty much everyone who is human and academic stress comes in many flavors throughout an academic career. Some examples include: first year stress (esp. if you did not major in neuroscience or psychology), stress of picking lab and becoming a new member, grant-writing stress, project trouble-shooting stress, oral presentation stress, comp/qualifying exam stress, lab drama stress, publishing stress, thesis-writing and defense stress, finding a job stress, tenure-track stress, out of funding stress and the list goes on. Furthermore, some would say that the “academic climate” now is more competitive and cut throat that it used to be (way back when in the 80s, 90s). So there. More stress.
The first step is to identify stress for what it is and to determine your specific triggers so that you can better develop coping strategies. Also, try to be specific as to what aspect of the stressor throws you over the edge. Is it timing? Lack of controllability? Working with others? Not feeling the sense of mastery you want? Poor lifestyle? You get the picture.
Below are a set of points that have been helpful to me. This list is by no means all-inclusive, so feel free to customize it. This list is more about providing a starting point of ideas as to how to manage your stress (and preserve your sanity).
1. Take care of yourself: Eat, sleep, and be active. Also, cut down on your vices or substitute for less harmful ones. Sure, sounds easy enough. But not really. During my PhD, I worked outside the city and my workday was from 9:00AM (all aboard the NKI shuttle at 8AM though) until 6:00PM. This means that I started to get ready around 7AM and was back home around 7:30PM. Every day. For years. To make matters worse, I was going to bed at 1-2AM. BAD IDEA. Now I make it a priority to get at least 6 hours but usually aim for 7-9 (yes, 9!). If you are getting less than 6 hours in regularly, you are likely not sleeping enough. Also, I’m sure many of you are familiar (i.e. guilty of) being so busy you forget to eat. Don’t. Give yourself options: bring snacks to lab, have food delivery numbers handy in a pinch or even buy back-up tie over meals to keep in the break room (i.e. yogurts, a loaf of bread, cheese, cold cuts, frozen dinners, etc.). Also, try sneaking in a little exercise into your life by walking to work, picking up a training/workout class, getting into intramural sports (more likely if you work somewhere that has an undergrad campus), or even just dancing by yourself in the comfort of your own house. Basically, find something that helps you work up a sweat. If you’re at a school w/ an undergrad campus, chances are you have a wealth of activities available to you at little or no cost (i.e. access to pools, gym facilities, fitness classes, etc.).
2. Plan, organize, and prioritize. These are all related to time management skills. Unfortunately, there is no grad school class on time management so most grad students have to adopt a trial and error approach. Others, like myself, had a gracious PhD mentor that taught them how to timeline/schedule experiments. (Side note: I did my PhD in a developmental behavioral neuroscience lab so scheduling was a must.) There is really something to be said for putting down what you need to do on paper. I know it’s stressful to see your to-do list (which usually seems never-ending) but it helps keep important stuff in mind and it feels really good to cross things off :) Let your to-do list motivate you, not paralyze you! Also, keep in mind the order of importance of things as you work on the list. Ex. I use iCal to schedule experiments, meeting, events, etc. My phone does this thing where it synchronizes Facebook events, Google calendar, and iCal so that when I look at a day, I see EVERYTHING that is happening each day and when/where. I also keep a Post-It note stuck on the right side of my laptop (I bring it to lab) with things that need to happen ASAP. On the wall above my desk I keep a handwritten list of things that need to be done in lab over the next couple of weeks (on a continuous basis or for a specific cohort of animals, etc). Developing time management skills is important because it’s easy to forget to do something you have not made time for! By this I mean that what doesn’t get scheduled, typically doesn’t get done :/ The responsibility is yours. Also, if you are stressing about a specific aspect of a project or getting a particular data-set, ask your PI what they think your priority should be (this may be something they need for a grant, talk, etc.).
3. Create a social support network and maintain healthy social relationships. You know, people you can talk to (and let your guard down with). These may be friends, family, significant other, colleagues, lab mates, conference buddies, neighbors, etc. It is often beneficial to have a mix of people (i.e. the have been there forever, the school/lab ones, outside academia). Swap stories with lab mates, peers, colleagues you trust instead of bottling up everything. I think it gives a sense of solidarity since a lot of the stress lab/academic situations are commonplace. Keep in mind that school/work struggles are not exclusive to academia and you can often gain meaningful insights and a different perspective from people outside academia. One last thing on this: don’t neglect your own role when the time to buffer someone else comes! You can’t take all the support but not give any.
4. Learn how to say no (know your limits). One of the easiest ways to bring in paramount stress levels into your life during grad school/postdoc is to say yes to more than you can handle. In academia ideas and projects are constantly being formed/pursued and it is not unnatural for students/postdocs to have more than one project. This is ok but avoid spreading yourself too thin. I, like many, have been guilty of this. Some things I’ve gotten done and some I’m still trying to push out. Oh well. If you’re feeling stressed out, (see #2 and note below).
Reminder: PIs know that you’re working on project X. But they usually don’t factor in all the little details that go into making project X happen, such as breeding, habituation, surgeries, post-op rec periods, time in b/w tests, etc. It is your job to remind them!
Note: Doing #2 will help you tell your PI exactly how your time in the lab is spent. It’s WAY easier to postpone starting something or reduce your role if you have PROOF that you have no time for it. If it’s really important, compromises will be made (hurray!).
5. Make time for hobbies. Even better, cultivate new ones. Working really hard does not mean that all you do is work. Try to become really good at something other than science :) Find a variety of interesting, fun and/or enjoyable things to do outside of lab. It helps to have hobbies of varying intensities (some active, some passive) so that you have options if you come back too tired or what not. Have more low-key ones (ex. cooking*, singing, drawing/painting, knitting, becoming an expert at ______, delve into a decade, explore a music genre, start a collection) and active (i.e. martial arts, yoga, train for a marathon, pick up a new dance, teach your body how to do something new or just walk around).
*Learning how to cook gives you a head up on #1.
6. Find your ground. This one is really open-ended as it means different things to different people, but it’s important because it helps you keep connected to yourself. It may include (but is not limited to): talking to your relatives (especially the older ones) regularly, keeping in touch with your cultural roots through organizations/clubs/meetups, volunteering, going to church, meditating, developing your spiritual life, introspection, etc.
7. Stay positive. Avoid falling down the black hole of discouragement and despair. Way easier to get sucked in than it is to claw out. If you let yourself go you will need to be aggressive about obtaining new outlook. And possibly outside help. Remember that misery loves company and protect your positivity. Being positive despite adversity is a choice. You have the power to decide. More on the value of thinking happy thoughts here.
8. Give yourself a reality check. From an intellectual standpoint, there is some sort of a re-wiring that happens when you’ve been in academia for a while. It’s hard to describe because it constitutes different things by career stage and by people. In my experience, this transformation happened towards the end of grad school. It’s around this time that people often ask themselves: WHY AM I DOING THIS? WHAT IS THIS FOR? WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? For me, the result of pondering these things resulted in a personal epiphany that all of this (i.e. science, academia, my thesis) was bigger than myself and only a limited part of the world. It does not define who I am as a person, and it will be pretty much irrelevant if the world goes to shit a la Walking Dead or Revolution. Heck, there’s people in the world right now worrying about whether or not they will live to see tomorrow. It was a weird mix of learning how to stop sweating the small stuff and focusing on moving towards the big picture, feeling privileged to be able to pursue doing research, while also understanding that there are things beyond your control and that sometimes you can only control the way you handle a situation and what you do to remedy it.
9. Go on vacation. This one’s self-explanatory. Try to avoid the compulsion to check your work e-mail :) If you opt for a stay-cation, make it a point to disconnect.
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