There is something that hearing some statements does to your mental health as a medical student. Imagine hearing a Professor tell you in your first year that starting with medical school, you will be living a life of self sacrifice in a bid to “save lives”. Words such as these place a certain level of pressure on you.
This month is dedicated to suicide prevention awareness. As people gearing to be at the forefront of healthcare, it is important that our health is at its optimum to be equipped to properly take care of others. However, medical students or not, we are humans and there are factors that make us prone to having our mental health in shambles sometimes.
More often than not, medical students have always known success all their lives. As a matter of fact, most medical students leave their secondary schools as high-flyers, the best in their set, valedictorians, or head prefects. Many get the best results in their secondary schools. Family and neighbors know that they are brilliant. What happens when these students go into the medical school system and start to struggle?
Be it low incourse results, outright failure, examination stress, a bulky syllabus, pressure from family to keep the flag flying, a struggle to juggle academics with work, low finances, a lack of self confidence, pressure from within or financial problems; an average medical student often times has to battle problems that leave his or her mental health at a low. What is the way out?
How can you as a medical student deal with the challenges that constantly threatens to affect your mental health?
How to Take Care of Your Mental Health As A Medical Student
Sleep well- In the face of looming incourses and medical board examinations, sleeping for 8 hours may not always be realistic. However, whenever there is a bit of academic freedom, you should sleep well. True, sleep depravity is almost always important to cover academic grounds. However, sleeping can improve your ability to concentrate, assimilate better, make you less cranky and improve your mental health.
Take a break from the books– As a medical student, your life mostly revolves around reading and doing past questions, and that can be tiring. Burnout may occur, and when it occurs for a long time, burnout may start to affect your mental health.
In situations as these, doing things you like such as watching movies, reading non academic books, hanging out with friends, going on a solo date, taking walks, or having long conversations with family can go a long way in making you feel better and better prepared to catch up with school work.
It is not a bizarre thing for you to take two or three days off school, travel out of school environment and breath non-academic air😀. If that will improve your mental health, you can decide to take such a break on weekends.
Build resilience– Resilience is a very important attribute that you must develop as a medical student. You can also call it developing thick skin. Your struggles as a medical student require that you do not take everything that happens to you to heart. It is important that you learn to move on quickly when you have bad results. Rather than dwell on the things that are not going your way, learn from the mistakes you have made.
In addition, celebrate your little wins. You do not have to get a distinction before you celebrate and applaud yourself for the good job you have done. Also, talk to your mates that seem to you as having it under control better than you do. You can also always talk to your seniors in medical school, they are there to support you and help you come out of the hole that is tempting to swallow you.
Avoid substance use – Many medical students have resorted to using substances and abusing drugs to “forget” their problems. The only thing drug abuse ever does is compound problems, not solve them. You should avoid illegal drugs no matter how pressured you are to take.
Asides illegal substances, abusing caffeine to wade off sleep can lead to serious mental problems, and should be avoided. You start to kill yourself mentally and physically once you get addicted to caffeine.
Cry– It can get hard sometimes. When it does, it is okay to cry. If you bottle your emotions, your mental health can be at risk.
Talk to a professional- There are some situations that you will not be able to handle alone. When this happens, speak to your class representatives or your department’s welfare team. These people can help you get the help you need from a mental health professional.
Conclusion
At a point in your life as a medical student, you will learn the nitty-gritty of mental health. How ironic it will be if you try to help others while your mental health is screaming for help. It is important that you take steps to deal with your mental health as a medical student. This way, you will be able to function at your best in medical school.
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