By Seham Al Amshan and Paula Fischer
“A paradigm of mental health, empathy will change the world”
In today’s world, it is important to embrace stillness in the midst of a whirlwind of happenings around us.
The past two years have turned our lives around in many ways, most importantly impacting on our mental health. Many of us have resorted to finding ways to stay sane while everything else collapsed in the outside world for a while.
Students in particular have faced difficulties, having to balance everything in their academic and personal lives. Many have found it hard to prioritise their mental health in the face of looming deadlines and lockdown loneliness.
Mental health and productivity
What impact has mental health had on productivity and academic success, especially with deadlines at stake?
Koa, a first-year student at University of Salford, suffers from anxiety – which manifests itself in social and panic disorders. This often makes it difficult for him to concentrate on getting work done.
“I get overly stressed when deadlines are in place due to struggling to stay on task,” says Koa, who didn’t want to give his surname.
Working on assignments requires double the work when mental health is on the line, with late nights often turning into early mornings.
“Anxiety builds up over whether I’ll be able to submit the work on time or not,” Koa said, which is something that a lot of students can relate to.
Another student – from across the globe – studied in Rathinam College in India. Neha Ramesh, 22, found it hard to push out negative thoughts while revising.
“It was difficult to take a step towards getting work done despite whatever was going on, for me it was a huge deal to be able to make myself actively in charge of what I was doing,” he said.
“I have always been able to motivate myself and make myself break the barriers by allowing myself to be daring, I had to overcome and avoid being pushed back by negative thoughts, which helped me out a lot during my second year of university.”
According to the Office of National Statistics, 33% of university students have felt dissatisfied with their academic experience during the past two years, with around 63% of the students felt pressured and felt their mental well-being worsening.
Mental Magazine provides some good tips to get that essay in on time. It recommends: taking time to read properly, making a plan, doing all the right research, taking notes and writing while leaving time for amendments.
“Believe in yourself and your ability because you will succeed,” the magazine tells students.
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