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How can students avoid burning out?

  1. Understand the signs of burning out
  2. Manage your time
  3. Get adequate sleep
  4. Take small breaks

 

Burning out doesn’t only apply to office employees and individuals in the workforce. College students taking up business management courses in the Philippines and high school students could burn out if they don’t maintain a proper school-life balance. Once a sign of imbalance sets in and isn’t remedied right away, it could affect one’s performance when he/she starts working. Here are some signs of burning out and tips on how to maintain a student-life balance:

 

Signs of Burning out

Loss of interest

This is the first and subtlest symptom of burning out. If left unchecked, this loss of interest could extend to other areas of a student’s life. It all begins when one suddenly losses the desire to go to school.

If not addressed early on, this could extend to a student’s personal life. He/she could avoid any kind of gathering and extra-curricular activity. This could gravely affect a student’s future and stun their potential to grow as a happy individual.

 

Detachment

This sign of burning out could also be classified as isolation. Initially, it may seem like the student is associated with being an introvert. Early on, signs of detaching themselves from social activities involve resistance to socializing, closing themselves when it comes to meeting new people, and avoiding activities that involve proactive interaction. Later on, the student may eventually detach themselves from their environment. This could be observed by simply noticing the behavioral patterns of a student. Frequent absences, poor social engagement, and low levels of presence are evident signs that a student is detached.

 

A decline in academic performance

Once stress accumulates, a student’s academic performance can significantly drop. A combination of being detached and loss of interest are the addends of this decline in a student’s performance. Usually, the first sign of this is a student’s constant failure to accomplish his/her homework.

When a student feels like he/she has too much on his/her plate, they tend to omit their workload. Instead of seeing them as opportunities to learn and enhance his/her skills, they just take them as extra loads and burdens.

 

Pessimism

This is another subtle sign of burning out. You could pass it on as an attitude issue that is totally not related to the stress that a student acquires from school. But this cynical attitude should be corrected in its early stages.

When a student starts hating on teachers, other school staff, or students, this could be an early sign that a student is burning out. This could become a self-destructive attitude where a student harbors negative feelings and a loss of trust with friends and family members.

 

How to prevent burning out:

Whether you’re taking up a business management course in the Philippines or still under K to 12, you need to incorporate balance in your life in order to prevent burning out. No matter how you study and work, everyone is prone to burning out. Here are a few tips to prevent that from happening:

 

Time Management


Plan out your schedule ahead of time and prevent procrastinating. Procrastination is one of the key catalysts for a student to burn out. In our world today, we are filled with tons of potential distractions. Do your best not to fall into temptation and strictly stick to your schedule. Set at least an hour a day for homework and studying. When it comes to accomplishing your homework, try to do as much advance work as possible but never drown yourself with such tasks.

 

Sleep

Most students tend to deprive themselves of sleep in order to maximize time for school. Many seem to find this as an effective way to get schoolwork done but it could be detrimental toward the latter years of a student’s school life. Lack of sleep is a major factor of burning out. Accumulated hours of missing sleep will lower one’s threshold for stress.

To perform optimally throughout the day, get at least 7-8 hours of sleep. If you need to catch up on some school work, it’s best to do them in the morning rather than at night. Instead of burning hours throughout the night, sleep early and wake up early. Working with a fresh mind is better than forcing yourself to work after a long and tiring day.

 

Take Small Breaks

It’s important to study at a steady pace. Never try to force yourself to jam loads of information in a short time span. Just in case you’re pressed for time, try to incorporate 15-minute breaks after an hour or two of studying. During these short breaks, try to totally set work aside. This allows your mind to refresh itself and allow your brain to rest.

 

Key Takeaway

Whether you’re a student under the K to 12 system or in college, anyone is prone to burning out if you don’t watch out. Anyone could fall into that hole if you push yourself too hard. Failure to maintain a proper student-life balance could lead to diminished work etiquette in the future. If you are experiencing early signs of burning out, it’s best to take some load off your shoulders and strike a balance with every aspect of your life.