Do you struggle with physical and mental wellbeing during your PhD? Read a reflection from our guest Keira on how she keeps her physical and mental wellbeing in check!
The past 18 months have been a hailstorm (of hell fire) that I can pretty much guarantee not one of us saw hurtling towards us at 110mph.
Additionally, if you’re currently in the midst of scaling the academic mountain that is a PhD, it may well have made your Ben Nevis resemble something more akin to a Kilimanjaro.
A PhD is at the best of times challenging. If you’ve chosen to take up the gauntlet of achieving that elusive title of Dr so and so, then no doubt you knew it would be tough.
From my point of view, what I wildly underestimated was the impact it could and has had on both my physical and mental wellbeing. The last 3 years have consisted of me single-handedly scouring the internet for tips on how to achieve the ever sought after “balance” that would allow me to peacefully chip away at my thesis in a zen-like state whilst effortlessly juggling my full-time job, family and covid restrictions allowing social life.
I’m not here to tell you that I’ve reached academic Nirvana. I have however borrowed and even developed some of my own handy strategies to help prioritise my wellbeing and make this journey more enjoyable, despite the nagging voice in my head telling me that anything that is worthwhile must be intensely painful.
Table of Contents
Exercise to improve physical and mental wellbeing
This drum has been beaten to a bloody pulp but my goodness, for me there is no better head-clearing reset. If you are expecting your body and mind to sit for prolonged periods at a laptop, furiously downloading articles you swear you’re going to read later (inside joke) then you should also plan some form of physical activity to balance the scales.
You don’t need to be an iron man running, triathlon enthusiast, any form of exercise will do. Go for a gentle stroll in nature and smell some green things, take 10 minutes to sit and stretch your entire body which is no doubt coiled tighter than a grad student submitting their first article to a journal.
Whatever form of exercise you enjoy, make time for it, your body and, more importantly, your mind WILL thank you for it.
Take a day off
The very notion of a day off seems like sacrilege to most post-grad students but you NEED a solid day that is not consumed by your thesis, you will be a more productive, happier version of yourself when you return to that SPSS spreadsheet or Word document tomorrow.
If your mind wanders to your thesis, let it, we often do our best thinking when we give ourselves the space to do so, as long as you don’t let the guilt monster creep in and ruin your well deserved your time.
