Tips for taking care of your mental health as a student.

Hi,

Maintaining a positive mental health is important for university life, as it will help you thrive across your degree and boost your motivation. Alongside this, feeling positive can support your transition to university.

How to look after your mental health as a student
Through my time at university, I have learnt that prioritising my mental health consists of delegating time for my own interests. Relaxing helps separate yourself from your studies, which is especially helpful with burnout or feeling overwhelmed.

Recommendations to unwind/ improve your mental wellbeing:
- Physical activity 🏋️*♀️- Exercise stimulates the release of endorphins, which naturally improves your mood. With such a wide range of physical actives, you will likely find one that fits your personality! Personally, I love weight lifting and find I feel more happier after each session.
- Socialising 🗣- Whether with classmates, friends or societies, socialising can massively improve your mental wellbeing. I highly recommend checking your student union website to see the list of societies your university offers. This is a excellent way to meet like-minded people.
- New skill 💡- Learning a new skill can boost your self-confidence and happiness, additionally it's a great chance to make new connections.
- Nature 🌳- I love being in nature to promote relaxation. Whether your taking a walk alone through the park, with friends or even with a pet, it can help lower stress levels and

What support do you have?
It's likely your university will provide a form of mental wellbeing support, such as counselling. If your unsure, contact your student support for guidance to your universities mental wellbeing support.

For example, at our university we provide drop-in counselling sessions, mental health advisors, wellbeing workshops and referrals to specialist external services. In fact, we are third in the UK for mental health support!

I hope you found this informative, please feel free to ask me any questions,
-Sophia (Business and Management)

Reply 1

University of Bath

Official Rep

Hi there!

Lovely idea for a thread and a super-important part of uni life 🙂

Here are my top tips based on my experience as a student...

•

Have a clear cut-off time when you stop working and start to wind down - mine was 17:00 - I would do all my work during the day and prioritise relaxing and doing things I enjoyed in the evening

•

Have a wind-down routine - prioritise eating well, looking after yourself and slowing down before heading to bed and getting a good night's sleep. I had friends who chose to work during the night but I personally didn't find this very helpful!

•

Do something with friends - whether its asking a few classmates or groupmates out for a coffee, going to a society meet up or going to town for some dinner out, its always good to surround yourself with friends and to switch off from studying for a while

•

Keep talking - to friends, to your tutor, to your lecturers, to your family. Because sharing any worries or problems you have takes some of the weight off of your own shoulders and helps to put things into perspective. Contact your uni's wellbeing team if you need to - no one expects you to ride through uni on your own!

•

Accept that you can't be perfect! With assignments, with coursework, with revision - just remember that you're only human and you can't expect yourself to do everything you have to do all at once to a perfect standard. Set yourself a schedule of small goals, pace yourself and just do the best you can. You can only do what you can do!

I hope this helps - best wishes in all you do this year, and give us a shout if you have any questions 🙂

Holly
University of Bath

Reply 2

hallamstudents

Official Rep

Original post by UCLan Student

Hi,
Maintaining a positive mental health is important for university life, as it will help you thrive across your degree and boost your motivation. Alongside this, feeling positive can support your transition to university.
How to look after your mental health as a student
Through my time at university, I have learnt that prioritising my mental health consists of delegating time for my own interests. Relaxing helps separate yourself from your studies, which is especially helpful with burnout or feeling overwhelmed.
Recommendations to unwind/ improve your mental wellbeing:
- Physical activity 🏋️*♀️- Exercise stimulates the release of endorphins, which naturally improves your mood. With such a wide range of physical actives, you will likely find one that fits your personality! Personally, I love weight lifting and find I feel more happier after each session.
- Socialising 🗣- Whether with classmates, friends or societies, socialising can massively improve your mental wellbeing. I highly recommend checking your student union website to see the list of societies your university offers. This is a excellent way to meet like-minded people.
- New skill 💡- Learning a new skill can boost your self-confidence and happiness, additionally it's a great chance to make new connections.
- Nature 🌳- I love being in nature to promote relaxation. Whether your taking a walk alone through the park, with friends or even with a pet, it can help lower stress levels and
What support do you have?
It's likely your university will provide a form of mental wellbeing support, such as counselling. If your unsure, contact your student support for guidance to your universities mental wellbeing support.
For example, at our university we provide drop-in counselling sessions, mental health advisors, wellbeing workshops and referrals to specialist external services. In fact, we are third in the UK for mental health support!
I hope you found this informative, please feel free to ask me any questions,
-Sophia (Business and Management)

Hi,

I think this is a great idea and it is always so important to look after your mental health, so I thought I could add on a few tips of my own to these:

•

Get some fresh air every day! Even if all you have time for is a 5 minute walk to the shop, getting out and getting some air is really good for you and will help to clear your head.

•

I know others have said this but make sure you make use of your support services at uni as they are there to help you and will want to talk to you if you are having any problems.