As I read Sarah Lyall’s New York Times article “We Have All Hit a Wall,” I was struck by how much I related to its content. Lyall’s piece includes interviews from multiple neuroscience experts who discuss how prolonged stress, anxiety, and isolation can contribute to memory impairment, inability to focus, and altered sleep schedules. Moreover, the text also features quotes from anxiety expert Dr. Margaret Wehrenberg who explains how alternating periods of anxiety and depression, when combined with feelings of dashed hopes and grief, can cause behavioral anhedonia, the feeling of not being able to take pleasure in any activities. Now thirteen months into the pandemic, I relate to this article as I have found myself struggling to do activities that I normally love. Tasks feel more draining, and it takes me well into the evening to complete my tasks for the day. Further, I still feel unsatisfied with the work I’m putting into them.
Natasha Rajah, a professor of psychiatry, links the extended pandemic, cycles of monotony, and constant anxiety to having an altered perception of time and inability to form working memories, which prevents one from being able to focus. Additionally, Mike Yassa, the director of the UCI Brain Initiative at UC Irvine, discusses how large amounts of stress alter sleep cycles and daily routines in ways that prevent your body from rebounding from the pressure. Getting a full eight hours of sleep and still feeling exhausted, falling asleep during zoom class, and not being able to read more than a page before my eyes feel heavy has been my daily routine since the semester started. Looking back over the semester, it has felt like I repeated the same thing every day for three months, and also as if I have been in college for eight years. Two years ago, I was a hard working high school student involved in many extracurriculars, who managed to still get to sleep before 11PM. Now, I stare at my lengthy to-do list and don’t begin working until late in the afternoon (at the earliest). Further, it takes hours to read one assignment because I can’t focus for longer than ten minutes.
The experience of burnout is all too prevalent, and it’s not exclusive to college students. The most recent CDC Household Pulse Survey reports that 37% of respondents reported feeling anxious or depressed. An Employee Benefit Trends Study conducted by MetLife in January 2021 found that their employees are 7% more burnt out, 5% more depressed, and 3% more stressed since April 2020.
Reading about the scientific basis of burnout and seeing statistics about the prevalence of burnout made me feel less alone, but also made me concerned about the lack of resources available for students feeling this way. Since witnessing the outpouring of students requesting accommodations and support for their mental health during the pandemic, I am eager to see how policies change and if more resources become available to students at Brown. Given the condensed semester model, students aren’t granted breaks and have exams or large projects due every week of the semester, making it almost impossible to take time off from academics. I would love to see the administration implement “mental health days” or an equivalent so that students can recharge amid a time of uncertainty, anxiety, and stress. I also think burnout could be improved by making reading period mandatory for all classes and making final exams “no harm” (they cannot cause a student’s grade to drop lower than its current value), which would help to take the load off of students during this difficult time. I am hopeful that feelings of burnout will subside once Brown returns to a normal academic calendar, but am nonetheless worried about how students will manage to cope with these struggles with the added stress of finals.