How to look after your mental health during medical school

by harry yong

Hooray, you’ve made it into medicine! That’s a massive achievement and you should really take some time to appreciate your hard work.

No matter whether you’ve just said goodbye to the high school days, or just completed your bachelor’s degree, or are already a few years into medical school, we all have one thing in common – we are all committed to one of the hardest degrees anyone can ever study.

Medicine is truly rewarding and fulfilling, but it is also very challenging. Although everyone experiences these challenges in different ways, a common feeling that you might experience is BURNOUT.

Hence, it is crucial that you look after your mental health and listen to your mind and body. Below are a few personal tips on how I have looked after my mental health during med school.

Have a support network

This is perhaps the biggest tip I have – find your personal support networks.

You may feel quite upset after witnessing some challenging scenes during your hospital placement; or you may feel quite exhausted after months and months of non-stop studying/placement.

When you experience these feelings, remember to debrief with someone who will truly listen to your concern and offer you support. That person may be your partner, your parents, your friends, your local GP or your hospital mentor etc. Please don’t try to keep it to yourself because these feelings will inevitably build up.

Develop a personal routine

Given the nature of hospital placements, your weekly schedule will likely be completely different from week to week, but this should not stop you from developing a personal routine.

This could be as easy as going out for dinner every Friday night, going to a café every Saturday, or going to that gym session early in the morning to start your day. In this way, you’ll always have something to look forward to every week.

Have a life outside medicine

To be fair, this is tough. Sometimes you will just feel everything is about medicine. This is obvious especially during holidays. When there is no more placement, you may wonder what to do with all the extra time.

This world is filled with amazing and wonderful things and medicine is only a part of it. A senior surgeon once told a group of students “Please keep your hobbies, even if that may seem extremely challenging at times it is 100% worth it; otherwise, you’ll be like me: in my 50s telling younger medical trainees to keep their hobbies”.

I have certainly developed some new hobbies during medical school that I had never dreamed of before. Now, my partner and I both snowboard during winter and scuba dive during summer (pictured). These hobbies have definitely added more colours to my medical journey.

Get enough sleep

It is so easy to be sleep-deprived during medical training. The varying shift times, the endless lectures to catch up, and socialising with friends could all cause you to sleep less than ideal.

Being sleep-deprived can generate a vicious cycle: not being productive during the day due to fatigue means spending more time completing the tasks that only eat into your sleep time furthermore. Please ensure you have enough sleep and develop a regular sleeping schedule. Sometimes, it means to let go of the tasks in hand and do them on another day.

Eat healthy and try to avoid fast food

We’ve all been taught how to ask patients about their diet and advise them to eat healthier, doesn’t it make sense that we lead by example and eat healthy too?

It may be tempting to eat fast food, particularly if you just went through a long tiring day, but we should try to avoid them as best we can. Buy a recipe book, follow healthy eating Instagram accounts, or go to food markets to buy amazing local fresh fruit and veggies. At the end of the day, we are what we eat.

Always maintain a positive outlook

Trust me, this is difficult at times. After years and years of studying and training, you may think you are stuck in an endless tunnel with no light at the end. There IS light at the end.

There will always be support around you, and remember, many before you have been through this journey, and many will be after you, you can do it!

If you want a single take-home message after reading this long article, let me share a quote from a senior neurology registrar – “Just remember, have fun in medical school!”

By Harry Yong

2022 GPSN club chair, University of Melbourne