Burnout

[Special At Specialist]

did anyone here about this story http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/chinese-students-use-iv-amino-acids-to-study-for-high-stakes-tests/2012/05/10/gIQAMZw2GU_blog.html

now that's crazy

Yeah, that is pretty messed up. If someone takes drugs before an Olympic event, they are then banned from entering the competition. The same should happen to these students.

[pi]

Guys, can we keep the med discussions out of the thread and just use concepts that everyone understands and can therefore be helpful for everyone please?

[paulsterio]

It's not that simple, you'd first have to prove that taking this stuff increases performance, and then you'd have to have a way of testing, it's just not economically and practically viable to test everyone and at the moment, there isn't substantial research to show that what those idiots are doing actually increases their intelligence

[brenden]

So umm... anyone know where I can get me some ameeny acids? 

[Russ]

I can sell you some if you *really* want

Anyway, burnout isn't limited to just if you don't get sleep or just if you don't enjoy what you're doing. I've only experienced it a couple of times, and both times it came from doing intensive study over several days despite getting 8 hours of sleep a night. The mental energy needed to sustain study and the stress of it is just ridiculous (although tbf I was doing really long hours that I wouldn't recommend to anyone). Burning out from staying at school and studying until 6 probably isn't going to happen quickly, unless you then go home and keep studying for a few more hours.

The upside is that it's relatively easy to clear a burnt out state, you just have to do no study for a few days. I wouldn't get too worried about it if you're feeling fine and not pushing yourself to keep working through a period of tiredness etc. Just make sure you're on top of the situation rather than getting buried under a bunch of work

Also

I'm going to take a stab here, the effects of burnout have been researched and it is shown to actually exist, but I think it is all mental and it's all a big myth really, if you really love what you do then you should have no problem doing it for long periods of time right?

I know that it exists, but as far as I know, it's mental right? Not physical - it means that we can change it by changing our beliefs, the way we look at things (perception) and the way we respond to things, I'm not saying I'm right - but it's just something I was thinking about

This is wrong, saying something is "mental" and is thus a "myth" is not a good understanding of what's going on. You can't just "change your thinking" and snap out of it. It's similar to some types of depression in that sense, since it's fundamentally a chemical problem in the brain. If you've reduced your 5HT3/serotonin or dopamine levels from studying 12 hours a day, you can't just snap out of it. I don't want to get into the neurobiology, because I hate neurobiology, but stress and burnout cause pretty fundamental changes in how the brain is working that you can't just get rid of.

[brenden]

Okay cool, thanks very much for your reply =]

[paulsterio]

This is wrong, saying something is "mental" and is thus a "myth" is not a good understanding of what's going on. You can't just "change your thinking" and snap out of it. It's similar to some types of depression in that sense, since it's fundamentally a chemical problem in the brain. If you've reduced your 5HT3/serotonin or dopamine levels from studying 12 hours a day, you can't just snap out of it. I don't want to get into the neurobiology, because I hate neurobiology, but stress and burnout cause pretty fundamental changes in how the brain is working that you can't just get rid of.

Oh right, OK then, I just thought it was something that you could just fix if you came to the realisation, because I know someone who was "burning out" and one of my friends had a chat to him, showed him that his grades were going down and basically said that if he continues the way he does, he's not going to get into his uni course, I think the fact that the uni course was brought up just made him snap out of it and start developing a good routine again.

[Eriny]

I've experienced burnout (not during VCE though), basically when I was talking on a lot of different things and I was pretty much working from 8am until 10pm most days without realising it. Since I was changing up my activities, it didn't seem boring or as though I was working on any one thing for very long. I got sick. I had really horrible migraines, which I've never experienced before/since. Some people suffer from exhaustion, which isn't too nice either. Some occupations require crazy hours, but not everyone is able to work them without it taking a physical toll. There's also potentially a mental toll - you might lose motivation, or find that even if you're working for a long time you aren't very productive.

I think 9am until 6.30pm on weekdays is pretty reasonable. Some study on weekends is fine as well. You totally don't need to say no to every social engagement. You only get so many years where you're able to stay up until 4am talking to people or going to parties or doing random stuff, you may as well enjoy it once in awhile.

[paulsterio]

You only get so many years where you're able to stay up until 4am talking to people or going to parties or doing random stuff, you may as well enjoy it once in awhile.

You know, that just does make me wonder how many of such years I have left