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A Student Guideline for a Better Mental Health

Every year, mental health issues and burnouts affect more students than it might seem. A burnout is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as a physical or mental collapse caused by overwork, stress, or lack of purpose or understanding of the tasks. And although experiencing high level of stress at this level of study is relatively common, severe depression and burnout can be very dangerous for one’s mental and physical health. One can start to feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet demands; the simple idea of working on a particular assignment might make them nauseous or even light-headed.

It is very important to remember that sitting all day in front of a laptop –with thirty-seven open tabs in one’s internet browser– will not help if you are not able to write two words in a row within the first hour. This is called mental block and might lead to overwork,  which is counterproductive.

In the meantime, it was found that there is a positive correlation between mental health and physical exercise and how the latter improved one’s performance regarding concentration and facing workload.[1]  It is a common knowledge that endorphins from exercising brings happiness and positivity and thus results in stress-reduced headspace. Moreover, when interviewing students who regularly engage in physical activities, experts found that it provides the person a sense of achievement. This feeling can then be translated into university work where the students know that they can achieve their goals.[2]

Also, many students admitted, they suffered from lack of sleep, also involved in mental health issues, which workout can help with. For all these problems, AMU offers different possibilities. Different sport packs enable students to choose between 80 physical exercises, which may also help them in socialising. The “Pack Sport AMU” is free for students and offers to practice two sports a week. If you want to challenge yourself the “Pack Sport + AMU” allows you to practice three sports a week but is chargeable for the semester, depending on the sport.[3] If you’d rather do it on your own, YouTube is a great alternative, even more so since Covid.

If one is affected by more severe cases of mental health issues, one should not hesitate to reach for professional help. Bearing in mind that depression and burnout can be medically treated, AMU offers medical assistance at the SIUMPPS (Service Inter-Universitaire de la Médecine Préventive et de la Promotion de la Santé).[4] For a more consistent medical follow up, students can contact the nearest CMP (Centre Médico-Psychologique)[5] in their area. Remember, students should not wait to ask for help, or to talk about how they feel, since mental health is a serious matter.

Leslie Allemandi and Julie Verstavel.

 

[1]. Dr Nick Peirce et al., “The Role of Physical Activity and Sport in Mental Health,” Fsem.ac.uk, 2019, <a href=”https://www.fsem.ac.uk/position_statement/the-role-of-physical-activity-and-sport-in-mental-health/”>https://www.fsem.ac.uk/position_statement/the-role-of-physical-activity-and-sport-in-mental-health/</a>.

[2]. Florida National University, “The Link between Sports and Academic Performance,” Florida National University, June 11, 2019, <a href=”https://www.fnu.edu/the-link-between-sports-and-academic-performance/”>https://www.fnu.edu/the-link-between-sports-and-academic-performance/</a>.

[3]. https://sport-suaps.univ-amu.fr

[4]. https://www.univ-amu.fr/fr/public/siumpps-service-inter-universitaire-de-medecine-prevention-et-de-promotion-de-la-sante

[5]. CMP Jean Sutter, Aix-en-Provence : https://www.ch-montperrin.fr/Pages/Page%20de%20contenu%20publique/CMP-Jean-Sutter.aspx Tél.: 04 42 28 34 73

Photo credits: Images site Pxhere.com, licence CC0.


OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
lallemandi (4 juin 2021). A Student Guideline for a Better Mental Health. EN-globe. Consulté le 10 novembre 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/oe7c


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