- Exercise – I’ve always been a firm believer that you think better and you feel better after physical activity. Even though school is busy, it’s important to take time away every week to keep your body healthy.
- Eat Healthy – This might be the hardest one to maintain on this list. It is so much easier to just grab some quick food in between studying. However, I PROMISE that taking an extra 20-30 minutes to make real, healthy food each day, or to prep each week, will go a long way in increasing your productivity and decreasing your stress level.
- Enjoy Your Hobbies – It’s a myth that medical school will take up all your time. Yes, it is very time consuming, but you will still have time outside of school for other things. Sometimes it can be easy to take that time to lay on the couch or nap or catch up on other work, but continuing to participate in hobbies is a great way to decrease stress and maintain your happiness. For me, this includes snowboarding, playing basketball, and reading (fun books, not just textbooks).
- Go Shopping – Now I’m not a huge retail therapy enthusiast, but after a tough test or a long week of studying, going out and treating yourself to some new clothes or something else is a good way to reward yourself for your hard work. Obviously, always stay within your budget.
- Take Breaks – No matter how many exams you have coming up or how far behind you are, take time during your studying to get up, walk around, talk to some friends, or just relax a bit. For me, I take 10 minutes every hour and a half of studying to stretch out and clear my mind.
- Stay Close to People Outside of School – This is an important one. You will get really close with your classmates and that’s a great thing, but there will be times when people at school just stress you out. It’s critical to stay close to people that aren’t in medical school, whether it’s friends or family, to maintain contact with the outside world. These people will be great resources to keep you relaxed and decrease your stress, as well as help to keep you motivated and focused on the bigger picture.
- Maintain a Regular Sleep Schedule – This is tough, but is completely doable, especially in the first two years of medical school. Staying well-rested and on a normal sleep schedule (whatever that means for you) is an excellent way to keep your head in the right place.
- Get Some Sun – Take one look at me and you can probably tell I don’t do this enough. It can be tough to sit inside and study all day. It’s important to get out sometimes and enjoy the sun, both for your physical and mental health. Sorry to all the readers that don’t live in a sunny state like I do (shoutout Colorado).
- Avoid Overthinking – What I really mean by this is don’t over analyze everything that happens in school. One of the most stressful things for me is talking about the exam we just took with my classmates. You’ll feel great about the test until everyone around you got different answers than you. As soon as I stopped hanging around after tests to talk with everyone I immediately felt less stress in school. This applies to tests, quizzes, practicals, and anything else that can stress you out. Avoid overthinking afterward, stressing yourself out about it isn’t going to change the outcome, so find something else to do with that time.
- Enjoy It! – Remember why you’re there and remember the long term goal, but take time to have fun and appreciate everything you get to do and learn. It’s an amazing opportunity so make sure to remember how lucky you are and have fun!
