How to Manage Stress in Medical School

Let us face it; medical school is stressful. Medical school is a rollercoaster, and we have good days and bad.  So far, the best days I have had in medical school are my visits to surgery rooms, and my worst will have to be reading about possible complications of each surgery.

Identify the cause of your stress

The first step in managing stress is identifying the causes of the stress. The next step is to prioritize the stress and determine if the cause of the stress is something you can fix or something out of your control. 

Academic marks, absent social life, finances, and personal ambitions cause most medical student stress. It is essential to deal with this stress because excessive stress can lead to poor academic performance and interpersonal/ intrapersonal conflicts.

Everyday tips for managing stress and why they help

Many students vouch for exercising, eating healthy, and sleeping as their ways of managing stress. But do they work? Let’s investigate!

Exercising

Exercising is good. It keeps the mind distracted from the stress. I will agree that exercise improves one overall health and fitness, but it goes a step further. Exercise directly increases the levels of endorphins in your body. Endorphins are the body’s natural painkillers. These endorphins are feel-good hormones, including dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin.

Exercise helps you forget your stress. Of course, there is nothing wrong with forgetting your worries for a few hours. Additionally, exercise does help to channel these emotions into something efficient. 

Eating healthy

Another common way people try to alleviate their anxieties is by eating healthily.  The idea behind eating healthy is that it provides the body with the extra energy needed to maintain the stressed body.

An article I read said, ‘eating healthy is important so that we have one less thing to worry about,’ and that clicked. But, again, eating healthy doesn’t solve the problem; it is just damage control. You could be stressed, but at least you are not hungry.

Fortunately, certain foods have been scientifically proven to reduce stress. Foods like dark chocolate, chamomile tea, oysters, and oatmeal can reduce stress, so it will be a brilliant idea to add them to your diet. I will have to add a bowl of ice cream to the list; although it is not remotely healthy, it makes a long week less hectic. 

Generally, it is better to eat healthily than to eat unhealthily.

 An unhealthy diet will put your body deficient in some vital nutrients, which might lead to decreased endorphins. Additionally, preparing a healthy meal is therapeutic; you will give yourself all the nutrients your body needs.

Sleep

The best among the three earlier proposed ways to reduce stress is sleep. Sleep is the best because it decreases the stress hormone (cortisol) level. If too much cortisol is in the body, one can gain weight and acquire cardiovascular problems. 

Adults need about seven to nine hours of sleep, but the most important thing is maintaining a sleep routine. So if I were to give my younger self some advice, it would be to get more sleep. 

Sleep and stress go hand in hand; if you sleep too little, you will get more stressed. 

Now let’s discuss some of the less common ways to manage stress.

Your friends 

Your friends help you more than you think. I listened to a podcast where they interviewed young doctors, and one of their biggest regrets was that they did not socialize enough in medical school. Your peer network will get you through the stress of medical school. You just need to know which type of friends to hang around.

When it comes to friendship, quality counts more than quality. You need to be around friends who are where you want to be or friends who are aspiring to be where you want to be.

Go out, have fun, socialize, volunteer, take a walk, and converse with an old friend. You can also join support groups and clubs in school.

Meditation and prayer

Meditation has helped sort out a lot of my emotions. Meditation is a good way of relieving stress because it helps you identify the cause of stress and help you classify it into something you can control and something you cannot control. In addition, meditation helps you introspect and bring out your prayer points. 

Keep a journal

Journals help you keep track of your emotions. Journalling helps you prioritize your fears and concerns. It is one of the best ways of managing your symptoms. Journaling will expose even the emotions you did not know you had. You will be able to identify your triggers, and then you will be able to control those triggers. You will also be able to handle your problems as they come.

In conclusion

Medical school is stressful by nature, but you must not let yourself become consumed by the stress. Instead, identify your triggers, and sort out your emotions. Some ways to reduce stress include investing your emotions into physical activity, eating healthy, sleeping seven to nine hours, socializing, meditating, and keeping a journal.

The adverse effects of stress in medical school are too costly to ignore. So put yourself together; you got this. Prioritize your stress. Is it something you can control? Is it your fault?

Please like and share this post. Tell me what you do to manage your stress in the comment session. See you guys next week.