Cheating Again (it's good for your mental health!)

OK, here's another one I wrote before ...

(Well, if it's alright for Blue Peter ...!)

It was written for new students at Hull University, Scarborough Campus. So wasn't intended for student parents, but I thought maybe some of it would be useful:


Ten Tips for Making the Most of Your Student Experience.


1. The Boring Stuff!

Quote:

Pay attention to the basics – food sleep and exercise are the basic fuels for physical and mental health.

Food: Eat breakfast! All nutritionists recommend starting the day with a healthy breakfast, especially important if you have a lecture first thing. (See The Eat Well Cookbook for inspirational ideas to kick-start your day/metabolism) Try to eat regular, balanced meals. Arm yourself with healthy snacks for a study session, and make sure you eat before you drink (alcohol).

Sleep: Make sure you get enough good quality sleep – nobody (no body) functions well on a lack of sleep, or feels good after a night of broken sleep. Treat yourself to a couple of early nights or lie-ins, as often as you can.

Exercise: Walk whenever, wherever you can! The perfect exercise, for any fitness level, it costs nothing (in fact, walking to university or town will save you money in bus fares) and has huge health benefits. Find a friend to share a long walk, once or twice a week or try power-walking during study breaks.


2. Take Care!

Quote:

Look after the important things in life – this includes keeping yourself, your belongings, and your personal details safe.

Things: Make sure your belongings are marked, and insured if necessary, and take sensible precautions to keep them safe from theft, loss or damage.

Information: Be wary of sharing personal details – protect yourself against identity theft. Consider how you dispose of financial paperwork. Opting out of junk mail is an easy step to take in protecting your details.

You: Get yourself insured if you think you need to (if you indulge in risky sports, for example) particularly if you have dependents. Always be aware of your personal safety - stick with friends when out late, never leave drinks unattended.


3. Be Safe!

Quote:

Practise safe sex. Always.

Enough said.

Except that, none of us is perfect, so take further precautions against pregnancy if you’re female. And, whichever gender you are, if you are in any doubt as to your sexual health, get yourself tested!


4. Work to Live!

Quote:

Being able to achieve and maintain a healthy work/life balance, is an essential life-skill well worth developing.

Income/Expenditure: Consider the income/expenditure payoff – could you save a little more and work a little less, could you be paid more for what you do, or do a different job? Remember, your time is an important resource – make sure you are getting the best value for it.

Budget: Plan a budget based on reliable income and your expenditure (bear in mind, when calculating this, that most people underestimate their spending) and stick to it as far as possible. Use any extra income for treats or to pay debts, or add to your savings, depending on your financial situation.

Credit/Debt/Savings: Avoid credit if at all possible – it’s an easy way to serious, expensive debt and a great deal of stress. Get help as soon as possible with debts you can’t handle. Try and save something – no matter how small the amount – on a regular basis, to avoid the need for credit, or the trouble of debt.


5. A Day in the Life of a Student!

Quote:

Studying will make up a large portion of your experience as a student!

Make it Effective: Avoid studying when tired, hungry, or stressed about another area of your life. Deal with distractions before a study session and keep sessions short and focussed.

Make it Interesting/Useful: Focus your research on the areas of greatest interest to yourself, and combine areas of research whenever possible.

Make it Fun: Find a ‘study buddy’ or start a study group. Read a book sitting outside in the sunshine. Camp out in your bed with a fresh fruit smoothie and edible treats, your favourite music and an aromatherapy candle.


6. Whatever Floats Your Boat!

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There are many opportunities to explore further interests, or aspects of student life – religious or spiritual beliefs, or political bents, or more general interests.

CV: Any groups or clubs you join will provide excellent evidence of people skills for your CV. If you set up, or are involved in the running of a club, you will also have evidence of organisational and management skills.

Social Circle: Share your interests with other like-minded people. Or try something new and widen your social circle to meet different kinds of people.

Volunteering: It’s true, volunteering is another useful CV exercise, but it is in fact so much more than that. Volunteering will provide you with a sense of fulfilment, of being useful, and of understanding the world (and yourself) a little better.


7. Go Far!

Quote:

Whether you are from Scarborough, or from the other side of the world, you will probably travel far and wide during your time as a student.

Academic: Depending on your degree subject, you might have to travel as part of your studies – field trips for example, or trips to other libraries or archives for research (make good use of the university’s inter-library loan system).

Home: If you’re not a local student, you will probably want to travel home at regular intervals (depending on how far you need to go). You will usually know when and where you will be travelling well in advance, take advantage of this to save money.

Away Days, High Days and Holidays: Avoid travelling on the very busiest days of the year – academic holidays allow you to travel earlier or later than most people at Christmas, for example. Take full advantage of being a student in obtaining discounts.


8. Have Fun!

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All of the above can be fun (should be fun!) but sometimes it’s good to have fun just for the sake of having fun.

Activities: Indulge in your favourite sports and take advantage of Scarborough’s location to try new things. The coast provides opportunities for all sorts of water-based activities (surfing, diving, sailing) and the surrounding countryside is perfect for activities including horse riding, pot-holing and camping.

Relaxation: Take your relaxation seriously! Recharging your physical, intellectual and emotional batteries on a regular basis is essential to ensuring you keep firing on all cylinders, so can make the best of your time at university.

Partying: Partying is part and parcel of the student experience … enjoy! Keep yourself safe, stay in groups and look out for each other when out and about. Keep an eye on your alcohol consumption and don’t let it impinge on the rest of your life.


9. Explore!

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We are blessed with stunning coastline on one side and gorgeous countryside on the other, both of which are drenched in history. Make the most of your time here as a student, whether you are a first-time visitor or have lived here all your life.

Tourist Attractions: Although only a small seaside town, Scarborough has some must-visit places (the castle, the sea life centre, museums …) which attract people from all over the country. Make sure you visit them while they are on your doorstep.

Day Trips: Travel just a little further afield and you will discover plenty of interesting places. Whitby, York and Robin Hood’s Bay are all great for a day away – easily accessible by bus or train, and full of things to see or do.

Local Resources: If you cook for yourself, take advantage of local produce – fruit, veg, fish. Visit the Tourist Information Office or the Local Library for further information.


10. Ask for Directions!

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We all need a little guidance, advice or support sometimes. Whatever help you need, the university has systems to provide it, or can advise you where to find it elsewhere.

Professional: Financial or legal advice, medical contacts, support with finding accommodation or dealing with disability, all are available at university.

Academic / Career Guidance: Lecturers will often be your first contact when you have a difficulty with studying, but take advantages of the services offered by others too. Make an appointment with the Study Skills Advice team for general help, or for help with dyslexia for example. The library staff are always pleased to help with enquiries and the staff in the IT Suite will help with technical queries. Call in to Career Guidance now and then, to keep yourself updated.

Emotional / Mental Health: There is a fantastic counselling service within university, a 24hour helpline, or a number of avenues outside university, if you’d prefer to keep the two separate. You are not alone and don’t have to deal with things by yourself. Everything you say will be confidential , and will have been heard before!


Well, I hope some of it is helpful, for someone!

Mental/emotional health (wellbeing) is something that really interests me, so I'll probably write some more about that at some point. Suffice to say for now, I have personal experience of difficulty in this area, having had a total physical and emotional breakdown at the end of my second year at university.

Nothing to do with university, in fact that's what kept me going for so long! But everywhere else I turned, I faced a problem, there were issues with my daughters, finances, an injury to my back, and a man I was dating. I lacked sleep and nourishment and ran myself into the ground, finally ending up on my knees, at just over seven stone in weight (feel healthiest at over nine), incapable of writing a shopping list, let alone an essay.

With a lot of help and support from a lot of people, I returned to university in September to take my second year exams, and then continued with the course, finally gaining a First Class Honours degree.

The blip in the middle was both the best and worst of times ... I learnt such a lot about myself. It was an opportunity to rebuild myself from a place that was nothing and nowhere, a personal abyss. (I'll try and find a poem I wrote about that at the time.) For years, I had blinkered myself, hadn't allowed myself to change, and as I went through the healing process, I realised things like: Hey! I actually like pink and fluffy! (Whereas I would have said before that I wasn't at all girlie.)

Perhaps the biggest thing I learnt was that being such a perfectionist is very unhealthy. I am much more gentle with myself now ... I still have high standards and expectations, but am happy to accept that my best is good enough, and that perfection is rare for a reason!

I also learnt a lot about stress management, how to recognise the signs of stress, and how to deal with stress before it has a detrimental effect. I don't believe we can avoid stress in today's society, but we can handle it in more positive ways.

Mental illness is still so taboo, which is crazy, considering one in three of us are suffering one form or another at any given time! So, I have always been open about my own experiences, in the hope that others will feel less alone, and less judgmental of themselves: I refused to accept I was ill, until my lovely doctor rephrased it: Dianne, You are mentally, physically and emotionally exhausted, please let me help you!

I did. And I gratefully accepted help from lots of people, most of whom had been there themselves. I also read some great books as I got better (at my worst I spent almost 24 hours asleep!) and will put a list up when I get a chance.

Oh! So many things to do ...

But no pressure, of course! :o)