Burnout is a common experience that many college students undergo with the fluctuations in stress-levels in school. According to Merriam-Webster, burnout can be defined as “exhaustion of physical or emotional strength or motivation usually as a result of prolonged stress or frustration”. In simpler terms, burnout is feeling an extreme amount of stress after working so hard, whether it’s physical or mental. According to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, there is a “rising prevalence of burnout among clinicians” which can not only threaten the safety of their patients but also lead to impaired functions in physicians, leading to a deteriorating mental health. 

As a pre-med student, this is a common term that I’ve consistently heard and experienced. We work ourselves to the point of physical and mental exhaustion for the sake of a career that still results in the same outcome. But there are ways to combat burnout, one of the main ones being to take time off from working and occupy yourself with a more relaxing activity. This can be particularly difficult for someone in the healthcare field, who rarely gets time off or someone in medical school whose future depends on their performance in academics. I think the main premise I want to get across is how important it is to have mental health resources for students but also physicians, who are responsible for people’s livelihoods. There are so many measures that medical schools can take to promote mental health such as changes in the curriculum, helping to limit student loan debt, promote a positive learning environment instead of a cutthroat one, provide more services for people experiencing burnout without stigma. While our careers may be the most important goals we have at this time, our health is just as important if not more. Especially as a physician, who is responsible for the wellbeing of hundreds of patients, they should be receiving the best treatment and prevention for burnout and mental illnesses.

Citations:

“Dictionary by Merriam-Webster: America’s Most-Trusted Online Dictionary.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/. 

Grose, Jessica. “How to Avoid Burnout When You Have Little Ones.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 Apr. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/article/parental-burnout-guide.html. 

I may look fine, but it doesn’t mean I feel fine.

The summer before senior year of high school is always one to look forward to. You’re graduating soon, you’ve decided which college you’ll attend, and you’re ready to make it the best year. But while my friends attended pool parties and concerts, I spent most of my summer in the emergency room with an IV stuck in my arm. 

When I was seventeen, I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease. In simpler terms, I have ulcers in my colon for the rest of my life. This chronic illness of mine is invisible. Invisible illnesses are characterized by an ill person looking healthy but dealing with a condition that affects their daily life. In the span of two weeks, I had lost over fifteen pounds. To others it must’ve looked like I simply lost weight because of a new diet but I was severely malnourished due to my condition. 

All throughout my senior year of high school I was switching between medications that either made my cheeks puff up, my body fatigued or left me hungry all the time—sometimes all three and much more. I was once asked why my cheeks were swelled like a chipmunk, and the reason for that was that I was taking strong steroids. But they didn’t expect that, and I was met with an incredulous look. They probably thought I didn’t “look sick”. While I may look fine, there were so many times that I was fatigued to the point of not being able to get out of bed. It made it difficult to transition into college with an illness, the limitations were endless when I was newly diagnosed. Yet to others I was completely healthy. My pain was invisible.

When someone thinks of a chronically ill person, there’s a particular image that pops up in everyone’s head. They’re either physically impaired or have some specific marker that can label them sick. But there’s more to illnesses than looking sick. So many chronic illnesses are invisible, but they impair daily activities. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines chronic illnesses as “conditions that last 1 year or more and require ongoing medical attention or limit activities of daily living or both” (About Chronic Diseases).

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, about 157 million Americans will be affected by chronic illnesses by 2020 and “96% of people with chronic medical conditions live with an illness that is invisible” (Disabled World). 

With learning about chronic illnesses and disabilities in this course, the main premise of this post is that everyone is going through something—whether it’s visible to you or not. Just as you’d be sensitive about asking someone about a visible impairment, it’s equally important to remember the invisible ones. 

Citations

“About Chronic Diseases.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 28 Apr. 2021, www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/about/index.htm.

Disabled World. “Invisible Disabilities: List and General Information.” Disabled World, Disabled World, 15 Aug. 2021, http://www.disabled-world.com/disability/types/invisible/. 

“Invisible Disabilities List & Information .” UMass Amherst, http://www.umass.edu/studentlife/sites/default/files/documents/pdf/Invisible%20Disabilities%20List%20%26%20Information.pdf. 

Growing up I envied the teenagers who worked at Hollister, no it wasn’t because they had a job. It was their low-rise size zero jeans and skin-tight tops. I wasn’t like them; I had matured quicker than other girls. I would go home and Google if my body was normal. Then I came across a Yahoo answer that still sticks with me today. A person asked how to know if you are fat. And a stranger answered, “if your thighs go over the toilet seat when you sit down, you are fat”. As a pre-teen, I instantly looked down at my legs, spilling over the side of the narrow chair I sat on and convinced myself I was fat.

Times are always changing, and with that, the ideal body image is constantly being changed. With something that is always evolving, is it even ideal? One moment it’s a trend to be lean and the next it’s to be thick. We’re constantly fed by social media of how our bodies should or should not look like. Social media has the ability to glamorize everything, whether it’s drinking apple cider vinegar for a slim waist or vitamins to give you a bigger behind. We grow up with unrealistic expectations of how a body should look instead of learning to love our own. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, 95% of people with eating disorders are from the ages 12 to 25. This is the crucial age that involves so much change in our lives. While navigating through early adulthood, many are still plagued with the anxiety of how their bodies look. Loving our bodies is easier said than done, but wouldn’t it be helpful if the photoshopping wasn’t so common? 

While there’s more representation of all different body types today, there can still be so much more work to be done in allowing young people to easily fall in love with their bodies. I hope that there will come a day when we don’t compare our bodies to unrealistic expectations. 

I can gladly say, that at twenty-one years old, I have grown to love my body for how it is. I don’t compare myself with others, as hard as that can get with social media nowadays. While there are days where I feel down, your body deserves to be loved. While you evolve and change, your body is doing the same. Shouldn’t we be more loving towards it?

Sources:

National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders. “Eating Disorders Statistics.” ANAD. Accessed February 24, 2014, http://www.anad.org/get-information/about-eating-disorders/eating-disorders-statistics/.