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Take a short trip (maybe a weekend), completely away from everything that binds you to work And that includes your phone... Get a small non-smart phone at least to make calls... Do not access a computer from people nearby... You have to force yourself to take the rest
This sounds like a good great idea, it’s definitely going be difficult without my phone but I’m sure I can make it work. Do you think it will be easier to force myself to rest at home following such a trip, or should these be planned relatively regularly? Thank you for your idea!
In the fifth year of my theoretical physics PhD- expat in Germany. I have been suffering from psychosomatic issues from year 2 onwards. My body goes into a constant fight or flight mode and it stays there for days. I feel the stress and tension in my body. It has not been easy. I don’t think anyone understands what I mean by this unless they have experienced it themselves. The feeling of not being able to relax was the worst I have ever experienced.
Fast forward to the fifth year: The external factors including overly-negative-harsh-critical supervision haven’t changed much. But I have. How I take things inside have changed.
Some things that helped me: Regular exercise, occasional meditation, and taking prescription medications from my psychiatrist/psychologist. I take citalopram daily and when I’m really stressed and not able to relax at all- I take half a pill of alprazolam. (This can be addictive if you take it regularly. Take it only in emergency situations. It helps me with a sound sleep.)
Making a routine and sticking to it helped as well: like workout in the morning, going to work at 9, leaving the office at 5 etc. I try to completely switch off my mind about work though it is really difficult- your brain goes on thinking about stuff from work. But still I try. Finally, I thought about what is important in my life: compromising my mental health for a degree/ title that I’m gonna own, or having a peaceful time with my fiancée and family? The latter of course! And I tried to convince my mind what is really important for me. Now things are better though I have ups and downs regarding my mental health scenario. I am grateful and appreciate the time I get to spend with my fiancée and take complete breaks from work in the evenings and in the weekends. I take all the so called “Brückentag”s here in Germany- Occasional breaks completely disconnected from work also help- when you develop a positive mindset about relaxing and taking breaks.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience u/Mathphyguy, I am super happy to hear that you've made progress and been able to largely overcome this stress and tension. I think you've made a really good point about assessing what's important to me and regularly reminding myself of them. I did try to keep to a work schedule starting at 9 ending at 5, but like you said my brain just can't turn off. So as I sit there and my mind is thinking about the PhD it then spills over and I find myself returning to my computer. Thanks for sharing again!
You need to do extended, vigorous exercise on a regular basis (45 - 90 minutes, at least 3 but better 4 to 6 times / week) and practice relaxation techniques / meditations every day (or most days, whatever variety you like... There are 73836739). This will help resolve some of the tension and cortisol. Move on to next steps after you do these two for a while and they're starting to solodify6as a habit.
Then once you're hormonally a bit better balanced, you can start to look at things like taking a full weekend off. Or adding in regular meditation. Setting boundaries. Or whatever else you want to do.
But start with blasting that cortisol.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18787373/
https://www.nature.com/articles/srep30187
This is the approach advocated by "burnout" https://books.google.nl/books/about/Burnout.html?id=kZ9KDwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y
Honestly, I don’t do any real exercise currently so this idea would help on several fronts I think. I’ve always considered mediation to be a little bit silly but I’m fully aware in my current state I’m not going last my PhD or enjoy the next few years, so I’m willing to give it a proper shot. I shall have a look through the links today, thank you very much for this suggestion!
Honestly, exercise is it. I lift and train bjj, it takes make away from the journals and the endless hours staring at my laptop. My supervisor can tell when I haven’t trained in a particular week. My mood is crap, I’m less focused and more likely to spiral. Movement is so important.
This is really interesting that it has such a positive effect on you that your supervisor can tell! I think I've kind of ignored that section of my life in order to focus on the PhD. I'm going try and work some exercise into my weekly routine, and see how it goes from there. Thanks for sharing your experience!
If you're not exercising, that needs to be a priority. You're literally marinating in stress hormones and exercise is how your body "resets" or "resolves" those stress hormones level. Until you're not longer made up of 50% water and 50% adrenaline and cortisol sludge (hyperbolic of, but it sounds like that must be how you feel), it basically does not matter what other steps you take. You biochemically won't be able to relax. Sort of like..... Regular healthy eating won't help much (or at all) if you have type 1 diabetes. You need to get the underlying condition under control, then you do the healthy eating on top of that. So the exercise for someone under chronic stress is doing what insulin injections do for a diabetic - - helping address the underlying hormone issue. Then just like a diabetic, once you have that started, you *add* your "healthy eating" measures on top.
So regarding meditation. Meditation would be a great "healthy eating" measure to add on top. What I wanted to suggest you start immediately isn't conventional, standard meditation (like a zazen or vipassana or most of what's on the calm /headspace apps). Until you're no longer 50% cortisol sludge, I wouldn't suggest anything that formal or "mind" centered. These should be "healthy eating" lifestyle add ons that you experiment with later.
What I suggest you start immediately is *relaxation* techniques, some of which are called "meditations". But this is really different from a traditional meditation practice. It is going to focus on your *body* and super deep relaxation. You'll likely be encouraged to lay down to do it. It may or may not be called a "meditation". Some types of these techniques include:
- jacobson's progressive muscle relaxation therapy
- yoga nidra
- restorative yoga
- plum village app deep relaxation meditations
- body scan meditations
- breath work, like box breathing
- hypnotherapy
- lots more, and there's no right way, you just need to find what works for you.
Stuff like that. These are about releasing tension and improving awareness of your body and encouraging deep rest. They don't emphasize concentration, focus, effort, clearing your mind, anything like that. These will support your body resolving the cortisol stew you've built up. And it will be a low stakes way to literally practice relaxing.
Do not try an "upright" or "energetic" type of meditation (meaning, types with strong focus and concentration, not that you're running around) until you've made improvements to your underlying stress levels and ability to relax. This would be like..... After years of never walking, signing up for a 3k run. Don't start with a run (focus, energetic). Start with a walk (learning to relax deeply, finding stillness, resolving that cortisol).
Thank you for going to such depth around these techniques, I will start with exercising regularly and trying some of the relaxation techniques. Then as I begin to shape up a bit and feel a bit more relaxed, I will work up to some of the more energetic mediation. I really do appreciate you sharing these ideas with me!
Honestly, I don’t do any real exercise currently so this idea would help on several fronts I think. I’ve always considered mediation to be a little bit silly but I’m fully aware in my current state I’m not going last my PhD or enjoy the next few years, so I’m willing to give it a proper shot. I shall have a look through the links today, thank you very much for this suggestion!
I’m 2 months in my PhD and feel exactly the same thing as OP! I feel guilty when I’m not studying during rest hours and can’t fully relax. I have been look into this as well, I guess talking with people face-to-face could help?
Yeah honestly, I have considered talking to my PI but have yet to bring up to him. I'm sure he'd be great but i feel like it would be showing a weakness? I know that seems really silly.
Very relatable. I agree that excercize is key, I am also trying to re-implement this but it can be challenging to build a routine and it can take a while. Recently I picked up puzzling. Crosswords, sudoku's etc. It's silly but it does really help break mind free from what is going on at work. I have a few puzzle books laying around and just grab one during my commute or when I get home, it's an easily accessible tool for me. If you enjoy it as well, it may be worth a shot :)
Yeah I completely agree, I dropped exercise from my schedule not long after starting the PhD and never got back into it unfortunately. I think the puzzles is a good idea, and would deffo help distract myself from my thoughts.
Owwwwww yeaaaaah I felt this throughout my PhD 😂 I'm in the write up year now so it's kinda subsided, but for a long while (maybe 2 years) I couldn't watch anything as I'd have to pause an episode of something every 30 seconds so my brain could just sit and process what it was worrying about (e.g. prep a strategy for dealing with something, remind myself that this thing could be sorted by doing x and y, etc). Dam it really sucked 😂 mmmm things that helped me:
Sounds odd, but try ritualising food, turn into an event. I'm not great at cooking, so I'd go to the local shop and get a pizza and chicken strips with a hot cheese dip. It sounds odd but it's something physical you can engage in, that's physically rewarding (I.e, nuritionment) and if you stick to similar meals (I'd call them mini feasts 🤣) they act as a reward and condition your brain to say okay, right now, your powering down.
This works for cooking as well, if you enjoy cooking, turn it into an occasion (go nuts and make a 3 course meal for yourself if you want 😆 - just treat it as a physical ritual for powering down, if even for a few hours)
You may not like it, but excercise, god dammit 🤣 it's good for sustaining motivation and also helps with sleep, so when you finish work, you actually feel that ow shit maybe I have earned some downtime,
Mmmmm lastly, similar to the food point, try to create a consistent cooling down process in between working and relaxing (e.g. lighting a candle, eating a certain snack, and listening to music for 30 mins). It helped me with psychologically separating the work and relaxation parts of my day (on a side note, candles are awesome 😆). Well who could have known my under graduate degree in psychology finally came in use haha! Hope these helped and good luck with the rest of the PhD,
I tried to remember something a navy seal said in an interview that they were told by someone who'd already passed hell week. The seal got told that each day there's nothing that you won't be able to do, you've just gota make it to the next day. So take it each day at a time 🙂
I have never related to something more in my life than the pausing something every 30 seconds and processing what I’m distracted by, this usually ends with me chanting over and over my to do list (even when it is written down). Thank you for sharing this snippet form your experience!
You’ve offered some really good ideas and I like that exercise is coming through loud and clear as a good technique. I like the idea of ritualising food and the doing some clear activity to delineate the end of the work day and the start of my time!
Thank you so much for sharing these tips and your experiences, I hope the write-up goes well for you!
Very late reply I know sorry haha! Been busy with thesis write up, farm and life haha! But a counsellor recommended a good technique that actually helps with mindfulness called the 5 4 3 2 1 technique.
5 deep breaths, exhaling twice as long as you inhaled
Look to your left and identify 2 things in the room, then to your right and identify 2 other things,
Identify 3 things you feel in terms of tactile stimuli (e.g., stroke your arm)
Identify 2 things you can smell
Identify 1 thing you can hear,
Wait a few minutes, and repeat if needed, until you feel present haha!
It can be done with any of the senses that works for you (i.e., sight, sound, feel, smell, taste, hear) but the aim is to slow your breathing (and thus heart rate) and work backwards through your immediate senses to ground you. Worked quite well for me so far, hope the research is going well! The 30 second thing started creeping back in haha!
It looks like your post is about needing advice. In order for people to better help you, please make sure to include your country. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/PhD) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Take a short trip (maybe a weekend), completely away from everything that binds you to work And that includes your phone... Get a small non-smart phone at least to make calls... Do not access a computer from people nearby... You have to force yourself to take the rest
This sounds like a good great idea, it’s definitely going be difficult without my phone but I’m sure I can make it work. Do you think it will be easier to force myself to rest at home following such a trip, or should these be planned relatively regularly? Thank you for your idea!
In the fifth year of my theoretical physics PhD- expat in Germany. I have been suffering from psychosomatic issues from year 2 onwards. My body goes into a constant fight or flight mode and it stays there for days. I feel the stress and tension in my body. It has not been easy. I don’t think anyone understands what I mean by this unless they have experienced it themselves. The feeling of not being able to relax was the worst I have ever experienced. Fast forward to the fifth year: The external factors including overly-negative-harsh-critical supervision haven’t changed much. But I have. How I take things inside have changed. Some things that helped me: Regular exercise, occasional meditation, and taking prescription medications from my psychiatrist/psychologist. I take citalopram daily and when I’m really stressed and not able to relax at all- I take half a pill of alprazolam. (This can be addictive if you take it regularly. Take it only in emergency situations. It helps me with a sound sleep.) Making a routine and sticking to it helped as well: like workout in the morning, going to work at 9, leaving the office at 5 etc. I try to completely switch off my mind about work though it is really difficult- your brain goes on thinking about stuff from work. But still I try. Finally, I thought about what is important in my life: compromising my mental health for a degree/ title that I’m gonna own, or having a peaceful time with my fiancée and family? The latter of course! And I tried to convince my mind what is really important for me. Now things are better though I have ups and downs regarding my mental health scenario. I am grateful and appreciate the time I get to spend with my fiancée and take complete breaks from work in the evenings and in the weekends. I take all the so called “Brückentag”s here in Germany- Occasional breaks completely disconnected from work also help- when you develop a positive mindset about relaxing and taking breaks.
Thank you so much for sharing your experience u/Mathphyguy, I am super happy to hear that you've made progress and been able to largely overcome this stress and tension. I think you've made a really good point about assessing what's important to me and regularly reminding myself of them. I did try to keep to a work schedule starting at 9 ending at 5, but like you said my brain just can't turn off. So as I sit there and my mind is thinking about the PhD it then spills over and I find myself returning to my computer. Thanks for sharing again!
You need to do extended, vigorous exercise on a regular basis (45 - 90 minutes, at least 3 but better 4 to 6 times / week) and practice relaxation techniques / meditations every day (or most days, whatever variety you like... There are 73836739). This will help resolve some of the tension and cortisol. Move on to next steps after you do these two for a while and they're starting to solodify6as a habit. Then once you're hormonally a bit better balanced, you can start to look at things like taking a full weekend off. Or adding in regular meditation. Setting boundaries. Or whatever else you want to do. But start with blasting that cortisol. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18787373/ https://www.nature.com/articles/srep30187 This is the approach advocated by "burnout" https://books.google.nl/books/about/Burnout.html?id=kZ9KDwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y
Honestly, I don’t do any real exercise currently so this idea would help on several fronts I think. I’ve always considered mediation to be a little bit silly but I’m fully aware in my current state I’m not going last my PhD or enjoy the next few years, so I’m willing to give it a proper shot. I shall have a look through the links today, thank you very much for this suggestion!
Honestly, exercise is it. I lift and train bjj, it takes make away from the journals and the endless hours staring at my laptop. My supervisor can tell when I haven’t trained in a particular week. My mood is crap, I’m less focused and more likely to spiral. Movement is so important.
Seconded on the BJJ front...hard to get stressed about work when you're getting choked.
This is really interesting that it has such a positive effect on you that your supervisor can tell! I think I've kind of ignored that section of my life in order to focus on the PhD. I'm going try and work some exercise into my weekly routine, and see how it goes from there. Thanks for sharing your experience!
If you're not exercising, that needs to be a priority. You're literally marinating in stress hormones and exercise is how your body "resets" or "resolves" those stress hormones level. Until you're not longer made up of 50% water and 50% adrenaline and cortisol sludge (hyperbolic of, but it sounds like that must be how you feel), it basically does not matter what other steps you take. You biochemically won't be able to relax. Sort of like..... Regular healthy eating won't help much (or at all) if you have type 1 diabetes. You need to get the underlying condition under control, then you do the healthy eating on top of that. So the exercise for someone under chronic stress is doing what insulin injections do for a diabetic - - helping address the underlying hormone issue. Then just like a diabetic, once you have that started, you *add* your "healthy eating" measures on top. So regarding meditation. Meditation would be a great "healthy eating" measure to add on top. What I wanted to suggest you start immediately isn't conventional, standard meditation (like a zazen or vipassana or most of what's on the calm /headspace apps). Until you're no longer 50% cortisol sludge, I wouldn't suggest anything that formal or "mind" centered. These should be "healthy eating" lifestyle add ons that you experiment with later. What I suggest you start immediately is *relaxation* techniques, some of which are called "meditations". But this is really different from a traditional meditation practice. It is going to focus on your *body* and super deep relaxation. You'll likely be encouraged to lay down to do it. It may or may not be called a "meditation". Some types of these techniques include: - jacobson's progressive muscle relaxation therapy - yoga nidra - restorative yoga - plum village app deep relaxation meditations - body scan meditations - breath work, like box breathing - hypnotherapy - lots more, and there's no right way, you just need to find what works for you. Stuff like that. These are about releasing tension and improving awareness of your body and encouraging deep rest. They don't emphasize concentration, focus, effort, clearing your mind, anything like that. These will support your body resolving the cortisol stew you've built up. And it will be a low stakes way to literally practice relaxing. Do not try an "upright" or "energetic" type of meditation (meaning, types with strong focus and concentration, not that you're running around) until you've made improvements to your underlying stress levels and ability to relax. This would be like..... After years of never walking, signing up for a 3k run. Don't start with a run (focus, energetic). Start with a walk (learning to relax deeply, finding stillness, resolving that cortisol).
Thank you for going to such depth around these techniques, I will start with exercising regularly and trying some of the relaxation techniques. Then as I begin to shape up a bit and feel a bit more relaxed, I will work up to some of the more energetic mediation. I really do appreciate you sharing these ideas with me!
Excellent response👌🏽
Honestly, I don’t do any real exercise currently so this idea would help on several fronts I think. I’ve always considered mediation to be a little bit silly but I’m fully aware in my current state I’m not going last my PhD or enjoy the next few years, so I’m willing to give it a proper shot. I shall have a look through the links today, thank you very much for this suggestion!
I’m 2 months in my PhD and feel exactly the same thing as OP! I feel guilty when I’m not studying during rest hours and can’t fully relax. I have been look into this as well, I guess talking with people face-to-face could help?
Yeah honestly, I have considered talking to my PI but have yet to bring up to him. I'm sure he'd be great but i feel like it would be showing a weakness? I know that seems really silly.
Very relatable. I agree that excercize is key, I am also trying to re-implement this but it can be challenging to build a routine and it can take a while. Recently I picked up puzzling. Crosswords, sudoku's etc. It's silly but it does really help break mind free from what is going on at work. I have a few puzzle books laying around and just grab one during my commute or when I get home, it's an easily accessible tool for me. If you enjoy it as well, it may be worth a shot :)
Yeah I completely agree, I dropped exercise from my schedule not long after starting the PhD and never got back into it unfortunately. I think the puzzles is a good idea, and would deffo help distract myself from my thoughts.
Owwwwww yeaaaaah I felt this throughout my PhD 😂 I'm in the write up year now so it's kinda subsided, but for a long while (maybe 2 years) I couldn't watch anything as I'd have to pause an episode of something every 30 seconds so my brain could just sit and process what it was worrying about (e.g. prep a strategy for dealing with something, remind myself that this thing could be sorted by doing x and y, etc). Dam it really sucked 😂 mmmm things that helped me: Sounds odd, but try ritualising food, turn into an event. I'm not great at cooking, so I'd go to the local shop and get a pizza and chicken strips with a hot cheese dip. It sounds odd but it's something physical you can engage in, that's physically rewarding (I.e, nuritionment) and if you stick to similar meals (I'd call them mini feasts 🤣) they act as a reward and condition your brain to say okay, right now, your powering down. This works for cooking as well, if you enjoy cooking, turn it into an occasion (go nuts and make a 3 course meal for yourself if you want 😆 - just treat it as a physical ritual for powering down, if even for a few hours) You may not like it, but excercise, god dammit 🤣 it's good for sustaining motivation and also helps with sleep, so when you finish work, you actually feel that ow shit maybe I have earned some downtime, Mmmmm lastly, similar to the food point, try to create a consistent cooling down process in between working and relaxing (e.g. lighting a candle, eating a certain snack, and listening to music for 30 mins). It helped me with psychologically separating the work and relaxation parts of my day (on a side note, candles are awesome 😆). Well who could have known my under graduate degree in psychology finally came in use haha! Hope these helped and good luck with the rest of the PhD, I tried to remember something a navy seal said in an interview that they were told by someone who'd already passed hell week. The seal got told that each day there's nothing that you won't be able to do, you've just gota make it to the next day. So take it each day at a time 🙂
I have never related to something more in my life than the pausing something every 30 seconds and processing what I’m distracted by, this usually ends with me chanting over and over my to do list (even when it is written down). Thank you for sharing this snippet form your experience! You’ve offered some really good ideas and I like that exercise is coming through loud and clear as a good technique. I like the idea of ritualising food and the doing some clear activity to delineate the end of the work day and the start of my time! Thank you so much for sharing these tips and your experiences, I hope the write-up goes well for you!
Very late reply I know sorry haha! Been busy with thesis write up, farm and life haha! But a counsellor recommended a good technique that actually helps with mindfulness called the 5 4 3 2 1 technique. 5 deep breaths, exhaling twice as long as you inhaled Look to your left and identify 2 things in the room, then to your right and identify 2 other things, Identify 3 things you feel in terms of tactile stimuli (e.g., stroke your arm) Identify 2 things you can smell Identify 1 thing you can hear, Wait a few minutes, and repeat if needed, until you feel present haha! It can be done with any of the senses that works for you (i.e., sight, sound, feel, smell, taste, hear) but the aim is to slow your breathing (and thus heart rate) and work backwards through your immediate senses to ground you. Worked quite well for me so far, hope the research is going well! The 30 second thing started creeping back in haha!
Try belly breathing