Disclaimer: This article is based on my experiences as a person. Your specific needs may be different than mine. This article is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advice. This article contains affiliate links. If you chose to purchase these items I may be reimbursed.
If you’re feeling anxious about your MCAT, grades, or the medical school application process, you’re not alone. Almost every pre-med feels the weight of the process at one time or another.
At least for me, my mind was always on. I was constantly going over what I needed to do to get a better score or build a better resume.
This future-focused mindset is easy to fall into as a pre-med or medical student and often ends up hurting us in the form of anxiety and stress.
Today, this anxiety and stress has been further amplified by the pandemic and the isolation that comes with it.
In this article, I’m going to share what helped me reduce this pre-med anxiety and become more productive. Hopefully, something in this article will help you in your journey to becoming a physician.
Table of Contents
Productivity Through Work-Life Balance
Sleep More and Boost our Grades
Productivity Through Work-Life Balance
As counterintuitive as this may seem, what I’ve found that makes a pre-med or medical student most successful is having a balanced life. I know this is hard to believe because it can mean adding more to your busy schedule.
However, in the long run, adding self-care to your schedule will make you more productive by helping decrease the stress and anxiety that can paralyze your ability to focus on the task at hand.
When you take care of yourself (through sleep, exercise, nutrition, and mindfulness), your body and mind will return the favor by increasing your productivity and performance.
Sleep More And Boost Your Grades
Getting a full night’s sleep is the first and possibly most important lifestyle change that I recommend for pre-meds and medical students.
With the pursuit of a career in medicine comes heavy educational loads and packed schedules. This leads us to feel like there’s never enough time and that we need to work late into the night to make up that time.
This sets us up to fail!
When we prevent our body from recuperating after a long day, it won’t be able to perform that way we need it to.
Give you and your body a break!
P.S. When I started getting a full night sleep in college, I got three consecutive 4.0’s!
Mindfulness and Meditation
The lifestyle change that I was most resistant to ended being one of the most helpful… practicing mindfulness and meditation.
My mom had been telling me for years to try meditation but I never took it seriously. It wasn’t until I was a junior in college with my MCAT looming that I gave it an actual try.
I started with quick mediation videos on youtube and free meditation apps.
It was difficult at first… I felt silly and uncomfortable. But the more I used it, the more in control I felt.
Throughout the day, whenever I felt my anxiety, I would close my eyes and focus on my breathing and only my breathing.
This mindfulness exercise brought me back to the now and allowed me to re-focus on what I needed to do that day.
Meditation Apps
Exercise
Get moving!
I strongly recommend allocating time in your schedule to take take a walk, go to the gym, or go on a run.
Incorporating exercise into my routine allowed me to be in the present in the moment and work toward goals not related the medical school.
An activity that I strongly recommend trying is weightlifting. At first, it feels foreign, especially if you start with negative strength like I did when I started.
But as you get the form down and begin lifting heavier and heavier weights… it makes you feel powerful and like you can conquer the day. (And get’s you into the right mindset for your studies and extracurriculars).
Just for Fun: Here are some workout’s that I’ve done during the pandemic that I really liked.
At Home Work Outs I Like!
Find a Good Book
Avoid the Netflix rabbit hole. A lot of people’s go to for relieving stress is to Netflix binge. Unfortunately, this often causes you to lose large amounts of study time… which leads to even more stress.
The answer. Find a “Candy Book.” A candy book is one that doesn’t make you think too hard, so that even though you’re reading… you’re still giving your mind a break.
Yes, a book can be as addicting as Netflix, but it’s broken up in distinct chapters and doesn’t automatically start the next episode/chapter immediately without your input.
This makes it slightly easier to leave the binge and get back to studying when you need to.
Recommended Books
The Alchemist is a little less of a “candy book” than the other two but the message is amazing. I’ve read this book four times and I strongly recommend it!
Other Helpful Insights
- Take More Breaks
- Try the Pomodoro Technique
- Remember Your Blessings in the Hard Times
- Fuel Your Body (I’ll put out an article about what I eat in a day as a medical student soon).
- Check out the CDC’s Advice for Mental Health and Coping
- Talk to Someone
- At the peak of my stress, I talked to one of the counselors at my university and it really helped me move forward.
Remember that you’re not alone.
Please feel free to message me at anytime if you have any questions or need someone to talk to.
For more pre-med advice join my Pre-Med Support Network facebook group for quicker access to pre-med advice!
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