UNIT 4 Flashcards
Common factors to balance with studying
Socializing
Employment
Volunteering
Commuting
Holidays
Exercise
Caring for a dependent or family member
Hobbies/interests
What hangs in the study-life balance?
Other factors —– Academic work
Why is study-life balance important?
Things outside of studies contribute to overall experience of the world
Time commitment related to study-life balance?
Students aren’t expected to study 24/7. Expected 30-35hrs a week
Rest related to study-life balance?
Allocating time to rest is just as important as studying or exercising. The brain needs time and rest to process new info
Exercise and sleep related to study-life balance?
Needs them to maintain a proper state of alertness to focus on learning effectively
Planning related to study-life balance?
committing to well-defined study-times leaves time to enjoy a range of other activities
What is the impact of over-studying on well-being and mental health?
Too much time studying can have a negative impact on relationships, it may interfere with ability to fulfill other non-study related obligations and interests
Can overstudying impact health?
Can increase likelihood of unhealthy behaviours such as smoking, alcohol or drug use, unhealthy eating, feelings of loneliness, and isolation, anxiety/depressive symptoms, increase hopelessness and self-harm
Can a healthy balance have a positive impact on your life?
Yes
Benefits of getting the right balance?
Health and absences
Efficiency
Engagement
Focus and concentration
Academic success
Health and absences
Having a healthy balance can reduce worry and stress. Trying to do too many things at once feeds worry and rumination
Efficiency
Having a healthy balance improves efficiency of work during the allotted study hours
Engagement
Having a healthy balance supports greater connection to and interest in courses, lectures and relationships
Focus and concentration
Heaving a healthy balance facilitates attention on the task at hand and staying present (mindfulness)
Academic success
Having a healthy balance improves learning efficiency and productivity, which is needed for academic success
Mosaic of different and important components and personal interests
Health and wellness
family and friends
recreation and hobbies
career
socialising
culture
community involvement
financial security
personal development
Wheel of life components
Academic professional
Physical development
Finances
Health
Family and friends
Relationships and love
Personal growth
recreation, culture and hobbies
Academic/professional
What are your study/work commitments and do you feel when these are done, you have time in the day for other interests/hobbies and activities?
Finances
Are your finances a worry to you and, if so, have you worked out a solution or sought advice/support/assistance?
Health
How would you rate your overall well-being, including your physical health, mental health and social environment
Family and friends
Do you feel you take the time needed to stay connected to family and friends?
Relationships/Love
Do you feel you take the time needed to maintain your personal relationships?
Personal growth
Its up to you what you define as personal growth. Are you looking for spirituality in your life? Do you like to read and/or learn about new things or acquire new skills
Recreation, culture, hobbies
Recreation is a healthy pastime or diversion and exercise has many important physical and mental health benefits
Physical environment
a safe pleasant home and work environment is important to your well-being. Does it support your studies, recreation/relaxation, and good quality sleep?
What is the importance of compassionate campuses?
- involves working hard to ensure institutions are inclusive and kind learning communities
- Inclusive learning modules, flexible assessment, forming positive learning communities and tackling stigma and discrimination in all of its forms allows students to not just “survive” but also to “thrive” in higher education
Student Story:
Is connectedness important to well being
yes
Personal meaningful connections can be made on the basis of what?
Environment
World view
Values
Relationships
Work
Recreational interests
Connectedness forms
Other people
Natural world
Meaningful values
Meaningful work
Culture and heritage
Connections with other people
people can include your friends, family, peers, colleagues, and more
Connections with the natural world
Refers to all the animals, plants, and other things existing in nature and not made or caused by people. Connections with the natural world and getting out in nature can include gardening, hiking, sightseeing, etc
Connections with meaningful values
refers to faith-based activities, and activities that reflect importance with family and/or personal values
Connections with meaningful work
refer to your work, hobbies, volunteering, or passion projects
Connections with work and heritage
include celebrating traditions, cultural holidays, or relating to people and places from your past
What kind of connections can there be?
Physical
mental
emotional
Importance of social connectedness to young people
Sometimes this drive for connection takes precedence and influences our decision making and risk-taking
What is social connectedness
a personal sense of belonging to a group, family, or community - someones subjective experience of feeling understood and connected to others
Benefits of social connectedness
Improve quality of life
boost mental health
increased life expectancy
decreased risk of suicide
build more inclusive and learning communities
Is social connection a determinant of health and mental health
yes
What does boost mental health mean related to social connectedness
Friendships offer a number of mental health benefits, such as increased feelings of belonging, purpose, increased levels of happiness, reduced levels of stress, improves self-worth, and confidence
Increased life expectancy related to social connectedness
social connections not only impact mental health, but your physical health as well
Decreased risk of suicide related to social connectedness
Relationships can play a crucial role in protecting a person against feeling isolated, suicidal thoughts and behaviours
What does build more inclusive learning communities relating to social connectedness
Compassion for self and for others, challenging stigma and discrimination
what does forming strong healthy relationships with others mean
Opening up and actively listening
Importance of healthy relationships
Some relationships will endure and some will be shorter lived – but just because a relationship doesn’t last forever doesn’t mean that it didn’t serve its purpose at the time
What does loneliness stem from
a lack or reduced feeling of social connectedness
who does loneliness affect
to anyone and especially during losses or transition
Can you feel lonely when surrounded by others?
yes
Loneliness definiton
the unpleasant feeling when your social needs are not being met
Effects of loneliness
Can negatively affect your mental and physical health in a number of ways
Ways loneliness affects mental and physical health
Increased sleep disturbances
Reduced activity
Increased risk of heart disease
Challenge immune system
Forms of a lack of connection
Withdrawal
Ignoring or being ignored
lack of support approval
feeling abandoned
Contributors to pathways to self half or suicide
Social exclusion or a lack of social connectedness, loneliness, and other risk factors such as substance misuse are important contributors
Who is the loneliest age group and had the most health issues
18-22
What is blamed for feelings of loneliness
Social media because more time spent online means fewer in-person experiences,
Was there a significant different in loneliness scores between those who report heavy social media and those who never use it?
NO
How is loneliness combated
Social prescribing
What is social prescription
A holistic approach to health and mental health supporting non-clinical community based activities to improve social connectedness
Is loneliness and social isolation the same?
NO
Loneliness description
the sensation or unpleasant feeling that accompanies the perception that one’s social needs are not being met by the quantity or quality of one’s social connections
Social isolation description
objective measurement of the number of people you interact with. In other words, social isolation is a lack of quantity of social connections
Impacts of social isolation?
Physical
Emotional
Cognitive
Physical impacts of isolation
Isolation has been linked to poorer health and substance abuse, which in turn negatively impacts health further and increases risks of disease
Emotional impacts of isolation
Isolation is associated with reduced confidence, feelings of diminished self-worth, despair, depression, worthiness, and self-harm, social isolation is one of the strongest predictors of depression in later life
Cognitive impacts of isolation
People in prolonged isolation may experience a shortened attention span or forgetfulness as they may not see any reason or opportunity to remain aware and alert
Directed attention
Form of focused attention that required great effort to remain on task and process the information
Is directed attention mentally demanding?
Yes as more appealing external information must be blocked out
Example of directed attention
driving in heavy traffic, study, computer work, phone calls at work
Involuntary control? (fascination)
It is effortless. Is held when the subject is interesting and, therefore, automatically holds your attention
Does involuntary control make you tired
no
Involuntary control example
watching animals or birds, looking at nature scenes or water, watching sports, or listening to music
Directed attention fatigue (DAF)?
refers to a neuropsychological phenomenon indicating overuse of the brains inhibitory system necessary for maintaining focused attention. Such as when we’re studying
Areas affected by DAF
- Input deficits: DAF can result in misinterpretation of and/or failure to notice social cues
- Thinking problems: DAF can cause restlessness, confusion, and/or forgetfulness
- Behaviour: DAF may cause an individual to act impulsively or recklessly
- Executive functioning: DAF may result in a reduced ability to plan and make good decisions - Emotions: DAF may cause someone to be short-tempered and have feelings of unpleasantness
- Worrying and Rumination: DAF makes it easier to slip into worry and overthinking, which can exacerbate stress
How to promote attentional recovery
engage in positive activities you find absorbing
What must you consider to help you recover from DAF?
- Clearing the mind of internal distractions and take short breaks from directed attention tasks
- Getting good quality sleep
- Allowing the mind to wander freely
Attention restoration therapy
Suggest that you think better (or restore your attention) when you spend time in or connecting with others
How can the attention restoration theory be expanded?
to feeling restored mentally when immersing oneself in a restorative environment – which might be anything that gets you away from worries and stress and helps restore your balance
Does recreation look different for different people
Yes
Different forms of recreation
Exercise
Nature
Cultural and heritage activities s
Is physical inactivity an issue
physical inactivity has become an increasing health problem
Cost of physical inactivity
is felt in the health care sector and in the economy, caused by people unable to work
Exercise impact on endorphins
Exercise releases “feel-good” chemicals, called endorphins, that are beneficial to ones overall well-being
Physical exercise, coping with stress, and well-being
Studies have shown that physical exercise is an important way of reducing stress and enhancing well-being in addition to improving cognitive performance important for academic success
Benefits of physical activity on positive emotions
enhance positive emotions such as pleasure, vigorous, and energy, decreases anxiety, tension, tiredness, and anger. PA such as cardiovascular exercise releases endorphins which promote a feeling of happiness, improves concentration and boosts the immune system
Benefits of physical activity on unity of the body and mind
Those who engage in PA may be more likely to engage in other healthy behaviours
Benefits of physical activity on heightened self esteem
there is often a sense of accomplishment that may bring a sense of fulfillment, self-effectiveness and self-esteem afterwards
Benefits of physical activity on leisure
Precious to invest free time of ones own health. This freely chosen activity may enhance stress coping due to a heightened sense of control over their spare time as well as health
Benefits of physical activity on problem-focused coping
Enhances better problem-focused coping derived from positive emotion, such as seeking info to tackle problems rather than emotion-focused coping such as blaming, venting, denying or avoiding
Second example of recreation
Nature
Benefits of being in touch with nature
Beneficial for physical and mental health
What can access to green space alleviate?
a range of both mental and physical health problems, including reducing levels of chronic stress, reductions in obesity, and improved concentration
Does contact with nature reduce stress
Yes, within minutes
4 main results of wildlife trust research findings
- Physical health: Improvements to health through increased PA
- Stress: Reduction
- Emotional regulation: Increased positive mood and self-esteem
- Social life: better and healthier social life
Ways to get nature every day?
-Keep plants in your room
-Having photos of nature on desk
-Using beautiful landscape on computer background
-have breakfast by window
-watch nature shows
-take 5 mins and listen to outside sounds
Connecting exercise in nature
go for walks outside
Culture definition
the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people
What does culture encompass
language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music, art, and more
Is participation in cultural activities food for your well-being
yes
Forms of cultural activities
Art
Music
Reading
Writing
Flow definition
the state you get into when you are so engaged in a creative task that your sense of time disappears and you temporarily forget yourself and your “internal chaos”
Benefits of engaging in purposeful and meaningful activities?
Can work like a natural anti-depressant by improving your mood
Benefits of being in a flow state
really effective at reducing worry and rumination and increasing well-being
GLAM
Galleries
Libraries
Arts
Museums
Longevity & GLAM
The arts and heritage sectors can help keep us well, air our recovery, and support longer lives better lived
Resiliency & GLAM
The arts and heritage sectors can help meet major challenges facing health and social care including ageing, long-term conditions, loneliness and mental health
Community connectedness & GLAM
The arts and heritage sectors offers a range of non-clinical programs. Some are well-being programs helping communities with preventative lifestyles and others are early intervention support for mental health difficulties. Such programs can help reduce pressure on and save money in the health service and social care
The 3 R’s
Reading
Writing
Resetting
Benefits of 3 R’s
Reset mind and relax body
Cultural heritage
implies a shared bond, our belonging to a community.
Prescribe culture
Is a well-being and mental health initiative. Heritage-based and non-clinical, and proactively engaging with the concept of social prescribing
