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Agony Aunt

 Dear Agony Aunt: I’m starting to resent my best friends

 Hi agony aunt, I am a fourth year currently struggling with my diss. I have to get special circumstances and the whole process feels stressful. I feel like everyone around me especially my female friends are doing better than me with their dissertations. I have not even started planning for the future because I can’t […]

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Features Lifestyle

The symbiotic cycle of stress and skin, and what to do about it

If you’ve suddenly started to experience acne breakouts after an anxiety-filled period (hi there, 2020) or your eczema flares up every time a deadline looms, your body’s stress response is likely to blame. You might be surprised to hear that lockdown and its various stressors – disrupted routine, being furloughed, spending more time indoors – hasn’t […]

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Lifestyle

A look into hypnotherapy for exam stress

Exams are a stressful time. So much depends on you passing or getting a particular mark. While some stress can be good to focus your mind, too much can affect our mental health and make us feel overwhelmed, making it difficult to concentrate on anything, let alone studying for exams. Stress is generally considered the […]

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Features Lifestyle Wellbeing

The pain of procrastination: the inevitability of every exam season

It’s that time of year again. Essay deadlines, exam dates and long library sessions. All too often it seems that our focus wavers from our work and onto mindlessly scrolling through our phone. Fantasising about upcoming holidays, organising our inbox and sharing memes with friends becomes an all too familiar process. Procrastination seems to defeat […]

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Comment Student Experience

Losing my humanity: the perils of academic perfectionism

Why is it, that whatever we do, whether it be academic or actual, is never enough? Professor Thomas Curran and Andrew P. Hill (2018) call perfectionism the leading “epidemic among young people” of the millennial age. They state that in today’s society there is “an enormous pressure on young people to demonstrate their value and […]

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Health Review Science

Book review: Letters to a New Student by Dr Gary W Wood

Studying is a bit different for everyone – it might be fun, curiosity-driven, and inspiring, but it can also be daunting or stressful when it is wrapped up in deadlines and assignments. Psychologist Dr Gary W. Wood has spent much of his career studying how people learn and teaching them how to do it better. […]

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Features

Wellbeing Week and resources for wellbeing at university

Join the conversation. This was the tagline for Wellbeing Week (12-18 November), a programme of events organised by the Edinburgh University Students’ Association to “raise awareness of mental health and well-being among students and staff.” This week is well timed. Every November, the Movember Foundation asks people to help change the face of men’s health […]

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Lifestyle Wellbeing

It’s deadline time: here’s how five students deal with stress

Stress is a part of student life. Five students have written about their personal experiences and their methods for calming the anxiety and reducing the intensity of stress when it seems to be at its peak. When I am stressed, it’s usually due to a pile up of work and deadlines. I find the best […]