April 2021 is National Stress Awareness month in the UK. The Stress Management Society reports that “According to the Mental health Foundation 74% of UK adults have felt so stressed at some point over the last year they felt overwhelmed or unable to cope.”
Faced with statistics like this, doctoral researchers may feel reassured they are not alone in having faced unprecedented levels of stress in the past year. Or it might just reinforce that sense that events remain very much out of our individual control.
Everyone reacts to stress differently. Indeed, what is stressful to one person can be energising for another. This is why it is really hard to talk about stress in general terms. These differences have been thrown into sharp relief during the past year. Some researchers have been energised by the practical and mental challenges of lockdown, while others have found the situation truly overwhelming.
So where does that help when we want to understand the things that cause us stress, and find strategies to stay healthy and productive while working from home? One way is to think about different working preferences.
Some researchers love being around others and have found the enforced isolation of lockdown a real mental challenge. For these people, being able to bounce ideas off others and get their thoughts out verbally is a critical part of their wellbeing.
How to help? Create opportunities to connect regularly with others that allow you to have the same kinds of conversations you were having face-to face. Creating regular virtual refreshment spaces can be a great way to do this. Virtual breaks like this (a) make you do something different for a while (b) offer an outlet for the informal type of conversations that happen over the kettle or photocopier.
Once you’ve found your group, make these sessions optional, rather than required, spaces because not everyone needs this type of verbal connection so intensely. But even those who like the peace of working at home can also welcome the chance to see fellow researchers once in a while, especially in an informal setting.
Another stressor can be structuring time while working from home. While some people find organising their day to be an enjoyable activity, others can find this a real challenge.
What can you do to help? A working health-check with a couple of other researchers can be a great way to take stock and share ideas about how to make it work. Create a virtual space for people to share what has worked for them, and what didn’t. This allows you to share your experience of different tools for self-management, such as Pomodoro timers or apps that turn off notifications to help focus. What works for one person may not work for another and individuals may need to try things to find their preference. Keep it short and snappy and you’ll find people are more likely to engage and contribute.
Of course, these are just two of the potential stresses of doing doctoral research from home. Every individual has these and more – home schooling, new lockdown-related caring responsibilities or even lack of access to outside space. But chipping away at your personal home working-related stressors is one way you can make a positive difference to wellbeing.