A sound mental health depends upon multiple factors
Anxiety is one of the major mental health issues that students face just before their board and competitive examinations. Anxiety stems from the unrealistic expectations of family members and parents. In India, success is often measured in terms of outstanding grades.
A student often goes through anxiety, stress and in extreme cases depression. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his bestselling book ‘Exam Warriors’ talked about examinations and has outlined a refreshing approach, urging everyone to celebrate the tests like a festival with enthusiasm. Mental health experts across India have opined that every year before and after examination sessions, they have been getting a lot of youngsters suffering from anxiety and stress. Most of them have been victims of burnout due to long preparation hours and uncertainty about the future. They need counselling and medicines to deal with stress post their examinations.
The stress becomes all the more over-powering when the student appears for competitive exams, which are highly competitive, rigorous, and target-oriented. A recent study showed that among those preparing for medical entrance exams, 72.2 per cent experienced high levels of stress interfering with their day-to-day functioning.
The most common complaints of such students are poor concentration level and lack of focus. Fear of failure keeps it going. In most of the cases, students hardly consult a mental health expert or talk about their issues with peers/parents. No recreation, continuous study for most of the day, parental pressure and fear of failure aggravate their condition. Such preparations are time-consuming and tedious, and students frequently sacrifice other aspects of their lives to focus on one test. One should not forget the fact that our brain needs to break. It cannot function 24/7. The scenario becomes worse when results for competitive exams or board exams are not according to their expectations.
A sound mental health depends upon multiple factors and the most important one is emotional support. If somebody has that, it ensures a healthy growth of mind, body and soul. Many students stay away from their parents (in a different city to prepare for exams) or if at all they are staying with their parents, they hardly interact with them due to their busy schedule. At times, dealing with such a stressed environment with no emotional support, students start to feel lonely. They get addicted to unhealthy practices, including excessive alcohol consumption, gambling, overeating, participating compulsively in sex, shopping or internet browsing, smoking and substance abuse.
Unfortunately, our education system doesn’t prepare us for failure. Nobody tells us that if plan A fails then what would be plan B. That’s the reason when a student experiences failure, they feel that it’s the end of the world for them. They get exposed to enormous stress both physically and mentally. In many cases, a student might not want to appear for a competitive course and he/she is just doing it because of certain family and societal pressure. These young children have known their entire lives that this one exam will determine how long they live. They have no time for extracurricular activities, socialising, or sports, which prevents their personalities from developing.
The coping mechanism is incumbent upon creating a schedule that enhances the performance of body and mind, while refreshing with short breaks. Consuming wholesome foods and at least eight hours of sound sleep each night also help. Long study sessions reduce the amount of time available for exercise and the body becomes lethargic, and the mind begins to react negatively, which calls for taking time out for physical activity. Discovering a calming exercise is also important. Speaking to loved ones frequently for emotional support also helps along with staying away from unrealistic expectations.
(The author is Founder and Senior Psychiatrist, Manasthali)
