BY
Managing Opinion Editor
Welcome back from spring break, students! To celebrate your return, here are sleepless nights in the library, preparation for finals and the most rigorous few weeks of the semester. Coming back from a much-needed week of vacation and being met with such an intense load of work is no easy feat.
Students on campus are now feeling the effects of burnout as we enter the final few weeks of the spring semester. With no Blue Hen Re-Coop Day to get students through, they are left to their own devices to stay on top of school work, exams and their social lives.
It can be difficult to find time to destress at this point in the semester, especially with few resources from the university to help. Besides the semi-regular emails we receive reminding us to prioritize our mental health, finding actual time to balance everything is not as simple as the university makes it out to be.
Unfortunately, this is an issue that has always existed for college students. Burnout runs rampant on college campuses due to the busy and seemingly never-ending schedules of students. So, what is the solution? What can the university be doing to help students during this time?
Weekends are supposedly the time when students can take a break from their schoolwork and use the time for themselves. But, with only two days to do so, that time often gets used to catch up on school as well as sleep or work.
To make matters worse, campus life is seemingly non-existent on weekends, with the exception of Perkins Live on Fridays. Dining hall hours are limited and there is an overall lack of university activities. This leaves very little social activity available besides drinking and partying, continuing the cycle of tiredness and burnout students are all too familiar with.
If there were more ways to be involved in campus life on the weekends, maybe students would have more options other than drinking or laying in bed trying to rest up for the next week. But, would that be enough?
There may be a larger societal issue at play here. Students being expected to be consistently tuned into school, work and other responsibilities five days per week, with only two days for themselves is a problem. Two days is simply not enough time given the busy schedules most students are juggling all week.
Schedules need to become more sustainable for the sake of students’ mental health. Lessening the workload and shortening the workweek would help tremendously. The concept of three-day weekends is something that has long been proposed and debated.
Whether it’s in the workplace or at school, practically everyone can agree it would be nice to have an extra day of rest. In a survey done by Cornerstone, they found that 87% of workers believe that three-day weekends are better for stress relief than longer vacations.
If such a high percentage of people feel this way, it’s something that should be considered more seriously. Especially with students already filling up their weekends with jobs and homework, an extra day off would provide more time to focus on mental health and prioritize your personal needs. However students would choose to spend that time is up to them, but having the opportunity to simply relax would help considerably.
I’m sure most students can agree that by the time it’s Friday, Sunday appears all too quickly. It’s difficult to find time to destress at all in such a short period of time, especially when there is little to do besides focus on how tired you are.
There needs to be an overall change in scheduling to make life more sustainable for students, or else this cycle of burnout will never end. Some proposals may seem drastic because they’ve never been done before, but if the university cares as much about our mental health as they claim to, our requests should be heard.
The Review’s weekly editorials are written to reflect the majority opinion of The Review’s staff. This week’s editorial was written by Lily Williams, managing opinion editor. She may be reached at lillianw@udel.edu.
