Amy Zheng, DMC
When I first moved to Nashville for graduate school, I had a difficult time getting used to graduate school. This was the first time that I spent a significant time away from my home state and I was anxious about being able succeed in my program. Because of the additional stress, my chronic eczema, which was usually only present on right hand, spread onto my arms, neck and face. I attended multiple doctor visits with the dermatologist and underwent several different treatments over the course two months. During this period, I was lucky that my professor was concerned about my health and that my health insurance had a relatively low deductible that I reached early in my treatment. During my period of getting treatment, I stopped doing experiments and worked on the simulation side of my project. The postdoc that I was working with was kind was willing to generate data that I could analyze while I was recovering.I was eventually able to make a full recovery and my skin has remained relatively clear. A major factor in the severity of my eczema is closely tied to how much stress I feel. I have developed methods to keep my stress in check.
1)Getting enough sleep each night
Even when I was preparing for my qualifying exam this year, I made it a priority to go to bed at the same time. If I needed to catch up on writing, I would make sure I outlined what I wanted to say before I went to bed and picked up immediately after I woke up.
2)Only work in the evenings if you need to Sometimes working late is unavoidable.
Occasionally, I will need to take a time point every twelve hours for some of my experiments. However, I like it a point to leave work at work on a normal day. I typically come to work around 8am and leave at 5ish. Afterwards, I make dinner and watch some TV before going to bed. If I really need to catch up I will work maybe an hour or two on something that will prepare me for the next day, such as write to do list. Otherwise, I just use the work as motivation to get up faster in the morning.
3)Exercise I try to exercise at least once a week.
I have noticed that if I am having a breakout, usually exercising helps me recover faster. I schedule myself for a Zumba class every Wednesday. If I can’t make it, I try to exercise a little bit a home.
4)Understanding that my work is enough
Once every few months, I will start to feel like I am constantly running behind. Even when nothing is due and when I am able to accomplish something on my task list every day. When this happens, I try to remind myself that I the time and effort that I put into my research is enough and that stressing out about the situation is not going to help me work faster. I also try to take a complete break from research at least one day that weekend.
5)Taking a break when I my brain feels cloudy
When my brain feels cloudy, I am usually working on a small problem that is occurring in my experiments or data analysis. I tend to get tunnel vision and I will try to trouble shoot for hours. Afterwards, I feel frustrated and defeated. When this happens, I have to force myself away from the situation. I stop myself from continuing and go for a walk, eat something or if it is at the end of the day, I go home. Taking myself out of the situation gives my brain a chance to think about alternative methods to solving the problem and think of ways to ask for help.
6)Removed my work email from my phone
I am fortunate that my adviser does not send emails in the evenings very often. I was able to remove my work email from my phone without fearing that I would miss an urgent email. Removing my work email from my phone has brought be peace of mind. I don’t worry when I look at my phone anymore and I see a new email in my inbox and I don’t spend extra time reading emails sent by the university.
