Over my last decade in academia, I have been given many opportunities to work on cutting edge science and engineering projects in a field that brings me great excitement and joy. However, despite the interesting projects and great colleagues, it can be hard to truly thrive and work at your best when you are left with uncertainty. During my doctorate, this often took the form of a lack of clarity on what I was trying to achieve. Particularly towards the start of the project, I felt lost, confused and unsure of whether I truly belonged in academia. Over my five years of being a postdoctoral researcher, I adored the opportunity to work in a fantastic team on work I was passionate about, but this was continuously shrouded by the precarity of the short, fixed term contracts. This brought a great source of stress and anxiety from the lack of stability and constant search for the next few months of funding.

In recent months, I have been appointed onto a Lectureship. This has been my aspiration for as long as I can remember, providing me with an opportunity to combine my passions for teaching and research, as well as offering a more secure future. However, each role comes with its own challenges. In this current financial environment, no job is truly secure and the unending challenge of completing every task to a high standard within the timeframe can be exhausting. However, I have found that I can face these challenges with more calm, composure and courage when using mindfulness techniques during my day. This is my story of how I began using mindfulness to help me manage stress in academia.  

Surviving but not thriving

After a few years as a postdoctoral researcher, the energy required to continuously seek out that next contract and the uncertainty that comes with it started to take its toll.  This was heightened by the impact of Brexit resulting in extra challenges when trying to find sufficient funds to continue as envisioned, as reported by the BBC. Over time, my focus became harder to sustain throughout the day. As I watched many of my colleagues leave due to their own fears of losing work and the offer of higher paid jobs in industry, my motivation started to fade. Over time, the stress and anxiety impacted my mental health and even began manifesting as physical symptoms, including panic attacks and severe aching pains down my neck and back, I also became emotionally numb. Additionally, the constant stress contributed to a weakened immune system, and I therefore experienced more regular illnesses.

The sad reality is that I am not alone. Recent research revealed that around 50% of academics are depressed and 30% are experiencing daily burnout symptoms, based on a 2021 survey of nearly 1,200 employees from 92 U.K. universities (Psychology Today). This study also revealed that half of the staff members questioned were experiencing high levels of anxiety, like me. This is one reason for the exodus of people leaving academia, or “quiet quitting” to try and regain a healthier workload, as reported in Nature. As neither of those paths are options I wished to pursue, I needed to find a way to manage stress and thrive in this environment.

Mental health and neuroinflammation

To try and find ways to better understand and cope with severe anxiety, I began reading helpful books and research articles. While scouring a range of interesting literature, I started to spot a pattern emerging. There is an increasing number of studies exploring the interactions between neuroscience, mental health and the immune system appearing in literature. Despite previously held assumptions about the blood brain barrier, there is growing evidence about the impact of pro-inflammatory cytokines on neuro-inflammation. This has been linked to many mental health problems, neurodivergence and psychiatric disorders. These are beautifully described in the book The Inflamed Mind by Prof. Edward Bullmore for those who are interested and would like to learn more.

Along with an improved understanding of the relationship between anxiety, depression and pro-inflammatory cytokines, researchers have found this neuroinflammation can be minimised through changes in diet, exercise, as well as mindfulness and meditation. Since I had already changed towards a Mediterranean style diet and regularly participate in lots of exercise, I reluctantly thought I would try meditation and mindfulness techniques. There are multiple studies reporting reductions in pro-inflammatory cytokines when practising mindfulness and meditation techniques due to the stimulation of the vagus nerve, so it seemed worth trying.

Mindfulness methods for improving resilience

In the past I have avoided mindfulness techniques and meditation, as I found sitting still and trying to clear my mind would just leave me feeling more lost and frustrated that I started out. However, thanks to a recommendation from a friend, I started listening to the Ten Percent Happier podcast. This covers a wide range of fascinating methods relating to meditation and mindfulness, which gave me the confidence to give some a try. However, as I find books easier to follow than audio based guided meditations, I also started exploring literature such as Quick Calm by Dr Jennifer Wolkin, which provides a step by step set of instructions on how to practise a wide range of meditations. Out of this plethora of techniques, I found a few that could provide me with support, even in a busy and hectic life.

These included the loving kindness meditation (LKM), which focusses on generating kindness towards yourself and others. If I am anxious about people that I will be thinking about or interacting with that day, I will try and find the time to do this either while sitting or walking slowly. I have found this has helped me to stay composed and be more considerate to myself and others. I also use breathing techniques to regain calm and composure. When I am in stressful situations and I can feel my anxiety starting to bubble up, I use box breathing exercises to regain composure. I have found this has prevented my anxiety from progressing into panic attacks which can severely disrupt my ability to teach my students or complete other tasks.

For those who are a little short on time and cannot afford to fit longer practises into their day, which I sometimes cannot, the AWE method is one of the quickest methods to use. The AWE method stands for attention, wait, exhale and expand. This involves drawing your attention to something you find awe inspiring, waiting while you maintain your focus on it for a few seconds, then exhaling a little longer than normal. In my office, I am lucky enough to have a stunning view of the beach. It’s glistening, ever flowing tides hypnotically entering and leaving the bay became my source of focus for the AWE technique. I now do this at the start of each day when I come into work and have found it brings a sense of much needed clarity and calm.

When combined, I have found these mindfulness practises help me to minimise the occurrence of panic attacks among other problems I have usually faced throughout the day. However, as everyone has different life experiences and minds, these practises may not work for you, but it is worth exploring your options.

Accepting the waves as they come

However, I must note that although these techniques can help, life still has its ups and downs. Last year, close family members of mine were diagnosed with life-altering illnesses. At the same time, I experienced problems with my own physical health as well as a looming end date of a fixed term contract. When combined, these factors became more than I could compensate for with these mindfulness and meditation practises. At this point in time, I found the only thing that worked was accepting that it was alright to not be okay. Instead of trying to fight or suppress these feelings, I tried to give myself the time to process these emotions, be there for the ones I loved and gradually heal. After enough time had passed for me to come to terms with everything, I was able to gradually return to fully implementing these techniques and this helped to improve my mental health.

Conclusion

After trying these methods for a few months, I surprisingly found the interchanging numbness and anxiety attacks I had been experiencing in work started to fade. As well as this, my motivation began to return, and I found more enjoyment in my job. These techniques aren’t a silver bullet, but they provided me with new methods for grounding myself and reframing my perspective. This has allowed me to manage personal challenges with a more hopeful attitude, helping me to focus on the aspects of my life that I can take control of, and accept the parts I cannot. No matter what your situation is, I would highly recommend giving these techniques a go.

Sarah-Jane is a Lecturer in Engineering Sustainability for Mechanical Engineering at Swansea University. She has an EngD in “Advanced manufacture by screen printing” (2020), and a Master’s Degree (MEng) in Product Design Engineering (2015) from Swansea University. As well as this, she is also a passionate, award-winning STEM Ambassador with a decade of experience organising and providing public engagement and outreach events with thousands of young people. Twitter: @SarahJanePotts2

This blog is kindly sponsored by G-Research