A word on mental health

Studying at ETH can be a very challenging and mentally draining task. I personally feel that every single semester. If you feel like you are not enough and that everybody is better than you, I can assure you that pretty much everybody (including myself) feels this way all the time. At ETH, it seems like everybody is better than you and every single week you do not finish the tasks you set out to do. This will at some point take its toll on your mental health.

 

It is hence important that you make sure that you allow yourself to balance hard work and rewarding yourself by doing activities like sports (check out ASVZ), spending time with friends, reading books, going out or, in general, an activity which gets you away from the screen which you spend all day in front. It is also of utmost importance that you sleep enough every night, in general eight hours is considered a good metric, as you might study more hours if you sleep less, but the efficiency will be much lower where you might study 3-4 hours more but do not get anything out of these hours.

 

In addition to that I recommend the UZH psychology service (free for students) which I have used before. Please take care and seek help and talk to others if you feel like studying is affecting your mental health. 

​

Wishing you the very best, 
Aaron