Tips on caring for mental/physical health during field season.
Ask A Biologist 6/7/21
During the field season you will spend a TON of time with your colleagues, especially if you also live with them. It’s healthy to take time away from one another to do your own thing so you don’t end up driving each other crazy. Even if you adore your colleagues, you can easily get on each other’s nerves if you spend every hour of the day, every day together.
Answers from Biologists:
Find the balance between personal time and work time. Make time for personal and professional goals.
Immerse yourself in a hobby.
All of the naps! If you live where you work, prevent yourself from being consumed by work 24/7.
Take mental health moments when possible to get rest and get ready for the next blitz.
Talk about how you feel. Saying it out loud can be relieving (whether to an animal or another human).
Chill time for sure! Coloring, yoga, watching a good movie.
Bring a book, get enough sleep, drink more water than you think you need, wear sunscreen.
Hand off stressful tasks (eg. navigation) to others occasionally.
Sleep!
Get to bed early. Especially when camping. Drink 12-16oz of water an hour before.
Sleep, water, sunscreen, hobbies, and fun, sugary treats hidden in my waders.
Invest in electrolytes! Powders, packets, tablets, or drinks. Better to use them before they are necessary.
Snacks snacks snacks. Water water water. Snacks snacks snacks.
Get a therapist. Spend 15 setting your goals each day. Be generous with breaks.
Always have music and headphones.
Make time to enjoy what/where you’re studying outside of work hours.
Have some alone time and get a massage. I have bad shoulders and a massage helps reset them.
Do not feel guilty about asking for breaks or (if you’re introverted) time alone to recharge.
7 years to learn this, but take breaks! Sit down, rest your body, drink water.
Make sure you eat, hydrate, and rest properly. Also, whenever possible, keep in touch with loved ones.
Don’t feel guilty about taking your annual leave.
Lots of water and resist the urge to stay up late.
Bring the comfort items. String lights for the hotel. Candles. One time I brought an entire keyboard.
Bring a camera, headphones, and a book for alone time and exercise/yoga.
Take walks in nature! Studies show it helps mental and physical health.
Yoga after work. It takes care of it all.
If it’s a toxic environment, leave. I left a job that treated techs like garbage and I’m glad I did.
Do stuff with your team outside of fieldwork.
Take “safety naps” if you need them. Better to rest your eyes for 15-30 minutes than have an accident.
Wear sunscreen and reapply at breaks. One bad burn can mean a week of misery.
Carve out time for yourself. Especially if you are living at a field station.
Complete your skin car routine no matter how tired you are.
I try to keep in touch with family and friends. They remind me I’m not alone when in the field!
Functional training-getting into the gym in off-season to stay in shape.
Taking breaks when you are tired. Be kind to yourself. Sit down, drink water, and have a snack.
When you get those rare days when your scheduled to work but there isn’t much to do, don’t feel guilty! Goof off, take a long lunch break, go swimming, pick berries!
Sit in the shade, look at the sky, be alone in the woods.
Plan your field tasks around a 20 minute lunch break. Stop. And eat. And drink water. Breathe!
Physical: stretch/yoga in the morning. Mental: go to bed early.
Work to live, don’t live to work!
Take time to appreciate the small things.
If you get a chance to eat good food, take it. People cannot live by trail mix and gatorade alone.
Make sure you have bomb snacks that keep up your energy and happiness levels.
STRETCHING
