Student mental health
Mental health, balance and stress experience are very individual – and so are the ways of dealing with it!
The Advisory and Counselling team (ZSB) at the Student Service Center offers the following services – to answer your questions, but also to support you in achieving a good balance in your studies:
Tips and links to empower you
Here you can find a few tips on how you can strengthen your own mental health:
- Rituals and regularity can help you. It helps many people to plan a regular daily routine and stick to it. Try to find a good balance between study time and leisure activities. Eating regularly is also good for you: Good nutrition not only helps your body, but also your mind.
- Breaks are important: Allow yourself to take regular breaks (even from physically uncomfortable learning positions): Leaving the apartment, going for a walk, running or cycling, exploring your neighbourhood and/or doing sports, meeting friends…
- Daily times of rest, e.g. meditation, writing or spiritual practice, can be very helpful.
- Healthy sleep, sufficient exercise and a balanced diet are conducive to your mental health and it is worth focussing on these aspects – e.g. with the next tip:
- The university’s Student Health Management (SGM) [de] aims to provide a holistic, healthy environment for students. Here you can find offers on topics such as nutrition, exercise and relaxation (currently partially paused). In the course of your studies, you can also complete the UniAktiv-Pass [de].
- Social contacts empower us and are important. This can include having a coffee with your best friend or getting involved in a university group [de] or the International Club. You can also find many study-related offers in the ‘myUFR’ app.
- Do you have any good resolutions that you haven’t yet put into practice? The simple and free Woop motivation method [de] might help you.
- It can be very helpful to carefully dose your daily ‘news intake’ and adapt it to your personal needs. Take a moment every now and then to think about which news are good for you.
- If you would like to find out more about this topic, we recommend this free issue of ‘ZEIT Campus’ [de] and the free PDF ‘Ein gutes Semester’ [de] (A good semester) to get started on getting or keeping your (student) life in balance.
In challenging times, it can do us good to look into the future and develop perspectives. This can help us to see the current challenges in a different light. Here you can find some ideas:
- Do you have doubts as to whether your current degree programme is still the right one for you? Have a look at the Ilias room ‘Studienzweifel’ [de] or take part in a workshop on this topic!
- The JobTeaser Career Center might also be helpful.
- The Advising and Counselling Office also offers advising on the transition to a master’s degree programme or alternatively to a career.
- Seek advice from the Federal Employment Agency University Team.
- If you are interested in pursuing doctoral studies, you can find information and advising at the university’s Graduate Centre (GraCe).
- The Center for Key Qualifications offers many helpful courses on professional skills and strengths analysis.
- Free online courses to prepare for the European labour market, such as those offered by edx or coursera [de], can also be helpful.
- If you are thinking about starting your own business, you can get advice from the university’s Entrepreneurial Office [de].