Stress doesn’t end after class. Your support shouldn’t either.

For the first minute, place both feet on the floor and take six steady breaths: an effortless in-breath, then a slightly longer out-breath. Do not try to switch panic off. Tell yourself: “This is exam anxiety. My body has triggered an alarm.” Labelling the response separates it from the prediction that you are certain to fail.

For the next two minutes, ground yourself. Find five things you can see, four places where your body touches clothing or the chair, and three sounds. Then loosen your hands and jaw. If you cannot find an answer, skip it; this is not another test.

Use the final two minutes for one precise action. Before going in, read only your three most important prompts. Once you have the paper, begin with an instruction you understand and note the first relevant facts you remember. If another wave of tension arrives, repeat one long out-breath and name the immediate task: “Now I am reading the question.”

Academic burnout can begin with tiredness that a free evening does not shift, growing cynicism about your course and the sense that even simple tasks are too much. Difficulty concentrating, postponing everything and withdrawing from people may follow. One demanding exam period does not establish a problem; pay attention to a pattern that lasts and affects different parts of your day.

For a week, record three things each day: your energy, your workload and one activity after which you felt better or worse. Do not use this to diagnose yourself. Notice what repeatedly drains you: working through the night, missing meals, too many commitments or anxiety about starting. Choose one adjustment, such as handing over part of a project, requesting a deadline change or protecting two evenings from study.

Contact a lecturer, course tutor or student support service before the backlog grows, and prepare a specific request. If exhaustion is interfering with sleep, eating, getting up or ordinary daily functioning, also speak to your GP or a mental health professional.

When a few minutes of scrolling leaves everyone looking more interesting, attractive and successful, stop your thumb. Name the mechanism: “I am comparing my behind the scenes with somebody else’s display window.” You do not have to prove the post is false; simply remember that you are seeing a selected frame, not that person’s full day.

Make three practical changes. Mute for a week the accounts after which you regularly feel worse. Move the app off your home screen and choose one time to check it rather than opening it automatically. When comparison appears, ask: “What am I envious of, and what need does that reveal?” It might be connection, rest, creativity or recognition.

Turn the comparison into a small move towards that need: message a friend, go outside for ten minutes or return to your own project. Compare yourself with where you were a month ago too, using facts rather than verdicts. The aim is not never to feel envy, but to return to your own life sooner.

Loneliness after moving does not mean you made the wrong decision or cannot form relationships. Familiar places and casual contacts that once happened by themselves have disappeared. Instead of setting the goal “make friends”, plan three small points of contact this week: sit beside someone in class, stay ten minutes after a society meeting or ask a flatmate to have tea.

Use an opening that does not require wit: “Are you new here too?”, “Do you know where this room is?” or “Would you like to compare notes?”. Repetition matters. Choose the same library, café or group so faces have a chance to become familiar. Not every attempt will become a friendship, and that is not a judgement on you.

Keep contact with home on a regular schedule while leaving room for your new surroundings. For a difficult evening, identify one person you can message and one public place you can go. If loneliness keeps cutting you off from classes and ordinary life, seek support through your university or a mental health professional.