Archinect - News

As burnout soars during the pandemic, one expert offers advice

2022-02-02T13:41:00-05:00

Architects are no strangers to burnout. In recent years, our editorial has explored the genesis of burnout in architectural circles by examining the impact of college studio culture as well as burnout and fatigue in the professional architectural workplace.

While burnout existed long before the COVID-19 pandemic, there is evidence that the upheaval of the past two years has further exacerbated an already fragile mental health landscape in the profession. In 2020, an Archinect survey of our community found that 43% of respondents were suffering from new mental health issues that they had not experienced before the pandemic, particularly anxiety, depression, and ADD.

Findings from Archinect’s COVID-19 Mental Health Survey

Heightened anxiety in the workplace is a common symptom of burnout, according to neuroscientist and author Dean Burnett. In his new piece for the BBC’s Science Focus magazine, Burnett explores the onset of burnout during the pandemic, with similar findings to thos...

When work keeps you up at night, what do you do?

2020-02-24T18:58:00-05:00

Losing sleep can be a drag. Especially, since we know sleep deprivation drastically impacts the cognitive functions so crucial to work in architecture. Things like judgment, critical thinking, problem solving, planning, and organization, are but a few of the influenced aspects of our mental health, writes Rebecca Zucker in her Harvard Business Review essay entitled How to Stop Thinking About Work at 3am. In the piece, Zucker offers some strategies to combat one of the causes of sleep deprivation — thinking about work when we should be sleeping. Here are 3 of her pointers:

Make a to-do list: According to research by Baylor University and Emory University, makings a to-do list for the following day helps us fall asleep faster, writes Zucker. Many times, our preoccupations with work at home are due to uncompleted tasks. Writing them down acknowledges them, putting them out of the mind.
Engage in physical activity: Exercise and overall physical fitness help in our mental performance. Whe...

Managing back-to-school stress

2019-09-06T16:15:00-04:00

With the back-to-school bustle underway for the fall, many students have hit the ground running. As the work load begins to pile up and studio projects commence, anxiety and stress also sneak their way into the forefront. How can the architecture student tackle this intrusion?

Nicole LeBlanc, MA. and Luana Marques, Ph.D. have some insights. In their Harvard Health article, the pair delineate the current research concerning anxiety in college. Some findings are:

It's quite common. A 2018 study conducted by the American College Health Association showed that "63% of college students in the U.S. felt overwhelming anxiety in the past year." The study also found that 23% of students "reported being diagnosed or treated by a mental health professional for anxiety in the past year." LeBlanc and Marques highlight the fact that the bulk of anxiety amongst students tends to be during the initial transition into college. For the design student, first year does indeed prove to be a formidable a...