Lab manual - well-being

We are all here to grow as scientists, leaders, and people by pursuing ambitious research goals. However, that should never come at the cost of your well-being. Your mental and physical health are by far the most important consideration in all that you do while in our lab. Moreover, success should not come at the cost of maintaining your interests/hobbies or healthy relationships in your life. In fact, you are more likely to be successful if you take care of yourself and give time to the things outside of work that matter to you. Below are some general guidelines on well-being, but every situation is unique, and Jose is always open to discussion on this topic, so don’t hesitate to ask.

Mental and physical health concerns. If you are not feeling well, either physically or mentally, take the time off you need to seek out help and take care of yourself. If you are struggling with depression or anxiety and wondering: “Is it okay to go see a counselor instead of setting up that calculations or deriving that fancy equation” the answer is “Absolutely! Get the help that you need.” If you have an acute situation that requires help, take the day (or a few days) off with no questions asked. If you are going to be out for more than 3 days or miss a group meeting, just give Jose a heads up so that she knows you are okay – no need to give details if you don’t want to, it is sufficient to email and say that you have a “personal health emergency.” If you need to take more substantial amounts of time off, you can work with Jose to facilitate this. Being an undergraduate, grad student, or postdoc is stressful. We all care about you and are here to support you – just let us know how we can help.

Personal emergencies. If you are a member of our group for multiple years, the chances that a life situation (or multiple life situations) will arise are fairly high. In these situations, the top priority is taking care of yourself and dealing with the situation. If possible, communicate with Jose to let him know that you are dealing with something and approximately how much time you will need off. You can share as much or as little detail as you feel comfortable with. These situations are inherently stressful, so also make sure you are taking care of yourself and getting help if needed.

Work-life integration. Being ambitious and working hard are part of our lab culture, but it should come from a perspective of driving yourself out of the fun of pushing your limits and exploring what you are capable of. The key is to know your limits. Similar to playing sports, you advance by pushing out of your comfort zone, but if you push too hard you end up injured and stuck on the sidelines. Managing your motivation and work habits while integrating interests and commitments outside of work is a key self-leadership skill that will serve you well throughout your career, and now is a great time to build that skill. You can get useful tips and advice on this from Jose, your labmates, and other resources (books, podcasts, etc). Also, see the “working hours and time off” section for more information on our lab philosophy for integrating work and life.

Possible suggested solutions.

There is not much solid scientific research about this (long-term and large datasets, and so forth). However, there are hints at what are the possible solutions. The #AcademicTwitter has suggested many solutions that have worked for many scientists in different fields. The most common ones are:

• Mindfulness/meditation, talk therapy, medication when necessary, time away from work, a healthy work-life balance, exercise/yoga, a healthy diet and more.

From this, it seems the ones that has had more votes is mindfulness/meditation. The main citation in this field is Vipassana(ā) Meditation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7oYJZg9nOA At the bottom there are some links to scientific papers about it. There are books and talks about it, but I think the list might not end. So far, my understanding is that the common denominator is to practice it to become a good observer, nothing more nothing less. I would like to see in the future some MRI scans of long time practitioners, with combinations of biochemical processes studies to further understand this entire technique that has been around for thousands of years (~2,500 years). In the USA and the world, this is starting to become mainstream, but is called mindfulness: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/abc-news/10-happier/e/75-jon-kabatzinn-creator-of-mindfulnessbased-stress-reduction-50033681 The most beloved contemporary Vipassana meditation teacher is S. N. Goenka.

***For anyone viewing this, if you have feedback, please feel free to leave comments on this doc. This is just my first draft, and I’m hoping it will evolve and improve over time*** This text is mostly inspired and largely created by @jenheemstra, & #AcademicTwitter.