What do you do for stress relief?

[Genomic Repairman]

Okay since no one is posting new stuff, I figured I'd hop on it as a forum with posts is about as intriguing as a stripper without clear heels. So what do you guys do to escape from the stresses of grad school? My cohort and I play basketball once a week and I have recently taken up spin class in the morning. I have no aspirations of racing the Tour de France or becoming the successor of Lance Armstrong, I'm just trying to stay in shape and have a period of time where my mind is not focused on the daily minutia of being a grad student. So come on you guys must do something?

[UnlikelyGrad]

Okay since no one is posting new stuff, I figured I'd hop on it as a forum with posts is about as intriguing as a stripper without clear heels. So what do you guys do to escape from the stresses of grad school? My cohort and I play basketball once a week and I have recently taken up spin class in the morning. I have no aspirations of racing the Tour de France or becoming the successor of Lance Armstrong, I'm just trying to stay in shape and have a period of time where my mind is not focused on the daily minutia of being a grad student. So come on you guys must do something?

Read completely brainless novels. I go through about a dozen per week.

[fuzzylogician]

I try to read something non-school related every night before I go to bed, regardless of how late it is. I solve sudokus, I watch the daily show and other random shows on hulu. Every other weekend or so I go out for drinks with friends. My cohort and I take turns organizing a house party with home-cooked (ethnic) food on Fridays, so we get to eat real food and hang out at least once a week.

[vertige]

What about for those of us waiting for admission decisions? I'm at work and have gotten nothing done the past few days. Nothing. I'm glued to the results page/my phone/e-mail account. I've started getting fat and agitated. I don't wan to do anything but wait for my decision. This process is hell!

[Genomic Repairman]

I remember those stressful days of waiting for acceptance letters or emails. My roommate setup a jar where I would have to put a buck in if I checked the mailbox. Needless to say by the time I got my last acceptance we had enough cash on hand to throw a rocking party when I left. My old laptop has the command and the r key permanently worn down from me refreshing the screen on my email inbox waiting for those acceptance emails from program directors.

[Matilda_Tone]

I SHOULD make exercise my outlit- that would be more healthy- but for me it is my flute. If I am not working, I like to learn new tunes - and I go out once a week and play (and drink) with other people (it does not totally get my mind off of school- as I study Irish history and than take "time off" by playing Irish music...but I still love it).

[kdilks]

I remember those stressful days of waiting for acceptance letters or emails. My roommate setup a jar where I would have to put a buck in if I checked the mailbox. Needless to say by the time I got my last acceptance we had enough cash on hand to throw a rocking party when I left. My old laptop has the command and the r key permanently worn down from me refreshing the screen on my email inbox waiting for those acceptance emails from program directors.

The watched pot never boils. After I had gotten my first acceptance, I went home to show my parents (I did undergrad very close to where I grew up). I was going to hold off for about 15 minutes until my dad got home from work so I could show both my parents at the same time, and while I was sitting there waiting with my inbox open, I got my second acceptance!

[zilch]

I write things, come up with ideas of questionable feasibility, do a few things for a student organization, enlighten undergrads with my cynical observations, and sleep.

[Serric]

I'm a heavy metal drummer: it gives me exercise, lets me work out aggression while making music, and looks impressive when done properly. Plus it uses up a good chunk of my attention keeping me constantly focused on keeping a beat.

I also play video games (Mass Effect 2 is currently sucking up a good chunk of time), read books (just finished up "The Golden Compass," and am going to head into "The Subtle Knife" soon), read webcomics (way too many to list, although--funnily enough--I hate PhDComics), write (short stories/poetry/graphic novel scripts), and watch documentaries (my girlfriend got me Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" for Christmas, and I'm getting her "The Life" collection w'/ David Attenborough, so we'll be busy on that front for quite some time).

[Stokely]

I too play in a heavy metal band. We're called God's Cock. No, seriously, we don't have a name other than "Four People Jamming." God's Cock is a reference to the hilarious Mike Judge movie Extract. So that's another thing I do to relieve stress. Once a week I watch a movie, usually a comedy. Something brainless so I won't have to think.

[StrangeLight]

METAL. a friend of mine takes time off from working on his geodesy PhD to make kick-ass tunes with his band, sollubi. totally. he also takes pleasure in waking up at 6 a.m. on saturdays to go to the farmer's market and pick up gourmet whatsits. i should follow his lead.

instead i relieve stress by smoking. a lot.

[gsams]

Riding. I used to be an active equestrienne before I left the country, but I can't do it right now. Having a car is nearly impossible right now due to UG finances, but next year I am going to start lessons again. My emiritus advisor told me to start doing it again because by riding, I will save my sanity Important.

[joro]

I do a lot of things for stress relief. I like playing badminton, car stuff, dancing (pop and lock), video games, and watching old anime (also old cartoons from my childhood). When I'm finally in grad school, I'll probably just play guitar in my apartment, still practice dancing, and I might play video games. I don't know if I'll have time to even go outside to exercise.

[Roll Right]

Before I moved to the other end of the country for grad school, I used to jam out on my drums constantly. Metal, blues, punk, rock...whatever really. Then I realized the drums couldn't fit in my tiny car, so I sold them for about half their value to a 14 year old looking to start a rock band. I figured he'd get the same enjoyment out of them that I did at 14.

Now I talk politics and social issues of beers at a local bar on wednesdays and watch kareoke. I play a lot of left 4 dead 2 with friends from home, it's the best way to keep up with them. I talk with my gf a lot (shes about 3 hours away) which is a huge stress relief, and I go for walks a lot after I finish my work at night. I haven't read a novel for please in months. But then again, the stuff I read for research gives me more pleasure than novels. In a sense, while my work is stressful, it provides stress relief. It's been the only thing that I can hold on to in terms of identity since I moved here, as I basically packed all my stuff into my car and drove down to live with people I've never met in a part of the country I know nothing about. I'm still adjusting.

[gsams]

Joro,

From what I hear from current grad students and profs is if you don't make that time to go outside and do what you want you will not be in a good place mentally. You will have to make that time, sure, but learning to schedule it all is part of the work, right?

I forgot to mention, I love basketball and am currently doing a 1-credit course as a stress relief. Does anyone do intermurals? I am not the best player in the world by any standards an am 5' tall, but I am a good sport and really enjoy it. I would love to do it next year, too.

[liszt85]

I forgot to mention, I love basketball and am currently doing a 1-credit course as a stress relief.

That's great. Grad school has put a sudden end to my piano playing and I still harbor hopes of being a working musician besides being an academic. So I decided to pester a professor from the music dept to accept me as his student (for a jazz piano for non majors course which is extremely difficult to get into because is the only person offering the course and he is only an adjunct). I finally managed to pull some strings (via the director of the music school) and got in. I then had to approach my dept for help with enrollment as this could only be done through them. The head of my area sent an email to my adviser saying that it was his choice in the end but that she thought I should be concentrating on research (I have already begun writing my first year project report (in the form of a journal paper that will be submitted to cog sci) as that is near completion, none of the others have started)! I then sent an email to my adviser saying that this was only a 2 credit course, and it was a 20minute per week meeting! I also sent him a mini academic type write up with references to studies that "proves" music helps in increasing attention spans, IQ (though this is debatable, being an academically honest student, I also wrote down counter arguments), etc. He responded by saying that I had convinced him but the department seemingly has a policy of not letting people do courses other than those that are directly relevant to the PhD. SUCKS!

I have not given up. I will soon begin working on a music cognition project with a music dept professor. I will then make a case that this jazz piano course is a serious requirement I wish they understood without me having to go to all this trouble! I also hope they buy it (but they will remember that I made this request as "something I want to do for stress relief").

[gsams]

Liszt,

Yeah,I have heard this. The good news is I don't think my department is opposed to me taking things outside the major. I am required to take a minor and outside courses. So, I am sure I could swing something like it! That is an advantage to the top running program right now.

[liszt85]

Liszt,

Yeah,I have heard this. The good news is I don't think my department is opposed to me taking things outside the major. I am required to take a minor and outside courses. So, I am sure I could swing something like it! That is an advantage to the top running program right now.

I'm required to do outside courses too but they require that those courses be relevant to the research that I am/will be doing. Hard to convince them that a 2 credit course in jazz piano playing is going to go into my research in some direct way.

Otherwise, I have taken a linguistics course, plan to take a music cognition course and maybe a few programming courses towards that requirement.

[gsams]

That's cool. I figure I will try and get a group of people together. Who knows? Maybe the people at my dept. like basketball? I am basketball obsessed. I guess I will find out in two weeks when I visit.

[liszt85]

That's cool. I figure I will try and get a group of people together. Who knows? Maybe the people at my dept. like basketball? I am basketball obsessed. I guess I will find out in two weeks when I visit.

There's a Chinese first yr grad student who works in my lab. He said to me once "This is easy for me, as I have no life" but one thing he is obsessed about is basketball! Never misses a match (watches them live online), and plays basketball religiously every Friday. I guess that's how he keeps himself going.

[gsams]

I will be sad in Missouri or anywhere out of Big Ten Country. I won't be able to get my games Sadness...

I grew up on Indiana basketball. My father is a fanatic. Our house shuts down when there is a game on.

[rising_star]

gsams, you just need to make sure your internet provider offers espn360.com. Then, you'll be able to stream the games live on your computer. This is how I watch SEC and ACC football in the fall.

[gsams]

rising star,

Thanks for the tip! We get the Big Ten network on campus. We used to not when it first came out (my Sophomore year). In fact, my father was so irate that he emailed and called our university president DAILY until we got it in the dorms. He then got a personal call back notifying him that yes, we now have the BTN. When I say I come from a basketball family, I mean obsession runs in my blood. President McRobbie probably thinks my father is insane.

[eikko]

There's a Chinese first yr grad student who works in my lab. He said to me once "This is easy for me, as I have no life" but one thing he is obsessed about is basketball! Never misses a match (watches them live online), and plays basketball religiously every Friday. I guess that's how he keeps himself going.

:/ Man, you better take this guy out for a beer or get some dinner with him the next time you're going out with your labmates or whatever!

Edited February 27, 2010 by eikko

[liszt85]

:/ Man, you better take this guy out for a beer or get some dinner with him the next time you're going out with your labmates or whatever!

I have invited him numerous times to go grab lunch with me but he never does. He stays hungry. So he eats twice a day but he does not seem stressed or anything and he's doing great in his coursework and research. The other person in the lab is someone who's not having a great time (some personal issues) and someone who believes everybody thinks she's dumb, she's also having a hard time with courses and research. So can't really expect fun there. So the lab is pretty boring.. I did meet a few interesting prospective students who were interested in our lab. So I hope to see some activity next year.. Anyway, I'm married, so I take my wife to the ballet, out to movies, restaurants, etc. We are going to a party in a few hours from now. So I do my share of going out/partying, etc. She is however going to be visiting family for 2 months (halfway across the globe) starting next week. So I'll have to figure out stuff to do.. I'll probably get back to piano playing as I can now stay late at night in the music hall. Might also take a trip somewhere in the Spring break with friends.. will invite him but I doubt he will come along.