Advertisement
Opinion | How exercise and music can promote students’ mental health and academic success
- While physical exercise and academic study might seem in conflict, they can coexist because good mental health is essential to academic excellence
- Music is also an outlet for students who have nowhere to escape to and no one to turn to as they experience difficulties in their family or school lives
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
The beginning of the academic year is a time for starting anew. Tragically, for some, it is a time for ending their lives.
It is tempting to interpret the timing as a sign that school stress is the culprit. However, there is rarely a single cause of death by suicide since multiple factors are at play over time to influence suicidal thoughts and behaviour.
When we hear about a suicide, attention is often directed towards the individual’s characteristics and immediate circumstances, but temporal and environmental factors also matter. Instability in the larger environment is linked to stress and capacity to cope.
Advertisement
For example, increased feelings of uncertainty and anxiety in parents and school staff during Covid-19 can transfer to children and young people in their care, especially those from deprived backgrounds.
Having experienced prolonged class disruption and shortened school days, staff are doing their best to ensure students’ learning is not compromised. The expectation on all parties to achieve scholastic targets can be particularly prominent as a new academic year begins.
03:11
Coronavirus: epidemic worsens Hong Kong’s mental health already reeling from months of civil unrest
Coronavirus: epidemic worsens Hong Kong’s mental health already reeling from months of civil unrest
Without looking after their well-being, those who are already vulnerable will be at high risk of feeling trapped and unable to cope with their distress – experiences that are strongly associated with the emergence of suicidal thoughts.
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x