We understand that getting a GP (general practitioner) appointment can feel like A LOT of effort, especially if you haven’t had the chance to register with the University Health Centre yet. Sometimes, this can make Chat-GP-T an appealing option, but we want to make sure you get legitimate information from reputable sources.
So, we’ve done some of the heavy lifting for you and asked local GP – Dr Mark Isherwood – what the most common health questions they get asked by students this time of the year, and importantly, what they advise doing.
First things first though, if you haven’t already, get registered with a doctor’s surgery! We have guidance on how to do this here.
Now, over to Dr Mark…
I’m tired all the time, even when I’ve had a decent night’s sleep. Is this just uni life, or should I be worried?
I see quite a few students complaining of feeling tired all the time. Some are understandably worried there’s something medically wrong, like an underactive thyroid or anaemia. Others are perhaps hoping we’ll find something straightforward, like a vitamin deficiency, that they can fix with a tablet.
And sometimes we do. But actually, more often than not, when we start digging into things, it turns out there’s a combination of things going on in their everyday lives that are having a much bigger impact than they realise.
Uni life isn’t exactly designed around getting a good night’s sleep. There’s studying, deadlines, socialising, late nights and, particularly if you’re living in shared accommodation, other people making a racket when you’re trying to sleep!
One of the things I find people really underestimate is caffeine. You might have a coffee or an energy drink at 3pm and think nothing of it. But caffeine has a half-life of around five hours, sometimes longer. So, by the time you’re trying to get to sleep at midnight, there’s potentially still a fair amount circulating in your system. Even if you manage to fall asleep, it can still affect the quality of that sleep.
Alcohol is another big one. People often tell me that a few drinks actually help them sleep, and to an extent they’re right. Alcohol can help you fall asleep more quickly. The problem is that it disrupts your sleep later in the night, so you find yourself waking up at 2 or 3am, unable to get back to sleep.
Throw in nicotine from smoking or vaping, recreational drugs, irregular bedtimes, stress and perhaps recovering from yet another bout of freshers’ flu, and it’s not particularly surprising that you’re exhausted.
And here’s the bit people don’t always want to hear…
Quite often there isn’t a magic tablet that’s going to fix everything. It’s about how you’re spending your days and nights, and doing a few things differently.
There’s only so much your body can take before it starts complaining. If you’re persistently exhausted, particularly if it’s affecting your studies, social life or ability to function normally, and if your tiredness comes with other symptoms, that’s when you need to speak to your GP, to rule out any genuine medical causes as we certainly don’t want to miss those.
But I think the slightly uncomfortable truth is that we all quite like the idea of a quick fix, when quite often, what actually helps involves making some fairly unexciting changes to what you’re doing every day. And unfortunately, that’s usually a lot harder than taking a supplement.