The tireless pursuit of a good night’s sleep

By Grace Scolyer

If I could make one generalisation about the specific problems with self-care that medical students have, and why our physical and mental wellbeing is so much poorer than the general population, it would be that it all comes down to time.

We have 24 hours a day: depending on the day of the week and your year level, around eight to ten of which will be contact hours, one will be travelling, one will be getting ready, two will be breaks taken for food and coffee, two will be note-taking or preparing for the next day, two to four will be additional study. Leaving four to eight hours. To socialise, watch TV, exercise, meal prep, or scroll through Facebook. And, if we have time, sleep. It’s not always as simple as putting your phone on do not disturb or trying to avoid caffeine after 2pm – it can be ridiculously hard to get a decent night’s sleep.

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Medical Student’s Guide to Eating Free in the Hospital

By Robbie Gillies & Marcus Yip

There is no such thing as a free lunch, right? Wrong. This is a myth. In fact, the only certainty in life is that as a Med Student, you will perpetually be both hungry and poor. In recent years a shortage of viable free-food available to students in the hospital has driven the evolution of a cunning and audacious scavenger. For the savvy Med Student, those that are prepared to apply their strong work ethic to mastering the art of ‘free eating’ are finding that the world is their sandwich platter. These are their methods.

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