Battling loneliness at university

After spending much of April revising, writing assignments and now taking exams, you may have noticed that you're missing just hanging out with others...

It's a very busy time for students at the moment, filled with deadlines, late-night studying and a lot of stress and anxiety. As everyone is busy, you may feel a little isolated from the usual university life.  A lot of students admit to feeling lonely at university so it's completely normal.



Social media doesn't always help. You could be sitting in your room on Instagram and Facebook looking at profiles of people you know posting pictures of them and their many friends having the time of their life. Stop. Try not to compare yourself to them because that will lead down a negative path, your priority should be improving how you feel. 

Simple things like getting out of the house, joining societies/sports teams or just speaking to the person next to you in the dining hall could really help. It'll help you get out of your typical (and lonely) routine of sitting in your room and not talking to anyone about what you've done that day or how you feel. 

If you're still going to lectures, skipping them won't help either. Sometimes you won't feel up to it and would much prefer to stay at home but it helps you to communicate with your fellow students about your everyday life and you could even start speaking about how you're feeling if you trust them; it would help!

What about when everyone is busy with something else?

There are little things you can do to make it a little bit easier:

• It's important to stay healthy because a greasy takeaway will make you feel physically worse as well as emotionally. Cooking or physical activity will distract your mind for a while and there will be tasty results! 

• There's always someone to talk to! The reception in your hall is open 24/7 and the Warden's Team is here to support you in the evenings and weekends. Your GP or local charities in the area will always give you that helping hand you need. Samaritans, Nightline and Student Minds could help or find what support is available in your local area.

There is no quick fix for feeling lonely, but we can help prevent it from getting worse by spotting it and accepting it sooner rather than later.