<p>A recent visit to my university for a distinguished alumni felicitation during its platinum jubilee prompted an unexpected moment of reflection. Walking through familiar corridors decades later, I was struck not just by nostalgia but by a subtle shift in the psychology of students. We experienced competition, anxiety and academic pressure, but rarely the persistent emotional exhaustion students today describe as burnout. Stress existed, yet it seldom translated into the pervasive fatigue now visible across campuses. That contrast raises an important question: what has changed in the student environment?</p>.<p>The previous generation benefited from stronger community buffers – extended families and neighbourhood networks that acted as emotional shock absorbers. University life today differs in several important ways.</p>.<p>First, academic competition has intensified. Admission pathways, internships, and career opportunities have become more selective. Students now feel compelled to build extensive portfolios – academic performance, research, and extracurricular achievements – while managing demanding coursework.</p>.The world pays for the wealth of a few.<p>Second, digital technology has reshaped how students perceive progress. Social media and professional platforms create constant visibility of achievements. While they offer opportunity, they also amplify comparison.</p>.<p>Third, daily routines have shifted. Earlier student life included more unstructured time, outdoor activity, and informal social interaction. Today, academic schedules combined with digital engagement compress time for rest, reflection, and connection. Individually, none of these fully explains burnout. Together, they create an environment where mental recovery becomes increasingly difficult.</p>.<p>Conversations with students reveal a deeper layer. While technology and lifestyles have evolved rapidly, the biological systems that regulate stress and recovery have not. Human cognition evolved in environments defined by cycles – daylight, movement, and social interaction. These rhythms supported emotional regulation and cognitive endurance. Our neurons and mitochondria remain wired for these patterns. The result is a biological mismatch – a collision between slow-evolving biology and a hyper-accelerated environment. Over time, this erodes the rhythms that support mental balance.</p>.<p>The consequences are increasingly visible. As per the National Crime Records Bureau’s last report, nearly 13,900 students died by suicide in 2023, with academic pressure and psychological distress frequently cited. These represent the most severe outcomes of a broader wellbeing crisis.</p>.<p>Universities have begun responding. Wellness centres, counselling portals, and peer-support initiatives have expanded across campuses. Policy initiatives encouraged by the University Grants Commission (UGC) have emphasised mental-health systems. These are important steps. However, counselling often addresses stress after it has accumulated.</p>.<p>The next step is structural: integrating resilience-building into the academic framework rather than treating it as optional support. One approach is a Resilience Credit within university curricula. If institutions evaluate intellectual competencies through credits, they can also create structured opportunities for students to build resilience, recovery skills, and sustainable work habits.</p>.<p>A structured resilience module can be built around a few practical, repeatable elements. Regular guided breathing or relaxation sessions help students recognise stress responses and develop techniques to calm the nervous system. These simple practices build awareness of how stress manifests physically and how it can be regulated.</p>.<p>Scheduled time away from devices reduces cognitive overload and restores attention capacity. Stepping away from screens allows for uninterrupted thinking and more meaningful, real-world interaction. Participation in sports, environmental initiatives, or community service introduces physical movement and shared purpose – both essential for emotional balance.</p>.<p>In March 2026, the UGC mandated mental-health support systems across campuses. To prevent this from becoming a “checkbox exercise,” universities should consider introducing a formal Resilience Credit. This would shift mental hygiene from a remedial response to a foundational component of education. It institutionalises what modern academic life often suppresses: physical interaction, peer dialogue, and reflective time without guilt.</p>.<p>A resilience credit could be structured around recurring interventions:</p>.<p><strong>Weekly: The cellular reset</strong></p>.<p>Short guided breathing sessions help the nervous system shift from stress-driven alertness to a restorative state. The hack: 10 to 15 minutes of guided physiological regulation. These breathing practices shift the nervous system from sympathetic “fight-or-flight” activation towards parasympathetic recovery, allowing the body to reset.</p>.<p><strong>Fortnightly: The digital circuit breaker (Dopamine fasting)</strong></p>.<p>Scheduled time away from screens encourages peer interaction, hobbies, and collaborative learning. Universities could also revive student interest groups similar to those at institutions such as the University of Cambridge. This can reduce digital triggers while creating space for deeper human interaction that recalibrates attention and reward systems.</p>.<p><strong>Monthly: The grounding protocol</strong></p>.<p>A few hours of earth-touch activity, such as urban plantation drives or community service. Just as electrical systems require grounding to prevent overload, humans benefit from “biological earthing.” Physical engagement with natural environments and community activity can reduce stress and restore a sense of collective purpose.</p>.<p>In many ways, we have created a world faster than the biological systems designed to inhabit it. If universities can credit students for mastering complex algorithms, they can also recognise the importance of mastering themselves. Integrating resilience into the curriculum is not just preventive; it builds the capacity to navigate an accelerated world without losing equilibrium.</p>.<p>The pace of modern professional life will only intensify. Graduates will face demanding schedules, rapid technological shifts, and complex social challenges. Education must therefore equip students not only with knowledge but also with the ability to manage pressure, recover from setbacks, and sustain long-term productivity.</p>.<p>Introducing resilience-oriented practices signals that mental wellbeing is integral to academic success, not separate from it. A university’s role is not only to cultivate intellectual excellence but also to prepare individuals for a balanced and sustainable life.</p>.<p><strong>(The writer is a Gates Cambridge Scholar, Helmholtz Research Fellow, and Lowry Prize Winner)</strong></p><p><em>Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.</em></p>
<p>A recent visit to my university for a distinguished alumni felicitation during its platinum jubilee prompted an unexpected moment of reflection. Walking through familiar corridors decades later, I was struck not just by nostalgia but by a subtle shift in the psychology of students. We experienced competition, anxiety and academic pressure, but rarely the persistent emotional exhaustion students today describe as burnout. Stress existed, yet it seldom translated into the pervasive fatigue now visible across campuses. That contrast raises an important question: what has changed in the student environment?</p>.<p>The previous generation benefited from stronger community buffers – extended families and neighbourhood networks that acted as emotional shock absorbers. University life today differs in several important ways.</p>.<p>First, academic competition has intensified. Admission pathways, internships, and career opportunities have become more selective. Students now feel compelled to build extensive portfolios – academic performance, research, and extracurricular achievements – while managing demanding coursework.</p>.The world pays for the wealth of a few.<p>Second, digital technology has reshaped how students perceive progress. Social media and professional platforms create constant visibility of achievements. While they offer opportunity, they also amplify comparison.</p>.<p>Third, daily routines have shifted. Earlier student life included more unstructured time, outdoor activity, and informal social interaction. Today, academic schedules combined with digital engagement compress time for rest, reflection, and connection. Individually, none of these fully explains burnout. Together, they create an environment where mental recovery becomes increasingly difficult.</p>.<p>Conversations with students reveal a deeper layer. While technology and lifestyles have evolved rapidly, the biological systems that regulate stress and recovery have not. Human cognition evolved in environments defined by cycles – daylight, movement, and social interaction. These rhythms supported emotional regulation and cognitive endurance. Our neurons and mitochondria remain wired for these patterns. The result is a biological mismatch – a collision between slow-evolving biology and a hyper-accelerated environment. Over time, this erodes the rhythms that support mental balance.</p>.<p>The consequences are increasingly visible. As per the National Crime Records Bureau’s last report, nearly 13,900 students died by suicide in 2023, with academic pressure and psychological distress frequently cited. These represent the most severe outcomes of a broader wellbeing crisis.</p>.<p>Universities have begun responding. Wellness centres, counselling portals, and peer-support initiatives have expanded across campuses. Policy initiatives encouraged by the University Grants Commission (UGC) have emphasised mental-health systems. These are important steps. However, counselling often addresses stress after it has accumulated.</p>.<p>The next step is structural: integrating resilience-building into the academic framework rather than treating it as optional support. One approach is a Resilience Credit within university curricula. If institutions evaluate intellectual competencies through credits, they can also create structured opportunities for students to build resilience, recovery skills, and sustainable work habits.</p>.<p>A structured resilience module can be built around a few practical, repeatable elements. Regular guided breathing or relaxation sessions help students recognise stress responses and develop techniques to calm the nervous system. These simple practices build awareness of how stress manifests physically and how it can be regulated.</p>.<p>Scheduled time away from devices reduces cognitive overload and restores attention capacity. Stepping away from screens allows for uninterrupted thinking and more meaningful, real-world interaction. Participation in sports, environmental initiatives, or community service introduces physical movement and shared purpose – both essential for emotional balance.</p>.<p>In March 2026, the UGC mandated mental-health support systems across campuses. To prevent this from becoming a “checkbox exercise,” universities should consider introducing a formal Resilience Credit. This would shift mental hygiene from a remedial response to a foundational component of education. It institutionalises what modern academic life often suppresses: physical interaction, peer dialogue, and reflective time without guilt.</p>.<p>A resilience credit could be structured around recurring interventions:</p>.<p><strong>Weekly: The cellular reset</strong></p>.<p>Short guided breathing sessions help the nervous system shift from stress-driven alertness to a restorative state. The hack: 10 to 15 minutes of guided physiological regulation. These breathing practices shift the nervous system from sympathetic “fight-or-flight” activation towards parasympathetic recovery, allowing the body to reset.</p>.<p><strong>Fortnightly: The digital circuit breaker (Dopamine fasting)</strong></p>.<p>Scheduled time away from screens encourages peer interaction, hobbies, and collaborative learning. Universities could also revive student interest groups similar to those at institutions such as the University of Cambridge. This can reduce digital triggers while creating space for deeper human interaction that recalibrates attention and reward systems.</p>.<p><strong>Monthly: The grounding protocol</strong></p>.<p>A few hours of earth-touch activity, such as urban plantation drives or community service. Just as electrical systems require grounding to prevent overload, humans benefit from “biological earthing.” Physical engagement with natural environments and community activity can reduce stress and restore a sense of collective purpose.</p>.<p>In many ways, we have created a world faster than the biological systems designed to inhabit it. If universities can credit students for mastering complex algorithms, they can also recognise the importance of mastering themselves. Integrating resilience into the curriculum is not just preventive; it builds the capacity to navigate an accelerated world without losing equilibrium.</p>.<p>The pace of modern professional life will only intensify. Graduates will face demanding schedules, rapid technological shifts, and complex social challenges. Education must therefore equip students not only with knowledge but also with the ability to manage pressure, recover from setbacks, and sustain long-term productivity.</p>.<p>Introducing resilience-oriented practices signals that mental wellbeing is integral to academic success, not separate from it. A university’s role is not only to cultivate intellectual excellence but also to prepare individuals for a balanced and sustainable life.</p>.<p><strong>(The writer is a Gates Cambridge Scholar, Helmholtz Research Fellow, and Lowry Prize Winner)</strong></p><p><em>Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.</em></p>
