It can be tempting to keep working and working when you are doing a doctorate. Although inevitable sometimes, this isn’t sustainable and can cause overtiredness, lack of motivation and lower quality work. 

Take a rest from time to time and make sure you maintain healthy sleep patterns. Sleep strategies are covered in the General Wellbeing Strategies area of this site

Working long hours does not necessarily increase your productivity. Find out more by reviewing this section on The Wellbeing Thesis

One way to ensure that you are not overworking is to schedule-in breaks each week: don’t leave ‘down time’ to chance. The importance of ‘Predictable Time Off’ is explained in further detail here.

Alex, a visiting scholar at Stanford University, talks about how it is not necessary to work the long hours that are often normalised during doctoral study. In fact, taking ‘down time’ is a more healthy and productive way of working. Listen to him discussing this issue in this podcast.