Healthy lifestyle during clerkship

[sfuguy]

So I have definitely heard how tough clerkship (year 3) is and I am ready for that challenge, but I am wondering if it is possible to have a balanced life and to maintain exercise and healthy eating during clerkship? I understand some rotations are harder than others but on the whole what have people found?

[ellorie]

It depends what you most value in life. You do what you can.

 

Cook large batches of things and freeze them. Ideally, the week before you start clerkship, cook anything and everything you can think of that freezes well and throw it into the freezer in single portion tupperwares.

 

Cook on the weekends and make your lunches in advance to reduce the temptation of buying cheap/easy hospital food.

 

Bring extra food when you're on call and eat regularly so you don't get hit by the late night carb craving.

 

I seriously cannot overemphasize stocking the crap out of your freezer before you start.

 

I do better on some rotations than others. I bike to and from work so I get my exercise that way. I mostly cook my own dinners but lunches are a struggle.

[epicfail]

It's tough, especially during electives.

 

You are there trying to impress. You have two weeks to prove yourself. Yet the team is new, the patients are new, the way they do things is new. In order to become part of the team and shine, you need to know your medicine as well as know each individual patient. All this translates to staying late to absorb the charts and staying even later to brush up on your reading.

 

If you are doing electives in surgical specialties or CTU with long patient lists, missing meals and gym time will likely be often.

 

Wrecking your body sucks, but your future depends on your electives, so clench your teeth and take it. You can throttle back a little bit as an R1.

[Renin]

Pick one thing that you absolutely NEED to do to maintain yourself of "you" - whether that is, I need at least FIFTEEN minutes of yoga a day, or whatever your "thing" is ... including in R1, especially if your off-service blows.

 

My "thing" was maintaining the way I dress. It might not be your thing; but whatever your thing is, at all costs, you have to save your thing. So yes, I have done neurology call in a dress, I've done cardiology call in heels, I've done general surgery call in heels (and scrubs!) ... Ps: Wedge shoes are awesome.

[sfuguy]

Thanks for the replies, sorry for the delay! I will try to get some balance in realizing its only 1 year!!

[thebouque]

I really didn't like clerkship, but it's a piece of cake compared to residency

[dh79]

Don't worry, there is tons of time in clerkship to do all your lifestyle stuff. Just keep your schedule organized and efficient. Yes there will be some sacrifices, but it's not too bad.

 

Compared to residency it's a cake walk. If you're doing over 100 hours a week in residency EVERY week; then it gets tough.

 

You'll be fine. Enjoy it.

[rogerroger]

Develop good habits during clerkship. They will serve you well when you are even more busy and have greater responsibility during residency.

 

The key to being happy in medicine is finding your needed lifestyle balance. It can be tricky, but there are certainly ways to accommodate your other non-medical activities. 

[APYYT]

Some helpful tips, most of which have already been mentioned:

 

- Take time to do whatever hobbies you like. This will keep you fresh and motivated for medical-related learning (you burn out very fast if you just live/eat/sleep/breath medicine 24/7). Ex: if you enjoy going to the gym... keep it up. It only takes 1hr and there's usually a spare hour in your day.  

 

- Cook in batches! Have one weekend day/week, put a movie/TV on or watch some sports, and just cook for a few hours. Make lots of food for that week. Always keep some quick fix food (granola bars) around, since sometimes you don't have scheduled lunch breaks and must eat on-the-go. 

 

- Make use of the post-call days! I usually take a nap... sometimes a long one... then do whatever chores I have to do, as well as hobbies/exercise.