The end of my undergraduate degree and musings on working life in Scotland

I will be finished with academic exams FOREVER in less than 48 hours! Huzzah!

And at the same time I must say that the prospect of not having my year devided into pieces by exams is unsettling, because it also signals the end of long Christmas and Summer holidays (ok, so they haven't really been 'holidays' for quite some time because I've always worked, academically or otherwise). Even if I get the MSc place, it's going to be much more like a job than my undergrad has ever been - or at least that how I intend to treat it (God willing), so there will be regularised hours and no/little working from home, and (again) no holidays as such.

I've thought for quite some time now that the way the holiday system is organised in schools and at Uni has trained us to look forward to long, lazy holidays, and when we leave academia it comes as a rather rude awakening to realise that we might get 2 - 3 weeks off per year tops, most of which we will be obliged to spend with our family for the forseeable future.

With that being the case, it's little wonder to me that mental health in Britain is as poor as it is, and that we suffer sever burn-out and stress - far more so than most other European countries: we work long hours for a wage which has a generally decreasing value to service ridiculous mortgages on houses which don't justify their cost because we feel compelled by current social trends to 'get on the property ladder'.

I get the impression that the British public would benefit, in terms of mental health and stress reduction, from a more relaxed attitude to work as is generally prevelant in Europe - perhaps an enforced 'lunch-hour' rather than the sandwich-at-the-desk approach which seems to dominate attitudes toward breaks. On adverage, Scottish empolyees take 20 minutes off for lunch (if indeed that much) and another 15 minute break per day - all of roughly 40 minutes in an 8 - 10 hour day: is it any wonder that so many sick-days are taken? In general, I think that British industry could be as productive, if not more-so, if employees were activly encouraged to use their breaks: eat then go for a quick walk, sit in the sunshine, read a book, do something physically active - it has been proven that people are more productive if they take regular exercise, it clears the mind and releases endorphins, and can do wonders for individual confidence. These benefits are just not avaliable if employees simply stay at the desk or go for a quick cigarette break. It's just like it was in school, in fact: we were given regular breaks and space to relax, and on the whole people were more productive, willing to work and positive in attitude.

A combination of lessening 'leisure' time, prioritisation of work/career (from a very young age) and little exercise (indeed, little time to exercise); it shouldn't come as a shock to anyone that we have such high levels of cardiovascular and lung disease: stress-eating and smoking are symptomatic of a culture of prioritising 'output' over the individual. Oh, and of course, the rotten weather doesn't help. The attitudes of employers and employees across Britain need a complete overhaul: work to live, not live to work.

Think I might just skip the lot and move abroad now.

Wow - this is really not where I meant to go with this post, and I should get back to exam revision now. Ho hum...