Academic well-being: resources for physical & mental well-being and energy management

Collates various resources on academic well-being for easy acccess and reference

Anne-Wil Harzing - Wed 3 Dec 2025 07:37 (updated Tue 18 Nov 2025 09:55)

[Note: This write up was orginally a (small) part of my loooong blogpost: Middlesex university staff development: Boot-camp #8. However, I think it deserves its own outing, so that the resources are more easily available to my readers.]

This last post of 2025 focuses on academic well-being and covers not only physical and mental well-being but also energy management. To take care of my own physical and mental well-being (I am still not fully recovered from breaking my wrist - see Why did I take early retirement & farewell messages) and recover my energy I am taking a blogging break till January 2026. Wishing you all a wonderful December.

Physical well-being

Athina Dilmperi - whose favourite readings are in neurobiology and philosophy of mind - gave an excellent presentation on the research underlying the various aspects of well-being, with a focus on physical well-being. The slides can be downloaded here. Above you can find Athina in full flow speaking to an attentive audience (see below).

However, this was not a purely theoretical exercise. Athina had lots of practical tips including a 6-step "protocol" to take care of our physical well-being. We implemented part of this during the Middlesex writing boot-camp with early morning walks and after dinner strolls, a focus on good sleep, as as well as guidance for breathing exercises and meditation.

Resources for mental well-being

Athina’s presentation and the activities during the Middlesex writing boot-camp focused on physical well-being and brain optimisation, which are aspects of well-being that we tend to have more individual control over. Below I reproduce a list of blogposts about mental well-being in an academic context that may be helpful.

Knowledge workers' energy management

I found this article about energy management at work very helpful as it links physical and mental well-being. The article first discusses five forces draining human energy at work that all academics will recognise. It then reports on a study of ways to recover energy at work (measured as vitality and lack of fatigue), rather than recovery during non-work times.

The key table is below. Frequently used work-related strategies such as checking email, task-switching or making a to-do list had no significant relationship with subjective vitality. Instead, strategies related to learning something new, creating on reflecting on meaning at work, and positive relationships with colleagues create energy, at least in terms of subjective vitality.

What I found particularly interesting is that venting about a problem to a colleague is a strategy that has a strong negative impact on energy at work. This certainly rings true to me. Although it can be good to "let it all out" occasionally, regular venting sessions only leave one more pessimistic and fatalistic. I found this email response by a colleague particularly illuminative. That is #Positive Academia for you.

I've noticed that, when I'm annoyed at everyone and everything, doing something nice for someone else is a good re-set. I don't apply this at work very much, but I shall start.

Related blogposts

positive academia middlesex academia behind the scenes work-life balance office politics

Anne-Wil Harzing is Emerita Professor of International Management at Middlesex University, London. She is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business, a select group of distinguished AIB members who are recognized for their outstanding contributions to the scholarly development of the field of international business. In addition to her academic duties, she also maintains the Journal Quality List and is the driving force behind the popular Publish or Perish software program.

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