Bremen, Germany - University studies can be strenuous. Since Germany's recent adoption of bachelor's and master's degree programmes shortening the time allowed to master the curricula, students, too, are now having to deal with considerable psychological stress.

"Some students are almost displaying signs of burnout syndrome already," remarked Elisabeth Medicus-Rickers, deputy chief of the psychotherapeutic counselling centre in the University of Bremen's student services department.

In an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, Medicus-Rickers noted that the increasing time pressure had led to cases of exhaustion and sleep disorders.

"It's often hard [for students] to find time for leisure," she said.

Medicus-Rickers said it was especially important that students made time for recreation.

"We make weekly schedules with the affected persons in order to organise their daily routines better," she said. The schedules always include time for friends and fellow students.

Social networking at the university is particularly important in the run-up to examination periods, according to Medicus-Rickers. "Joint preparation for examinations has an enormous calming effect," she pointed out.

She said contact with friends outside the university also helped recharge a student's batteries - "a single telephone conversation in the evening is often sufficient." Sports are another good change of pace. The main thing is finding time in one's schedule for recreation, whereby "students have to learn how to weight" their activities according to importance, she said.

Students can prevent burnout. "No longer coming to rest is a sign of being overburdened," Medicus-Rickers said. When exam nerves and pressure to get higher marks cause a student to withdraw more and more from everyday life, she noted, then alarm bells should ring.

"Avoidance behaviour is an indication of diffuse fears," she said. Students should become active before these fears get too big. (dpa)