I think that this would be helpful to some students but not all. It is hard to follow at times. Over the years I have read many books like this for my own personal life and for my future students. I am all about helping students when I can in the classroom. There are certain things I like, especially the emotions part in the beginning.

The title says it all, in 18 short chapters Harvey-Craig shows ways to improve your student life based on the latest psychological research. This includes such seemingly simple things like breathing, doing nothing, sleeping, or snacking, but also more profound things like dating, joining study groups, and social media consumption.

Although I'm no longer a student, I found some of the information very helpful for my 'adult' life, too.

Note: This book is aimed at older teens and young adults.

As a self-help book for students, I feel like the writing is pitched wrong. For me, it felt too academic (bearing in mind we have so many heavy texts to read for uni) and a bit of a chore to read. That said, some of the concepts are great, particularly the idea of a forest bath.

There are 2 outstanding characteristics of the book, 18 Wellbeing Hacks for Students by Aidan Harvey-Craig: 1. it is ‘easy’ because most of the wellbeing hacks are simple enough to follow; 2. it is ‘new’, because the book includes a myriad of the most up-to-date findings on wellbeing.

Spoiler-Alert: the book is not just for students, but anyone who is looking for a new angle on wellbeing tips.

While all 18 hacks are brilliant, there are 7, which stand out for their novelty and practicality.

The 7 most intriguing wellbeing hacks:

Perfectionism

Did you know that perfect comes from the Latin word perfectos, which means to finish, to bring to an end. So, if you were really perfect, you’d be finished….which is one of the strongest arguments for letting go of perfectionism. There are techniques to achieve this in the book, such as practising being imperfect.

Emodiversity

Being aware and making sense of your wide range of emotions can help evaluating the various situations you find yourself in, and on a most basic level, can decide to ‘fight’ or ‘flight’. You can develop this skill, called your emodiversity through attentive reading and writing an emotion diary.

The Light Triad personality: the bright side of humans

The Light Triad consists of Kantianism, the opposite of Machiavellism, meaning you interact with people sincerely, without any ulterior motive.

The second trait is humanism, which is about valuing each person’s worth regardless of their background.

Finally, there is humanity, believing that humans are fundamentally good.

Being a Light Triad helps with positive self-esteem, calm and resilience.

Flextroverts

Flextroverts have 3 characteristics. First, they don’t rely on routine behaviours, but act in a way that’s best for each situation. Second, they are open to new experiences, and third, they are ‘willing to take more risks to form meaningful connections with others’.

Flextrovers are better at coping with stress because they can distinguish what they can and cannot control, and therefore are able to choose the appropriate strategy to deal with a stressful situation. You can become a flextrovert by challenging yourself to do something different each day or each week.

Musicking

This is a hack which means using music with purpose and intent. Surely, many of us have been doing it - listening to a song when we are happy or sad or need motivation for a workout. However, music is more than just trying to affect emotions. It also helps making sense of complicated emotions. Figuring out what kind of music helps lift your mood or gives you greater self-awareness means that you can improve your wellbeing in similar future situations.

Doing almost nothing.

Not doing anything can lead to rumination, thinking about negative past experiences, leading to anxiety and stress. Instead, try doing things which require little effort, make you focus, but still allow you to be creative. Try doodling, for example.

Coffee Breathing.

This is a breathing exercise for those sleepy afternoons. So if you don’t want to have a coffee in the afternoon, try 3 rounds of 20 Coffee Breaths (exhaling through your nose 20 times in sharp, soothing breaths) for a burst of energy.

Really interesting and helpful tips! Some I already knew but this book delved deeper into them as well which I appreciated.

This book should honestly be given out to everyone so they can read and take any knowledge they can from it.

This should be handed to every student. Helpful and informative, some of these hacks will definitely help students out and change how they do things. Wish it had been around when I had been a student.