Burnout in Medical Students: The Impact of Lifestyle and Health Behaviours in Development of Burnout

Background/Objective: There is an increased impact of burnout among medical students, with prevalence above 50%. Despite the contribution of demographic and personal factors, aspects related to the learning environment seem to be the most influential; therefore many organizational strategies have been developed. Studies have described associations between burnout and lifestyles or health behaviours, especially in doctors and residents. The aim of this work is to review the studies that directly investigate this relationship in medical students, to understand what behaviours can be adopted to prevent and reduce burnout. Methods: A MEDLINE and Google Scholar review of the recent medical literature from January 2007, through September 2017, was conducted, using combinations of terms: burnout, burnout syndrome, and medical students. Results: 10 cross-sectional studies, survey-based were included. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) was the screening instrument more used to evaluate burnout. Dysfunctional sleeping habits, low levels of physical activity, alcohol abuse/dependence, social activities involvement and being an ex-smoker were associated with higher risk of burnout. Music-related activities were correlated with better outcomes. Reading and dietary behaviour had an unclear association. Conclusions: The use of different versions of the MBI and different criteria to evaluate common behaviours make these findings difficult to generalize. Strategies based on sleep education (sleeping 7-9 hours per night), increasing physical exercise, moderating alcohol consumption and practicing music-related activities may be helpful to prevent and reduce burnout. Further studies are required to better understand these relationships.