If you’ve been on Instagram recently, you may have seen Alexandra Brown’s engagement announcement, the Cambridge graduate-turned-lawyer and influencer sharing her commitment to James Warnock, fellow influencer and partner of 10 years. With over 180,000 followers, Brown has taken the internet by storm: posting vulnerable, relatable content of her life journey from PBS student to a lawyer. In many ways, she embodies the high-achieving Cambridge graduate, balancing a high-powered career alongside a carefully curated routine of aesthetic productivity and wellbeing.

But while this kind of lifestyle floods students’ Instagram feeds, it can be difficult to imagine sustaining this balance in Cambridge’s high-pressure environment. When a supervision essay is due, how exactly are students expected to find time to ‘practice wellness’? Is this just another pressure for students, an image-conscious drive to adopt an aesthetically curated lifestyle? Or is it a necessary tool in a context where the risk of academic burnout is high?

I swipe onto edensimonewellness’ Instagram story; a video captures Pembroke’s stunning New Court, accompanied by a good morning message. Eden Wolfe-Naughton, founder of this wellness brand, tells me this is part of her morning ritual, as she hopes to share “just a bit of kindness” on a platform full of content focused on what is going wrong. She discusses the “wellness trend issue”: simultaneously positive in raising awareness, yet worrying when it loses its status as desirable in society.

“Is this just another pressure for students, an image-conscious drive to adopt an aesthetically curated lifestyle?”

Top neuroscientist Professor Barbara Sahakian co-authored a book with Dr Christelle Langley, entitled Brain Boost: Healthier Habits for a Happier Life, precisely so readers could access evidence-based methods to improve their wellbeing – instead of relying on the ever-changing trends of social media’s new craze. Additionally, the tendency to obsess about wellness can, in itself, become stressful, as Andre Spicer and Carl Cederstrom demonstrate in their book, The Wellness Syndrome. As Eden tells me: “Realistically, wellness isn’t a set of Instagram rules,” before noting how “our grandparents were great at wellness, having elevenses and 4pm tea”.

Eden’s wellness journey has included an incredibly difficult battle with health: after being diagnosed with severe long Covid in 2021, she couldn’t walk for seven months. That was followed by her worst health crisis this year, where she almost lost her eye. Looking back, she describes how “it felt like two steps forward, one step back,” as she left behind her life as a competitive swimmer. Cambridge’s very own Professor Sahakian highlights the necessity for ‘Preventative Psychiatry’, which helps avoid chronic stress, anxiety and depression through adopting healthy lifestyle habits. This was something Eden learnt first-hand, emphatically stating: “If you don’t make time for wellness, you’ll be forced to make time for illness.”

Clad in pilates gear, Amy Fogarty has just left the R3FORM studio in Eddington. For Amy, pilates has been a respite and an invaluable form of exercise after battling polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) over the past few years, leading to an intermission last term. A regular gym-goer throughout her teens, daily morning exercise has long been “a massive part of my routine”. Rowing was therefore an obvious option when she came to Cambridge, and something she excelled in. However, she describes the effects of PCOS and the resulting insulin resistance as “having the opposite effect” on her body, “fatiguing rather than energising me”. This caused immense frustration, as she was left wondering: “Why is my body not working?”

“Our grandparents were great at wellness, having elevenses and 4pm tea”

Professor Sahakian’s study found that a healthy lifestyle can reduce the risk of depression by 57%, and may even help mitigate the effects of genetic risk factors. After her recovery, Amy now finds a 30-minute walk as important for hormonal balance as an intense erg session. Before, concern about aesthetics was a huge part of training, which “you just assume is normal”. Looking back, she sees the danger in letting this “consume your life,” observing the “change in perspective” recent health issues have brought about, causing her to focus on longevity over appearance. She concludes: “Your health is so much more than what you look like, because this is your body that you’ll be in for years. You have to nourish it.”

Recognising an internal narrative of “the harder you push, the better you’ll get,” Eden also now lives by a different motto: “wellness isn’t the antithesis of success – it’s the key”. Teaching ‘Dawn’ dance classes in a Brighton studio demonstrated the importance of moving to feel well over dancing technically proficiently. Looking back over last term, she has seen that intentionally pacing herself contributed to “the best months of health I’ve ever had”. Adding movement and exercise to the never-ending Cambridge to-do list ultimately “saves you weeks in bed later on in term”.

With content aimed at students with a million deadlines, Eden’s wellness account adopts the approach that “wellness doesn’t have to be wet”. You can be corporate, hardcore, and engage with wellness. It’s something law firms clearly value, as they don’t want burnt out people, but employees who can join “high intensity and wellness hand in hand”. Professor Thomas Roulet specialises in workplace wellbeing, and remarks that when organisations only provide access to apps such as Calm or Headspace, “it is like a plaster on a wooden leg”.

With 13 years of experience in the UK university sector, Professor Roulet has observed “tremendous progress” around mental health support services. Notably, Eden credits Cambridge’s efforts to promote wellness, yet worries that, without a fundamental shift in students’ attitudes toward these activities as productive, the risk is that “when exam season comes in, you’re going to drop it off.” Individuals’ responsibility for their own wellbeing “can only exist in a context in which their institutions and organisations also care for and foster their wellbeing in both tangible and less tangible ways”.

Jumping off the hamster wheel of student life is clearly an important way to find sustainable success. Prof Sahakian highlights studies showing structural and functional brain changes following mindfulness training, including in the prefrontal cortex, insula, cingulate cortex, and hippocampus. Taking the time to “pay deliberate attention to the present moment,” and “foster a deep connection with your own thoughts, feelings and surroundings” is essential to both physical and brain health. Likewise, Eden has learnt that change is good, rest is necessary, and wellness is key. “Cambridge is just such a beautiful place to be,” she says, “and I would kick myself if I was here for four years and didn’t stop to really look around.”