By Joanne Beames

The coronavirus has created a lot of uncertainty in our lives. Each day, as our government tries to keep us safe, there are new rules put in place to regulate what we can do, how many of us can do it, and what can happen if we don’t comply.

Even as the restrictions start to ease, there is still some confusion about what the future holds.

In these circumstances, it’s understandable to feel worried, stressed or anxious.

That anxious feeling, after all, has evolved to help keep us safe from danger, and it can be amplified in times of change or uncertainty.

So, if you’re feeling this way, you’re not alone.

In times like this it’s important to be proactive about your mental health.

Here are some things you can do that might help you stay mentally strong:

• Stay in touch with your friends and family. You can still try to connect with others even if you can’t physically be with them.
• Talk to your parents, your guardian, or someone that you look up to – tell them what you are worried about or how they can help you.
• Keep doing the things that you enjoy. You might need to get creative to do this! What can you do inside, or online, that helps you to connect with friends or keep up some of your hobbies? Or is there something new that you have always wanted to learn or give a go?
• Look after your body. We know that there is a mind-body connection – so try to get enough sleep, physical activity, and healthy foods in your diet. This can help with energy, concentration, and even feelings of happiness.
• Try to keep to a routine. This is related to the point above but is more about being consistent with what you are doing each day. For example, keeping regular times for sleeping, waking, and doing schoolwork.
• Limit reading the media. Exposure to lots of information about the coronavirus, especially misinformation or sensationalised news, can increase anxiety.
• Actively try to help or be kind to someone. Doing things for other people can keep your mind occupied and improve your mood.

Even though it can be normal to feel anxious or worried, it’s still really important to look after your mental health and try to identify when you might not be coping.

Anxiety becomes a problem when you feel anxious most of the time, it is difficult to control, and it interferes with your daily life. Although there is not a “one-size-fits all” approach for anxiety disorders, there are some common symptoms.

Here are some common symptoms that you can look out for:

• Feeling very worried, afraid, nervous, or even scared most of the time
• Feeling panicky
• Feeling irritable or upset in the stomach (you might even feel like vomiting)
• Worrying that you are losing your mind
• A pounding or racing heart
• Twitching or trembling in your body
• Increased sweating in certain situations (e.g., when you are feeling anxious)
• Difficulty concentrating, making decisions, or remembering things (e.g., when doing schoolwork or even a hobby)
• Sleep problems (like having difficulty falling asleep at night)

If you experience any of these things or notice a sudden change in how you usually feel, it might be a sign that you need a bit of extra help to cope.

Here are some resources that can provide support:

If you would like some extra support, or just want to check them out to see what’s available, here are some links to online resources and tools:

• Black Dog Institute
• Eheadspace
• Brave online
• BiteBack

If you want more help, talk to your parents or another adult you feel comfortable talking to (like another friend’s parent or teacher) to work out the next steps. It might be helpful for you to get check in with your GP or a mental health professional like a psychologist.

Follow Joanne on Twitter.

By Sara Loo

Across the globe, May 12^th is a day of celebration for women in mathematics. The May 12^th initiative was started by several international associations that support and represent women in mathematics. It came as a response to growing awareness of the need to support and celebrate women who commit their lives to mathematical research.

May 12th was chosen to remember the birthday of Maryam Mirzakhani and recognise her as the first and only woman to date to be honoured with the prestigious Fields Medal in 2014.

The Fields Medal is awarded by the International Union of Mathematics to those under 40 who demonstrate excellence in their research and who hold immense promise for future achievement.

Mirzakhani passed away from breast cancer on July 15, 2017. But her legacy continues through this day each year as mathematicians around the world come together to recognise the women in our field.

As an applied mathematician myself, people are often surprised when they hear what my work involves. I’m usually met with a look of anxiety as people remember mathematics as a thing of their high-school days – with confusing arrays of numbers and the stress of not remembering the quadratic equation.

Why then, would I want to chase a career that is embedded in such confusion?   

Mathematics is a field with broad application, and its utility pervades all of the sciences. All aspects of science have the flavour of mathematical reasoning and logic. Qualitative and quantitative research alike require tools of analysis. These are often based on mathematical and statistical theory. These tools can be used to identify patterns and significance, to investigate rates of change, and calculate costs.

To celebrate our own women in maths, we reach out to a few of our Champions to see what they say about mathematics, and why they think Women in Maths day is important.

Quantitative psychologist, Dr Jessica Lee says, “I like maths and statistics because it enables me to make sense of data and answer questions about complex psychological phenomena. I always thought that once you ran an experiment it would be obvious what the results were, but that’s often not the case.”

Mathematics is a tool of discovery and curiosity. It is investigative and helps us to ask questions we didn’t know were there originally.

Not only can mathematical analysis help us uncover the patterns beneath the surface of our data, mathematics can also help us think logically and critically. “As [I’ve learnt] more and more about different statistical techniques and computational modelling, I’ve found that it’s expanded my way of thinking about data and made me more critical of the types of conclusions that can be drawn from the evidence,” says Jessica.

Mathematics also crosses many disciplines. Early career researcher, Dr Sanaa Hobeichi, started off as a mathematics teacher in Qatar before moving to Sydney to undertake her doctorate in climate science. She is passionate about showing high school students the power of mathematics through practical use in this field.

“Mathematics is a unique tool for getting insights into the science of climate. Thanks to probability and statistics, calculus and algebra, we are able to understand how our climate is changing and how this change will impact life on earth.”

It helps us look at the past and understand how to better our future. “With its ability to… generalise, maths enables us to reconstruct the past climate, where no measurements were taken. It is the basis for the numerical algorithms that help us translate satellite measurements into meaningful information of the current climate. Maths [helps to develop] climate models [that can predict] future climate based on our current emissions and sustainability choices,” says Sanaa.  

Even across the small sample of researchers that is our cohort, mathematics can be seen in many forms. Laws of geometry help shape metals, statistical theory helps uncover correlations in psychological research, logistics and network analysis help research in aviation, fluid analysis may help in optometry, probability theory helps predict how viral genes may mutate.

We continue to celebrate the breadth of our Champions’ research, and the many ways in which mathematics finds its way into their work. Recall our battle cry: “You cannot be what you cannot see.”

Numbers from the 2019 HSC highlight that only 36% of Extension 2 Mathematics students were female. Only 45% of females note interest in mathematics, compared to 56% of males. This divide only increases into higher research.

A study from 2014 showed only 23% of academic and research staff in mathematics departments were women. Another stunning study from USA note an average of 16% of PhD candidates in mathematics at five top tier universities are female. This shrinks to a shocking 7% female at senior faculty positions.

What can we do to encourage women to love maths, and stick with it?

As Jessica highlights, “Days like Women in Maths Day serve to foster a culture of diversity and inclusion by celebrating the achievements of women all around the world. It helps to break down stereotypes of traditionally male-dominated fields and provides visibility of role models that will inspire the next generation of great women in STEM-related careers.”

Sanaa adds: “Given the declining interest in maths among high-school students, celebrating maths day is a way to highlight the application of maths in the real world. Helping young students see the relevance of the subject to their lives can hopefully improve their attitudes towards maths.”

Let’s not get stuck in forcing students to memorise and learn by rote, but let’s instead stoke curiosity and provide mathematical tools that can help reveal patterns. Let’s show our students, and especially our daughters the joy of thinking creatively through mathematics. Let’s use it to unearth secrets hidden in our data. Let’s be surprised and astounded by what we see.

The ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematical & Statistical Frontiers (ACEMS) last week released a number of videos from some of these women across Australia, answering why they love mathematics – take a look at what some of these women had to say.

Follow Sara and Jessica on Twitter.