Then too I think basic physiology plays into how you feel. Do you get enough sleep, a decent diet? Thinking this much burns a lot of carbs, carbs fuel the brain. So where before I avoided carbs, now I am a fan of healthy brown bread, brown rice, duram wheat pasta, and sometimes Doritos.

Thirst sometimes shows up as fatigue. Do you drink enough water or hydrating beverages? There are no water coolers in my university building, I have to go to the loo yukk and get water from the tap, which sounds disguisting but its the only way to get a glass of water! You MAY not be tired, you may be thirsty and in need of carbs.

I think it cannot be overstated ( though I am probably at risk of doing so on this thread! ) of knowing yourself, your learning style, what environment you need, what rest you need, what supports you need. Then work to get those as much as you can. I know I have a very odd working style ( ENFP/ENTP--and if you don't like Myers Briggs, whatever works for you!) that gets the job done, just in a round about way and in bursts of energy. So I get to have breaks during the day when my brain has shut down, and I have stopped worrying about it. The overall result is what counts, and so far, so good! One of my favourite methodologists, Kathy Charmaz, says to treat research like play if you can, not as in taking it non seriously, but approach it with a creative and imaginiative mind set ( that may not work in all fields) and enjoy it!

I find music really helps my mood and my attitude towards work. Good music can make me feel really energised and work hard, and can lift my mood. Is there something like that which would help your study environment? The other thing, though this sounds trite, is the value of a good hard laugh. Can you get onto youtube and find some clip that makes you just roll with laughter? A good laugh releases some kind of chemical in your brain that is a mood lifter--sometimes if I am really stressing I try to find something to watch or listen to that I know will just make me laugh, and it helps!

Telling someone to just get on with it or get over it is not helpful, because if it were that easy, well why, you would, wouldn't you? Can you join up with a social group or event of ANY sort? That might help ease some of the feelings at least in the short run. I know how hard it is to socialise when there is no money! But there are free things to do--I wanted in to see a specific church, and so I attended a service there! I struggle with the stress of being far from home, adjusting to a new country, etc, on top of a PhD and I can understand how sometimes it all feels like a bit too much!

I don't know if this makes sense--if you can realise that some of your thinking might be guided by depression, the nothing to look forward to, the sort of hopelessness, etc.--that is classic depressive thinking. Knowing that your view of the world is being coloured to some extent by that might help you gain perspective that its not necessarily an accurate view of what is going on? Sometimes I have to walk myself backwards and say look, what you are thinking and feeling may not be the whole picture or even an accurate picture, you are distorting x y and z because you are tired, depressed, homesick, lonely, or whatever, and try to understand what is fuelling how I feel --which very often has very little to do with the PhD itself.

And the set up of a PhD is almost a prescription for anxiety and depression--the long hours, the isolation, the lack of structure, the irregularity of results and feedback. Anyone would tell you that any combination of those elements make you at risk for depression and anxiety! The best solution for those are to not feel alone and isolated, and again, its far from the ideal solution, but to the extent that this forum can at least reduce some of that, use it. I know I go through up and down moments, and log on to the forum when I am well in need of a break from my work!

Don't worry about making anyone feel bad, Xeno. What was it that my grandmother used to say, something like misery shared is misery halved, or the ever popular misery loves company. Those mean, to me, that you feel better if you can just unburden yourself on someone so that you do not feel so alone, and this forum seems to be a good place to do it. I know that it helps when reading or posting to know that you are not alone in the struggles, the emotional stresses and strains, and sometimes feeling like there is no one who relates.

a great article in the Daily Mail about Big Hair! Oh the 80's--the shoulderpads, and yes, using a coat hanger to do up the zipper in your jeans...those were the days!

Did you actually look at the homepage for the journal itself, or just the publisher's general webpage? Try finding the actual page for that is specific to the journal, if you did not already do that.

Also, most journals have information on the inside of front cover on or on the back cover on submission requirements, if you have a hard copy of the journal.

Sorry to hear that Xeno. Is anything in particular going on or is it just the drain of the same old, same old?

Sometimes my brain does not even shut off ( or shut up) in my sleep--it keeps chattering out ideas, and more than once I have woken up with some great idea, and scribbled it out and then gone back to sleep, hoping I can make sense of what I wrote in the morning! Usually these have been those sort of break through, really insightful ideas!

Oh yes, it happens to me all the time! One time I got home at 5:30, and sat down on my bed, shoes still on even, and woke up six hours later!!!!!!!! I had no intention of going to sleep when I sat down! I sleep a good 9 hours or so a night, going to bed exhausted ( but usually not stressed, there is a difference) and keen to wake up and get going in the morning. I think that this much mental activity IS tiring, and there is also a stress component of the PhD that is tiring as well.

The weight on your head, aka earrings and hair, help you take naps, by encouraging your head to bend on to your desk.