In these testing times, stress management, especially among students is one of the biggest challenges. The strain of a busy modern world has become part of our everyday routine. According to the American College Health Association National College Health Assessment, 45.6% of students face “more than average stress”, and 15.3% face tremendous stress.
Stress is a feeling of emotional or physical tension, a reaction to a challenge or demand. Some of the most common factors for stress among students include financial expenses, deadlines, workload, overcommitment, family expectations and peer pressure.
A mild amount of stress can have a positive effect when it helps you achieve deadline or short-term goals; however, prolonged stress can lead to depression, anxiety or addiction to alcohol, tobacco or overeating, which in fact leads to more stress.
Before we move on to stress management, let’s understand what common stress triggers among students are:
- Academic: Low grades, deadlines, strict schedule, exams and poor time management are some of the key reasons to build up for academic stress.
- Social: Parental pressure, peer pressure, dealing with new relationships, adjusting to the new environment and balancing academic life with social life, all trigger stress in students.
- Daily Life: Trying to juggle family, work and academic along with daily commute, a part-time job can get a little crazy. Not able to give the body much-needed break daily, and poor sleep schedule is one of the biggest triggers for stress.
8 Tips for Stress Management among College Students
Experiencing all of the above and sprinkle the personal insecurity, low confidence and expectation of fabulous social media life, it can lead to higher stress level among students. However, stress can be managed, let’s look at some ways to alleviate stress, succeed and live a healthy and balanced life.
Stay Positive: Your thoughts create your reality, focusing on negative aspects of a situation will increase mental stress. Staying optimistic and taking one-day-at –a –time approach will help you prioritize and focus better.
Support System: Surround yourself with family or friends who lift you up. People who listen to you without judgement. People who encourage you, provide sound perspective and lift you up will help ease the path.
Time Management: One of the leading causes of stress is poor time management. Create a weekly timetable and stick to it. Make sure you have enough relaxing break between work and study.
Organize: Apart from time management, one of the best paths to stress management is to organize. Cluttered surroundings can trigger stress and a heightened level of anxiety. Keep academic notes, assignments organized. It is easy to prioritize tasks when you are organized.
Meditate: Meditation is a simple and effective technique to lower stress. The best part, you can do it anywhere anytime. Begin with simple breathing techniques and move on to guided meditation or chant mantras. Apart from lowering stress, meditation can help you concentrate better.
Eat Well: An unhealthy diet can lead to an increased stress level. Health diet equips your body the nutrition needed to fight stress. Avoid high-fat, high-sugar and caffeine.
Exercise: Exercise not only changes your body; it changes your attitude and your mood. Exercise produces endorphins, a feel-good chemical that works as a natural painkiller and helps in better sleep. 30 minutes of exercise, walking, jogging or yoga will further stress management.
Natural Therapies: Water therapy is effective in reducing stress and relaxing the body. Drink lots of waters and treat yourself to a hot bath. Aromatherapy is the use of essential oils to improve physical and emotional well-being. Lavender, jasmine and lemon are known to reduce stress levels.
Everybody needs help at some time, don’t hesitate to talk or express your emotions. One of the best ways to manage stress is to vocalize how you feel in a safe space.
BizTech College student counsellors are here for you, apart from academic difficulties, our instructors, counsellors and student coordinators are here to help you with academic, personal and professional difficulties.
