Stress: A Definite Deal-Breaker
by Janki Shah
The college experience is filled with classes, internships, parties, clubs, and friends, all which bring along some sort of stress. As most students know, college stress is no walk in the park. Stress can have hazardous consequences not only on your mind, but also your body, your actions, and your relationships.
A survey of 100 randomly selected students at New York University showed that 75% weren’t able to get any sleep when they had exams coming up, especially the night before the exam. 56% said that they got all sorts of body ailments, such as long-lasting headaches, stomachaches, coughs, pimples, and oily skin during exam time. 84% said that stress disturbs their relationships with friends, family, or significant others. Students said they don’t have the time to relax or hang out with friends or significant others. One may say, “This is college, a place where people come to study, not have fun.” And though that may be true, a lack of these sorts of relationships creates more stress and can lead to even more serious problems, such as loneliness and depression. Nevertheless, college students aren’t alone in their experience of major stress; students in middle school and high school, people working and living in “the real world,” and students in graduate school are likely to be just as stressed out as college students.
Recent medical studies indicate that a growing number of people are more stressed than ever. According to The National Institute of Mental Health, roughly one person out of three suffers from moderate to severe stress on a daily basis. This can have grave and long-term effects on one’s health. Harmful stress, also know as distress, can be very bad for an individual. Prolonged distress has harmful consequences on the immune system, damages memory cells in the brain, and increases the risk of heart disease, cancer and other illnesses, according to Bruce S. McEwen, M.D., author of “The End of Stress as We Know It.”
The persistent nature of stress in our lives can overload our body’s stress systems. We are not as biologically equipped to meet multiple stresses that often hit us simultaneously – multiple exams, lines for the elevator when we’re already late, deadlines, relationships problems, dates, parties, etc. “The fact is, we're now living in a world where our systems are not allowed a chance to rest, to go back to base line,” says Dr. McEwen, as quoted by cbs5.com, the California news agency that serves San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. “People are being driven by excess calories, inadequate sleep, lack of exercise, by smoking, by isolation or frenzied competition.”
So these are all the problems that one can have with stress, but what can one do? There are ways to deal with the multiple stresses that intrude our day-to-day lives. It's all a matter of making important choices in your life everyday. As college students, one of the best ways to reduce stress is to work on time management and learn to not procrastinate. Planning and getting things done early allows time for relaxation and meditation for the body and mind. But if the stress continues, there are more ways to deal with it.
Specialists say that recognizing the cause of stress is the first step in coping. Then, open breathing can help relaxation in stressful situations. For more prolonged stress, one should exercise more and eat healthy foods on a daily basis. And finally, they suggest that one shouldn’t take anything personally. Many stresses come from performance anxiety or the efforts to excel and show others our capabilities. Instead, one should not get stressed from the criticisms or goals set by others; to really combat stress, one should take control and set goals based on what makes the individual self happy and satisfied.
With a little stress-prevention effort and a lot less procrastination,
hopefully college students will be able to deal with stress more successfully
with the gaining of life experience and a little help from these tips.
Harr, Eric. Recognize, Subdue, Eliminate Stress In Your Life. http://cbs5.com/health/local_story_033194732.html
