How to combat stress when life just keeps throwing stress your way.
Students coming back from a semester break may feel overwhelmed by looking at the road ahead.
Having a break to rest and navigate ourselves after a hectic period is essential. Yet, transitioning from this to back to school may cause stress and anxiety.
Students indeed have various things in life to accomplish, including academic success, social life, and financial state. Managing all these simultaneously is never easy, especially if one is independent and has no one to lean on.
Most students tend to think ahead of time – of the deadlines they must meet, the presentation they need to prepare, or the work shifts they must attend. Simply thinking of these tasks can already make them feel stressed and increase anxiety.
So, what exactly is stress and anxiety?
Stress is defined as a physical or mental response to an external cause while anxiety is the bodily response to stress, says the National Institute of Mental Health.
Physiologically speaking, it acts as an alarm to prepare the body for a fight-or-flight response to threats and danger. This natural mechanism was inherited from our ancestors, back in ancient times when humans were living in the wild and hunting to survive.
Even though our living environment has evolved greatly, our body keeps this mechanism running to protect us from threatening situations. The difference is we are no longer threatened by wild animals but by the various circumstances in life.
We now call the response – stress.
Why is it important for us to learn how to manage stress in life?
Researchers have found profound impacts on what stress does to our brain and our general health in recent years. A professor of psychiatry and medicine at Harvard Medical School found that stress not only impacts memory but also increases vulnerability to mental illnesses and adversely affect mood and anxiety.
Another survey done by Carleton University found that psychological and financial stress are more prominent than academic stress in student respondents.
For the sake of our mental health in the long run, learning how to manage your stress is a crucial skill.
Since most students also work a part-time job outside school hours, they have less time to study, hang out with friends, or even sleep. In other words, time is limited for students. Thus, learning how to manage time and prioritize tasks efficiently could be helpful for students.
Keeping a to-do list updated every day is a good place to start, especially when you have a lot of tasks going on. It helps you focus on what tasks are to be accomplished, while also tracking what tasks have been done at the end of the day. Acknowledging what has been completed can motivate you and keep you on track.
Another way to organize your tasks is to plan a calendar and make it as visible as possible. The more you see it, the more you are reminded of your goals. It decreases the chance of being distracted and wanting to do something else.
Other than utilizing time more efficiently through organizing tasks, regular exercise is effective in lowering stress level and keeping you positive. It can be difficult to find time for exercise on a hectic day, yet you can start as simply as taking a walk for 20 minutes. By simply doing so, the capacity for focus is boosted.
Practicing self-care also helps reduce stress levels. Building a routine to check-in with yourselves and reflect from time to time is important for monitoring your overall wellbeing. It does not have to be complicated and time-consuming.
Self-care is about being with yourselves and providing support for yourselves, both physically and mentally. The key is to find the things that you enjoy doing or energize you afterwards. The end goal is to release and take a break.
Here are some examples you can start with:
- Going for a short walk. Physical movements can provide your brain with some zone-out time from all the tasks scheduled.
- Keeping a journal. No matter if it is in the form of words or speech, journaling allows you to reflect on your thoughts and emotions.
- Practice breathing exercises. As explained above, stress is a physiological response, in other words, regulating our body can help minimize the response.
Not every method works for each person.
We are different individuals and everyone is encouraged to try out different methods with yourselves and you will find the ones that work optimal for you.
