You are here: Home / Archives for Stress

Stressed By Stress

Why is it that almost every incoming freshman thinks that college isn’t going to be all that different from high school? Every year a brand spanking new batch of 18 year olds heads off to college. Some make it and some fall victim to the enormous amount of stress generated by college. While every student is different, there are some common causes of college stress that should be addressed.

A leading cause of college stress is the amount of change student’s face. Everything about their lives changes from where they lay their head at night to what they eat for breakfast. Unfortunately, a lot of people have a hard time with change – it can be a leading cause of stress.

While the financial pressures of college do not affect all students, many of them are. Students who are paying their own way or helping out with their tuition often find trying to balance work and school difficult and stressful. Unfortunately a student has to work they must find a way to balance these two activities.

College is also, to a large degree, self-paced. Vast amounts of reading material, large reports and exams are, for the most part, the responsibility of the student. Many have difficulty with the fact that their professors are not reminding them constantly of assignments and dates. Unless a student finds a way to manage their studies, they can end up very stressed out.

Finally, many students find themselves stressed out by their performance. Students who aren’t pulling the grades they are accustomed to find themselves feeling overwhelmed and stressed out.  Until such students find a way to address their grades or except lower standards, they are likely to remain stressed.

Almost all college students are stressed out about one thing or another – the trick is learning to manage the stress before it gets out of hand.

 

Filed Under: Education, Higher Education Tagged With: , ,

Ways to Relieve College Stress

Example of dark circles

Image via Wikipedia

There can be a great amount of stress for individuals involved in higher education when taking college courses. There are those taking multiple majors and minors and still having to work full time and raise a family. The following are some tips to help students taking college courses reduce the amount of stress they may have.

Taking online courses can be a great way to eliminate much of the college stress associated with many   traditional forms of eduation such as driving back and forth to classes, but there probably will be some level of stress involved. When having to research, write papers and study for exams, stress may very well be a factor but you can reduce the amount of stress you have by getting enough sleep. When you are sleep deprived, you are not able to function properly and at least 7 hours of sleep is enough to get you refocused and recharged to tackle whatever comes before you.

In order to relieve some of the stress associated with college life it is also important to eat right and exercise. Eating write with provide you with clarity of thought and if you do not think you have time to exercise, think again, just 30 minutes of low impact daily exercise is enough to relax and rebalance you.

Sometimes a college student who is away from home and handling things on their own will experience a lot of stress. Asking for help is a great way for students to relieve stress. For the shy student, taking online courses is a great opportunity to ask for help when it is needed.

 

Filed Under: Online Education Tagged With: , ,

Seeking Help: College Stress

The world is defined to silence, to the refusals of confessions. You admit none of your worries. You offer none of your fears. Instead you tuck them all away, certain that they will disappear if never voiced, that they will lose all relevancy. Stress is to be conquered alone, you believe. You can’t burden your friends and family with such little complications. They have their own lives to consider — and they don’t need you cluttering up their moments with your college concerns.

And so you face all of your problems without assistance. That’s assumed to be the only solution. But, when it fails to offer any relief, you are baffled. The stress hasn’t been eased. It’s instead only grown; and you don’t know what to do.

The answer is simple: you must seek help.

Pursuing higher education is a lofty goal. Your desire to increase your knowledge and improve your abilities is one that shouldn’t be denied. But this is not a simple affair — the expected satisfactions and lazy classes. It is instead an experience that can cause strong feelings of anxiety, depression and anger. It can overwhelm all individuals, leaving them unable to cope with the transition from children to adults.

They do not speak of this panic, however. They choose instead to hide it, certain that others should never hear of it: if only because pity would be just as great a burden as stress.

But it will not be pity that is offered from your friends and family. It will instead be relief. When a mind is filled to worry, it cannot function as it must. All thoughts will be shaped to stress and all efforts will become considerably more challenging. You must express these problems to others, allowing them to provide the support (and advice) you need. Do not try to combat this on your own. The results will not be satisfying.

Seek help. Gain encouragement. Ease the pain.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With:

Determining the Cause: Stress

Panic is not a familiar companion. You have been without it through the days of your life, have been greeted only with smiles. There have been no concerns to consider. There have been no burdens of stress. You have been fortunate instead — with the efforts of school always branded easy. Knowledge was never to be a challenge. It was instead to be a reward; and you earned it always.

But now you merely fret over every single page. College has shaped your seconds into miseries. You worry about your studies, about the competitive snarls of your peers. You despise the constant assignments and demands, the need for perfection. Sleep has been forgotten. Health has been neglected. And you remain perpetually hunched in your chair, sore and exhausted.

An education is not as you imagined. It’s instead a terror — and the stress is overwhelming.

As of 2010 85 percent of students admit to being panicked each day (unable to keep pace with their studies and their obligations). 60 percent of those individuals confess to skipping classes on more than one occasion, just to find some relief in their routines. And 33 percent of all first year students will eventually leave school completely, unable to bear the strain.

Stress is a genuine problem and it must be addressed by all individuals; including you.

Understand what is causing your concerns. Recognize if specific assignments, classes or peers are frustrating you. Know when you are most upset and when you are finally able to relax; and then generate ways to balance these two feelings.

By determining what is making you stressed you can better combat it. Do not allow the sensation to simply grow. Statistics do not favor success if you do. You must instead acknowledge the problem and then find its origins. Only then can you create the necessary methods to ease it.

Know the causes to reshape the effects. Admit your worries before they escalate.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: , ,

The Dangers of Reminders: Stress

Failure is imminent. This is your great fear, is murmured with the beginning of every hour. You worry about succeeding. You fret over learning. A university is not the wonder you wished it to be. It’s instead a demand for your sanity; and you spend each day reminding yourself of the possible costs: losing a scholarship, being forced to leave, returning in shame to your home. So much could go wrong and the possibilities consume your every thought. But this is necessary, you believe. You must forever be aware of what you risk by making even one single mistake.

You offer yourself unreasonable standards — and then you become stunned when the stress eventually overwhelms you.

College is never the simple event students expect it to be. It is far different than their high school obligations and, for many, it can cause anxiety. This feeling is intensified, however, when individuals continually remind themselves about the dangers of failing.

Classes are challenging; assignments are forever given. There is pressure to succeed in all elements — to be both the valedictorian and the social master. And some students try to maintain their levels of perfection by constantly warning themselves about what will happen if they don’t give everything they have at all times. They frighten themselves with talks of missed deadlines and low test scores, the plummet of grades. Every day becomes an echo of the potential problems.

And this only serves to increase stress.

Worrying over possible complications is the best way to ensure those complications occur. By not offering yourself time to simply relax (focusing on the positive rather than the impending catastrophes), you strain your mind, body and esteem. Emotions become wild; health deteriorates; and your ability to study is lost completely. Stress is the only component you can recognize and it is not worthy.

You must therefore remember to breathe. Don’t focus on what could happen. Keep yourself thoroughly within the present instead.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: , , ,

Seeking Help: College Stress

The world is defined to silence, to the refusals of confessions. You admit none of your worries. You offer none of your fears. Instead you tuck them all away, certain that they will disappear if never voiced, that they will lose all relevancy. Stress is to be conquered alone, you believe. You can’t burden your friends and family with such little complications. They have their own lives to consider — and they don’t need you cluttering up their moments with your college concerns.

And so you face all of your problems without assistance. That’s assumed to be the only solution. But, when it fails to offer any relief, you are baffled. The stress hasn’t been eased. It’s instead only grown; and you don’t know what to do.

The answer is simple: you must seek help.

Pursuing higher education is a lofty goal. Your desire to increase your knowledge and improve your abilities is one that shouldn’t be denied. But this is not a simple affair — the expected satisfactions and lazy classes. It is instead an experience that can cause strong feelings of anxiety, depression and anger. It can overwhelm all individuals, leaving them unable to cope with the transition from children to adults.

They do not speak of this panic, however. They choose instead to hide it, certain that others should never hear of it: if only because pity would be just as great a burden as stress.

But it will not be pity that is offered from your friends and family. It will instead be relief. When a mind is filled to worry, it cannot function as it must. All thoughts will be shaped to stress and all efforts will become considerably more challenging. You must express these problems to others, allowing them to provide the support (and advice) you need. Do not try to combat this on your own. The results will not be satisfying.

Seek help. Gain encouragement. Ease the pain.

Filed Under: Education, Higher Education Tagged With: , ,

The Hobby Relief: Stress Reduction

There once was a time when you were happy. You remember it, even if the days seem too distant now, the recollections curled vague and surreal. You were not devoted to your education then. Instead you had a collection of little hobbies, passions, reliefs. They were yours to enjoy — and the indulgence was always welcomed, was used to counter the monotony of life.

Now, however, there seems to be no time for such things. You are scrambling instead toward a degree, working hard to fulfill the demands of your major. All seconds have become tributes to studying. There is no moment offered to relaxation. There is only the constant quest to succeed — and the stress that always seems to follow.

Students must dedicate themselves to knowledge. This is understood by all to be the purpose of a university. But refusing to offer yourself occasional hobbies will serve no intention beyond generating panic. Your mind cannot sustain the perpetual stream of facts and figures. The strain will be too much. It is essential therefore that you create ways to relax your thoughts and grant them a reprieve, however brief.

Choose a pastime. Discover what makes you content, rather than what will simply help your major. Ignore all classes and routines. Instead find a passion that is purely selfish: meant to offer nothing beyond a grin. Allow it to become part of your schedule, setting aside at least one hour a week to maintain it.

For many students this seems to be a waste, keeping them from their essential studies. But stress can creep into any mind if it becomes overwhelmed. Having a hobby will ensure that all excess energy is channeled productively and intentionally — rather than being ignored and causing anxiety.

Ensure your own success. Choose a passion to pursue and find satisfaction. An education will have little meaning if it can’t be enjoyed. Be certain therefore that you are happy once again.

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: , , ,