Turn on, tune in and drop out of the stress

Exams, assignments and projects can seem to creep up and surprise students, making them increasingly stressed. This stress can add to anxiety and depression-related symptoms which can affect the strongest of us.

What can you do when you're stressed out, on your last whim, and cursing your professors name while pulling an all-nighter? You can exercise, talk to your friends, listen to some relaxing music or meditate, said Les McCurdy-Myers, Student Development Centre (SDC) Manager at Brock University. Although procrastination can  lead to increasingly stressful situations, you need to give yourself a break every now and again. Otherwise, the added stress from not taking a quick break can lead to a more unproductive you.

Everyone has at one point in their life been affected by stress, and many will see the effects it has on themselves and others they know. What is crucially important is to recognize it as a normal part of our busy lives as students and know how to handle it.

In fact, the number one reason why students come to the SDC is due to anxiety and stress issues, the second being depression.

A study, entitled Anxiety, Depression and stressful life events among medical students, had first year students at Akdeniz University, Turkey across three programs take tests measuring overall mental health, depression and anxiety. The researchers, Aktekin et al. found that there was a significant increase in scores for mental issues in the student's second year compared to their first. This was one of many studies which can reaffirm the all too-well-known point that University is no walk-in-the-park.

"Not all stress is bad, even coaches get their team riled up before a big game to perform better. There is, however, an optimal level of [stress], but if you go too far past that optimal point, performance drops off quickly," said McCurdy-Myers. The goal is to manage it and keep it in the optimal zone.

University students often come to get a degree with the hope of finding a better job, i.e. higher pay or an easier/more-enjoyable job, versus what they would have available to them with only a high school diploma or other certification. It stands to reason that a University has an interest in making sure only competent students graduate with a degree, and make the students with it respected as hard-workers themselves.

Students, however, sometimes have too much going on, with schoolwork, jobs, social life and other stressors. This is where relaxation techniques can offer relief. McCurdy-Myers recommends relaxing music, meditation, going for a walk, yoga or even daydreaming, which yes, can be helpful.  

A study published in the American Journal of Hypertension, by researchers Nidich et al. had approximately 300 University students tested for blood pressure levels and psychological well-being before and after performing meditation. Of the half that did meditate, researches found them to have decreased rates of hypertension, increased ability to cope with issues and overall fewer psychological ailments versus the control group which did not use meditation.

"Exercise has been shown to have calming effects on anxious people," said McCurdy Myers. He recommends physical exercise, like walking for at least 20 minutes, and with friends if you so desire.

If you are finding the stress to be too much the Brock SDC provides free counselling service, by appointment, to students. If you have a documented disability, which includes mental illnesses, you can talk to Student Disabilities to see what they can offer. You may get extra time or a quieter room in which to write your exam.

Should exam anxiety be your crux, and you find yourself ‘blanking out' when you sit down to write, try first reading through the entire exam, and underline important information said McCurdy-Myers.

"Negative self-talk can cause you to become overly [stressed]. You don't have to be perfect, and trying to be won't help," said McCurdy-Myers. "Just because other people around you seem calm and collected, they may be just as nervous on the inside as you are."

Aside from the daily work students are told to complete, technology can add increased demands for your attention. Technology has a lot of benefits, from keeping us connected to finding information for an assignment much easier. You simply need to Google a subject, download a study, or share notes with classmates without even meeting one another in order to take advantage of its perks.

With the increased communication and accessibility technology provides comes the distraction and added stress of always being connected or expected to reply to another E-mail, text message or BBM when you need to be studying, sleeping or relaxing. You may feel the need to constantly check, read and reply to any, and all, incoming messages. This can cause unnecessary stress, especially considering there are plenty of other distractions vying for your attention.

Simply turning off your phone, in essence telling the world to leave you to yourself for a while, and figuring out how to relax in the short term can help your efficiency later on.

When we, as students, decide to make the commitment to higher education, we forgo some of the comforts associated with the easier road. Sure we have times where we party, possibly drink to excess, and let our less desirable traits show, but these are the expressions of the people inside the stressed out, over-worked outer shell.