Monthly Archives: October 2018

Chapter 11 Stress – First Impression Post: Option 1

--Original published at Rachel Bickelman's PSY 105 Blog

Stress management is extremely important to everybody as stress can affect one’s health in major ways. I have found exercising, getting enough sleep, talking to friends, and taking breaks to be the best strategies to cope with stress.

Exercising is perhaps the most helpful and has been the most recommended way for me to deal with stress. I think it works really well because exercise helps to maintain your physical health but also allows you to take your mind off of stress and focus on something else. My dad always tells me to work out when I am feeling stressed, even Elle Woods from Legally Blonde knows how helpful exercise is. “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don’t kill their husbands. They just don’t!” Getting enough sleep is important it as we just learned it repairs both your brain and body! From microglia cleaning up dead cells, to allowing the brain to function properly and also get some rest.  I definitely feel the difference when I get good quality sleep versus bad quality sleep in regards to how stressed I feel.

Talking to friends about stress is also helpful because it allows me to verbalize how i am feeling. I also get advice and help from friends about how to deal with stress. Likewise, taking breaks from school work, or other stressors, also helps me to cope. I like to take breaks by spending time with friends and talking, exercising, watching a TV show, or even just going to dinner. This methods helps me but doesn’t always solve my stress since spending time with friends takes away from academics and studying.

Another way I could help relieve stress is by finding a more productive or efficient way to manage my study time. Most of my stress is derived from school so working on my study habits would probably allow me to feel less stress. I sometimes procrastinate, by not procrastinating I could reduce stress form academics. Another way I could reduce stress is through sensory methods. I have often heard online about aromatherapy/scents and certain foods which supposedly help with stress. Though we can’t light candles in the dorm, I guess I could buy an air freshener or scented toiletries like lotion or perfume.

Finally, I could reduce my stress by partaking in other activities and interests I have. I love to paint and draw as well as play violin. Doing hobbies that make me happy could help to reduce my stress as well and would be easy to incorporate into my day.

 

First Impression Post (Chapter 2)

--Original published at RachelsCollegeBlog

My current stress level is a little high as I have a lot of work I need to complete out of the classroom as well as study the material for all of my classes. My current stress management strategies are helping me however and allows me to not freak-out about my work load. Some of my strategies right now is making sure I am not procrastinating, keeping an agenda with due dates on hand at all times, and organizing my notes in a way that I am able to retain them to the best of my ability when it comes time to start studying for an exam my notes are organized and I know what I am reading. I am normally a big procrastinator, so I have started to complete my work about two days before it is due so that I am not getting behind and I am able to not have to stress because I didn’t get work done for a class that is due the next day. Getting work done early and not waiting to the last minute has been working really well for me as it is stopping the extra amount of stress that would be added to the assignment that should not have to be there. Keeping an agenda is also working really well for me, as I am able sit down and have everything that is going to be due in front of me, so I am able to prioritize things that need to get completed. This allows me to get my work done as well as complete it to the best of my ability and not just throw words onto papers because I am rushing.

I used to be play sports all through school. There was never a time that I wasn’t on a field or a court and that relieved a lot of my stress. It was a place that I was able to release built up stress and have fun. I could incorporate this into my routine by visiting the gym more, lacing up my cleats and going to kick a ball around may also help as well. I think that just by doing more physical activity I will be able to relieve more stress.

Coping with Stress in College

--Original published at Makayla Hockenbrock

I feel as if my life is filled with stress and that I really do not do much to help my stress level or calm it down. However, I still try and do some things that help me lower my stress level as much as I can. If I just took an exam and am stressed about my grade, instead of getting right into my homework, I try and take an hour for myself to destress and just get it out of my head. I typically will just go lay in bed and watch some tv or take a slight nap. Other things I might do is hang out with some friends in blue bean or somewhere else and just talk to them. Either way I do not do any work directly after a stressful exam. I would say, for me, they are helpful and work rather well, however it does not always get rid of my stress, I just put it in the back of my mind for that moment in time.  Lying in bed and watching tv, talking with friends, or taking a nap tends to be my general go to when trying to deal with stress. I feel there is probably a better way to do so, or at least more ways instead of those three.

There are other activities, however, that I could incorporate into my destressing routine. One of which would be meditation. I could take 10 to 30 minutes of out my day, or right after an exam and just meditate and focus on controlling my breathing to help calm my stress. Another could be go to the gym. When I was in high school, exercising was part of my daily routine. If I would get back into that routine, that may also relieve some of my stress by focusing on my health and getting back in shape. Running used to be my “me time”, so I do not think getting back into that habit would harm my stress, if anything I think it would help it.

Chapter 11 First Impression Prompts – Stress

Hand writing on a notebook

Here are the two prompts for this week. Regardless of which prompt you choose, please use the tag “Stress.”

Option 1:

Stress permeates American society, and college is a very stressful environment for everyone involved. Stress management is a critical component of academic success in college. Describe your current stress management strategies, assess how well they work, and discuss what other stress management activities you could realistically incorporate into your routine to help you deal with stress more effectively.

Option 2:

Stress is something all too common in college students’ lives, but what if you could change your relationship with stress? Kelly McGonigal discusses doing just that in her TED talk “Making Stress Your Friend.” Watch the video, share your reactions, comment on the speaker’s credibility, discuss how reasonable you find its message to be, and discuss how you could implement some of the ideas into your life.

I look forward to seeing what you write!

Header image: CC by Flickr user Caitlinator

Spotlight Post 1- Learning

--Original published at RachelsCollegeBlog

When I was growing up, I remember multiple times when I was given a survey and at the end the results would tell me the best way for me to retain information. I was labeled with two, visual and kinesthetic, so I was given different ways to study using which way I learned best. My teachers would also try and incorporate some of the styles into class, with reading out loud, showing pictures, or make us get up and move around while learning. However, there are many different studies on learning techniques and whether or not they help with success.

The Center for Teaching and Learning at Yale gives evidence that learning styles are a myth as it calls learning styles a neuromyth. Students have not reported learning better when using study methods given in their learning style category. The website also given some recommendations to replace learning styles with strategies and resources that will help them to better learn and understand concepts. This resource is credible as it is written by a well named university as well as includes many resources to better their argument.

Another source I found also refutes that idea that learning styles help those to better retain information. SAGE journals, has an article published that gives evidence that learning styles are not beneficial to students. There is “no adequate evidence” to express that learning styles needs to be integrated into educational systems and classrooms. This article is credible as it gives examples of true experiments that include random assignment to groups as well as multiple scholarly articles.

However, there is some data that supports the use of learning styles when it comes to retaining information and studying. There was a study conducted by the Productivity Environmental Preference Survey, that produced results expressing that those who studied using strategies from their learning style after being exposed to the information, did significantly better than those who barely or did not at all use the strategies of their learning style. This study is credible as they included a 2-control group and two sets of treatment groups, two treatment groups for each control group. The article was published on a credible site, American Psychological Association.

Another study that shows that learning styles are good to pay attention and should be included in a student’s life. This is another journal that was published on the American Psychological Association website. They assigned 104 nursing students to an experimental group. This group was given homework that was based on their learning style, while the other group of was just given the normal homework. These groups were equal when it came to SAT scores. They were given three periodic test and by the end of the year it showed that the experimental group who received treatment had higher grade and GPAs, and “lower anxiety and anger scores”. This expressing that those who utilize their learning styles will have less stress and better retain information allowing them to do better in classes. This study included control groups and

Based on my findings I would concluded that learning styles should not be payed attention to. There is not a lot of evidence that supports that learning styles are important and should be incorporated into students learning. I had a difficult time finding evidence that supports learning styles but found an abundant amount of evidence suggesting that learning styles do not make a big difference in the retaining of information for most students, as most of the time test scores didn’t not change when a certain learning style was incorporated into their education.

 

 

References

Learning Styles as a Myth | Center for Teaching and Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://ctl.yale.edu/LearningStylesMyth

Pashler, H., Mcdaniel, M., Rohrer, D., & Bjork, R. (2008). Learning Styles. Psychological Science in the Public Interest,9(3), 105-119. doi:10.1111/j.1539-6053.2009.01038.x

Nelson, B., Dunn, R., Griggs, S. A., Primavera, L., et al. (1993). Effects of learning style intervention on college students retention and achievement. Journal of College Student Development, 34(5), 364-369.

Lenehan, M. C., Dunn, R., Ingham, J., Signer, B., et al. (1994). Effects of learning-style intervention on college students’ achievement, anxiety, anger, and curiosity. Journal of College Student Development, 35(6), 461-466.

Sleep-Option 2

--Original published at Bailey PSY 105 Blog

My sleep habits are generally not very healthy. On weeknights, I usually go to bed between 1 am and 2 am every day, and on weekends I am rarely in bed before 4 am. I was very lucky with my class schedule, and do not have to wake up until either 9 am or 11:15 am unless there is a conflict with sports. Playing a sport, my free time as well as my time to do homework is very limited and because of this it can be hard to go to sleep before midnight. My roommate is in the same situation, and though she often goes to bed an hour or two before me, she hasn’t been able to be in bed before midnight since we started college. I don’t think that these sleep habits are healthy, because I am constantly tired throughout my day. I think that a realistic amount of sleep for a college student is between 8 and 9 hours of sleep per night. In order to improve my sleep habits, I could turn my TV or Netflix off and put my phone away earlier in order to try and relax more quickly. I could also set myself up with a routine before I go to bed (something like reading a chapter of a book or journaling about my day) so that my brain and body knows when it is time to relax and start shutting down.

Chapter 3 First Impression Sleep

--Original published at David's Blog

For this weeks first impression post I decide to go with the second prompt about college students sleep habits. It’s well know that college kids have terrible sleep habits, they have bad habits for multiple reasons. Some of the main factors could be late night studying or cramming in work thats due the next day for there classes. Other reasons unrelated to classes could be attempts to socialize or do other personal activities for fun. It can some times be stressful for college kids when there in college so its nice to do somethings that make you happy, but sometimes this comes at the price of lack of sleep.

I believe college students should try and get at least eight hours of sleep. When thinking of my own sleep habits I’d say I don’t have the best or the worst sleep habits. after college I g to my job that last until 9:30 at night so by the time I finally get home its almost ten at night. This leaves me little time for school work but I still get it done regardless. I also find myself staying up to play games and talk to friends to relive the stress of college and work. But doing this cuts into my sleep schedule which can be problematic.

There are different ways which I could improve my sleep schedule. One way is to do better planing of my days, like do class work as soon as possible and not wait last minute for it to pile up. Another big factor that would help would be to lessen my video game use at night. If I can work on these my sleep should improve greatly.

Chapter 3 Impression Post Option 2

--Original published at Zachs College Blog

Many college students have the battle or struggle of getting a good nights sleep every night due to having immense amounts of work, endless hours of studying for exams, and trying to fit in hanging with friends, etc on a daily basis. My sleep habits are changing each and every day. One night, I will go to sleep at a reasonable time getting 7-8 hours of sleep. Other nights I struggle to go to sleep and will only get about 5-6 hours of sleep which is not good. This all depends on my schedule for the day, depending on if I have lacrosse practice/lifting, large amounts of work etc. Many factors play into the deciding factor on how late or early I will be going to sleep. I believe that my sleep schedule is not as healthy as it possibly could be, and the way to change that is by getting my work done earlier in the day and working ahead so I don’t have to worry about doing work during the late night. Also, it is said to be healthy to get 8 hours of sleep per night, I need to adjust my schedule to make sure I get 8 hours or more of sleep per night. The average college student should be achieving 8 hours of sleep per night, as this has been scientifically proven to be the required amount of sleep considered “healthy”. Some ways I am going to improve my sleep habits is by limiting the amount of naps I take, and being careful of when I take them because that is most likely what is keeping me up so late as well. Also, I will try to start getting into a certain rhythm with my sleep meaning that I will try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time each day so my body adjusts to it. Overall, I think it will be fairly easy to improve my sleep schedule and change my bad habits into good ones.

Chapter 3 Sleep

--Original published at Rachelsblog

College students are often sleep deprived because they are up all night studying or at practice if they are an athlete. Balancing homework, athletics, social life, and sleep is difficult for college students. This often leads them to be sleep deprived and making their way through the days on a cup of coffee. I find my sleep schedule to be very messed up and not healthy. Ill be up until 1:00-2:00 every night doing work because throughout the day I have class and practice so I don’t find the time to do my work until 10:00 some nights. After going to bed at such an ungodly hour, I must wake up at 9:00 three days a week and twice a week, luckily I can sleep until 10:30 because of my class schedule. This is still not healthy though.

I think a smart goal for college students is to try to 9-10 hours of sleep every night because they must be fully functioning and wide awake for their hard day ahead of them. Although this is a smart goal, it is not a realistic goal. A realistic goal is about 7 1/2-8. This isn’t the healthiest goal, but it is the most realistic due to all the other stuff college students must balance. It is better than 3-4 hours of sleep a night. Sleep is good for the brain, and it is most important to study right before you fall asleep so your brain can process the information while you sleep. That is why I do my homework and studying before I go to sleep, although I should not be up as late because that is not necessarily good for the brain and memory.

Sleep is very important for our health and our brain. In order to be successful throughout our days we need sleep. Especially college students, because college is more stressful than anything to our bodies and our brain due to the amount of stuff we must balance.

Chapter 3 Sleep

--Original published at Rachelsblog

College students are often sleep deprived because they are up all night studying or at practice if they are an athlete. Balancing homework, athletics, social life, and sleep is difficult for college students. This often leads them to be sleep deprived and making their way through the days on a cup of coffee. I find my sleep schedule to be very messed up and not healthy. Ill be up until 1:00-2:00 every night doing work because throughout the day I have class and practice so I don’t find the time to do my work until 10:00 some nights. After going to bed at such an ungodly hour, I must wake up at 9:00 three days a week and twice a week, luckily I can sleep until 10:30 because of my class schedule. This is still not healthy though.

I think a smart goal for college students is to try to 9-10 hours of sleep every night because they must be fully functioning and wide awake for their hard day ahead of them. Although this is a smart goal, it is not a realistic goal. A realistic goal is about 7 1/2-8. This isn’t the healthiest goal, but it is the most realistic due to all the other stuff college students must balance. It is better than 3-4 hours of sleep a night. Sleep is good for the brain, and it is most important to study right before you fall asleep so your brain can process the information while you sleep. That is why I do my homework and studying before I go to sleep, although I should not be up as late because that is not necessarily good for the brain and memory.

Sleep is very important for our health and our brain. In order to be successful throughout our days we need sleep. Especially college students, because college is more stressful than anything to our bodies and our brain due to the amount of stuff we must balance.