--Original published at Bogo's Blog

“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.”

Currently, I am at that time of the year where my stress levels are almost at the peak. With finals about a month away and multiple papers due from most of my classes, this is the time of the year that most college students find themselves scrambling. To minimize stress when I’m doing a large load of homework, I take fifteen minute breaks every hour I work to refresh. During those fifteen minutes I watch things ranging from YouTube videos to comedy skits on Netflix. At the end of the day, when I’m done with my homework I spend time with my friends and relax. I find this to be the most efficient way of stress management since I find myself almost stress-free when I am with my close friends. Other effective ways I use to stress manage are running, playing soccer, and going to the gym.

another method that I think I should incorporate into my schedule is cooking. I used to cook a lot more in the beginning of the semester but as my work load increased I found myself eating at the jays nest a lot more often. Whenever I would cook I would feel no stress and it always felt good when the food came out good. If I can find more time in my schedule to cook I believe my stress would decrease .

--Original published at Phil's College Blog

Stress has been one of the hardest issues in society that everyone has to deal with at some point. Whether that is making sure the children are picked up from school on time, or if you have enough money to pay your bills for this month. However, for me my stress is completely focused on my daily life as a college student. I can say that my stress levels in general are coped with by different strategies.

First, I typically resort to an activity that I find exciting and fun. Which for me is to go grab my lacrosse stick and shoot lacrosse balls for about a hour. This makes me feel better when I go back to study for a exam or to write a paper because I feel accomplished. I can say to myself you accomplished something that made you better today.

Secondly, when I do not pick up my lacrosse stick I typically call my parents or close friends to help calm me down. They help to put everything into perspective and that everything will be okay as long as I put my best foot forward. This is huge for when I feel too overwhelmed to go grab my lacrosse stick because this stress reliever is accessible at anytime and anywhere from my phone. This always works for me because a calming voice makes me realize that what I have going on might seem like a lot but in reality I can handle all of my stress.

Finally, The activity I could work into my stress routine could honestly be a stress ball. I feel like this could have the same effect of playing lacrosse because I take out all my stressful energy on another object and after my energy is exhausted I feel better, or when I get home I could get a punching bag that could have the same effect but a lot faster.

--Original published at MaddieHinson

Stress for me comes and goes in waves. I am mostly good at looking at a problem and saying, “That’s a not right now issue” so I can prioritize what I stress over. Usually, being able to choose what I’m going to be worried about helps me get through every day life. The problem with this method is usually, all of the small things I push off until later choose to pop up into my head at once. That time is usually when I’m sleep deprived and have a few other big things going on, and then they pile up and I get overwhelmed by it. I would say that for this method to be effective is that I can put off stressing about something for a day, but anymore than that and it’s going to be ineffective to me.

Another tactic that I use to give me some stress relief is to just say out loud what I’m stressing about. A lot of times if I tell someone a problem in my life, I’m not looking for them to give me a solution, it’s more of a venting situation. For some reason, being able to recognize out loud what the issue is makes it more visible to me and I don’t have to constantly be thinking about it in my head. This method works well for me when I actually use it. A lot of times I try to keep my problems to myself so I don’t bother my friends with it.

The latest stress reliever I’ve found is running. This one was surprising to me, because generally, I’m too tired or busy to fit running into my schedule, but I’ve been doing it three or four times a week for the last three weeks, and it’s been going very well. I don’t usually think through anything while I run, it just makes me feel more accomplished after I do, plus I’ve found it to be fun especially if you have the right music to go with it.

A stress management activity that I could incorporate into my life is meditation. For most of the day, I am either surrounded by people, or electronics, and it would probably be beneficial to me if I spent a few minutes each day just breathing and listening to calming music, maybe before bed.

--Original published at Ben's PSY105 Blog

Since starting college, I have found myself way more stressed than ever before. In high school, I never worried about classes, tests, or grades. Everything was easy enough for me to just skate my way through. I knew college was going to be a change, but I wasn’t ready for it to be as overwhelming as it is. I find myself sleeping less and worrying way more. I tend to stress myself out over small details more often now than I ever did before. On top of all the new stress I have from college, I lost my most effective stress relieving method. Whenever I was stressed in high school, I would just go play soccer and all my worries would go away. Now, with my daily headaches, soccer is no longer an option for me. On top of the headaches taking away my stress relief, they also stress me out more on their own.

At this point, I don’t really have any stress relief techniques. I just try to go with the flow as much as I can. One of my top 5 strengths is adaptability, so I tend to get by with it. I should probably find a technique that works better, like yoga or meditation. I often get overwhelmed with stress and then just shut down completely, so I no longer have to worry about my problems if they don’t exist. It’s probably not healthy for me, nor is it good for my productivity, but it’s my natural response.

--Original published at Grace's College Blog

In Kelly McGonigal’s TED talk, “How to make stress your friend,” she discusses changing our relationship with stress and how we can interpret the physical reactions our bodies have to stress. I believe Kelly to be very credible. She is a health psychologist and after reading a study that conflicted with her beliefs, instead of dismissing it she continued to do more research and adapted her methods of helping people cope with stress.

I thoroughly enjoyed this TED talk and will definitely apply her methods to my life and how I deal with stress. I feel her method of managing stress in new ways is very reasonable and easily applicable to everyone. She discussed how people who described their stress as helpful in situations were much more confident because their body was preparing them instead of making them unsure and nervous. She also talked about how people who were involved in the betterment of people close to them, had a better time handling stress. Also just being around people you care about, can help with stress. I think this can be applied to my life when I am preparing for a test or a presentation, I can prepare with other people. If I am alone in my room going over a presentation or studying, I will be significantly more stressed than if I were to do my presentation in from of someone that I know. Having that relief of knowing that person will make it less stressful and make it easier when you have to present for real. I do not think I currently have the best strategies for dealing with stress, but when I am struggling to work on homework, I ask someone else to work on homework with me, so I am more motivated and help responsible because I asked someone else to work with me.

--Original published at Kaity Takes on Psychology

Kelly McGonigal talks about stress in a way most people do not. She considers stress as a motivator for resilience and courage. I have always envisioned stress as a wave of thoughts clouding my ability to function, which is likely why I often feel it. Finding a way to change my outlook on stress in my life is not easy, but I definitely liked what the TED talk speaker had to say.

I often relieve my own stress by talking to people, much like the psychologist said. As someone who has always been an extrovert (I’ve always had someone around to talk to growing up) I feel spending time with my friends has reduced my stress plenty, especially while at college. The studies McGonigal talks about were very fascinating, because I have felt most depressed and stressed while away from people, but spending time with friends when I am feeling overwhelmed benefits everyone.

College students tend to isolate themselves in the library for several hours a week, then go back to their rooms and nap until dinner. Waking up, going to class, studying, doing work online, attending extracurricular activities, and maintaining a social life seems like a lot for someone aged 18-21. Believing stress is bad for you while being immersed in stressful situations is pretty difficult for young adults, but it is inevitable. Being better at dealing with stress is the goal, and hopefully me and whoever else watched the TED talk can benefit from the message Kelly McGonigal was promoting.

I think the most important thing I learned from this video was the function oxytocin has with stress. I forget to take care of my mental health frequently, and my family is very prone to stress induced medical issues. I am excited to share what I learned with my mom in hopes she’ll gain more knowledge on cardiovascular health related to psychology.

--Original published at Maddy Vingom's PSY105 Blog

As most college students I experience stress quite often, although I do believe that I am able to manage it well. I typically use stress as a motivator to get work done, rather than waiting until the last minute I try to complete assignments on the day they are given to me. With tasks that will take more time, like studying for exams or writing papers, I like to do a little bit at a time, so I am not overwhelmed. This way I know that I won’t not need to rush last minute to get my work done and it helps me to keep my stress levels low. Another thing I tend to do when I am stressed out is clean. It helps me to focus my energy on something besides the stressor for a little while, I also feel as though I am able to focus better when my room is clean and organized. 

When I begin to feel overwhelmed with something I go for a walk around campus. The walks give me the opportunity to organize my thoughts and spend time outside, which I love. Then I am able to return to my work with a new perspective. Sometimes I will even go for a short drive with the windows down and the music up, to clear my head. 

These strategies have been very effective for me to manage my stress; however, the stress cleaning can take up quite a bit of time. To improve upon this, I will try to keep my room as clean as possible to not get distracted by the mess during stressful times. 

--Original published at WilliamsCollegeBlog

Stress comes at you in a whole new way once you enter college. Everyone is on the own for the first time their whole lives and do not have their parents in the other room to help console when a problem occurs. Most of my stress comes from getting ready for a big exam or when my professors decide to make everything due on the same day. One method that I use for relieving stress is through being on a sports team. Being on the cross country and track team here at E-town gives me great outlets for stress relief. Whether it be from just running and letting everything go blank in my mind, or just being around my teammates who are going through the same experiences. The exercising part is a big part of this because for the next few hours I am not worrying about what I wrote down in my notes for that section or a certain definition that still makes no sense in my head. Being around my teammates is also great because there never seems to be a dull moment with them. My other big source of dealing with stress is making sure I am always on top of my assignments. I have a big pet peeve with waiting until the last minute to get stuff done, so if I know I have multiple things due, I will figure out how to separate my time between everything. One activity that I would like to incorporate into my daily life is to do more reading when it gets later at night. I know a lot of people that like to wind down the day by reading a few pages of a book before going to bed. By doing this, my mind can start to relax and get ready to rest.

--Original published at Zach Nawrocki's Blog

College is a package deal, you get a good education, but stress also comes with that. It is normal for a college student to have at least a little stress or anxiety (if you don’t are you really going to college?). For me a lot of my stress about school work/tests comes right after spring break when all my classes are rushing to cram in all the material before finals, and this takes a major toll. Freshman year the one main thing I learned is that procrastinating in college is not an option. Procrastination causes my work to build up and subsequently causes my stress/anxiety to go through the roof, however I do have several ways I manage my stress. One way I manage my stress is my exercising, when I am working out I forget about everything else that is happening and my mind is clear. Another activity I do is when it is nice out I like to go for a little walk to calm myself down and get myself back into the right mindset and focus on what I am doing, this really helps me when I am studying for important tests. Lastly, I like to get most of my work done about two days before it is actually due, this helps prevent my work from piling up and it also makes it look like I really do not have that much homework to do. All three of these strategies really work and help me manage my stress. One stress management activity I would like to incorporate into my routine would be to meditate at night before I go to bed. I know several of my friends do this and they all say that it really helps calm them down and relieve some of the stress that has been building up.