--Original published at Tyler's Ideas

Website number one was aimed at how teens could attempt to relieve stress. Most of the ways this article states you can relieve stress can help but there is one suggestion that seems out of the teens countol. This suggestion is allow plenty of time. Some teens schedules are out of their control and therefore this is not an option for them. Other suggestions such as exercising and asking for help are great suggestions. If the teen were to use exercising as a coping strategy, the exercise must be regular and aerobic. Too much will cause harm, while not enough wont help with relief. Asking for help is another great strategy. This strategy is a form of self disclosure but depends on who you disclose to because if information is put into the wrong hands, it may cause harm. Overall, this site focused on stress relief for teens is a good source.

http://www.pamf.org/teen/life/stress/7stresstips.html

Website number two was aimed at how the general public could attempt to relieve stress. The strategies mentioned in this article can be taken as good coping strategies but are not directly good. The suggestion of meditation is a great strategie to use to relieve stress. This can be used to create mindfulness-based stress reduction. This strategy is typically used by Buddhist and focuses on observing oneself. The suggestion to tune into your body could also be considered a mindfulness-based stress reduction also. Getting in touch with oneself is a great coping strategy for stress.  Another great strategy that was also mentioned in Website number one was reach out and talk to someone. To repeat myself, reaching out to someone is a form of self disclosure and is a great coping strategy. This strategie can also be considered an emotion-focused coping method that typically focuses on feelings resulting directly from the stressor itself. Other strategies presented within this article may not work as well. The idea to simply be grateful may not accomplish much. While it is a good idea to be grateful for what you have, it does not take away from the stress you may be experiencing. Overall, this website has some good ideas about how to cope with stress but some may not help at all.

https://www.webmd.com/balance/guide/blissing-out-10-relaxation-techniques-reduce-stress-spot#1

The third and final website I visited to assess coping strategies was one aimed at athletes specifically. This website used the acronym P.E.R.F.E.C.T.. Some good suggestions within this site was talk it out. Overall, this can be a great strategy for many people. Another suggestion that was mentioned was reverse engineer. This strategy suggests to recall a time when you performed at your best and you were confident and felt good about how you were playing. While doing this, the author suggests to try to remember what played into you doing so well. Was it your lucky shirt or a certain phrase? This may tap into the idea that if you smile you will start to feel better. Although it may not be fool proof, it may help somewhat. Overall, because these suggestions are athlete based, they will not apply to everyone but most of these could be pretty useful.

https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/blog/perfect-method-reduces-athlete-stress

--Original published at Manami PSY105blog

Student

According to the article, “Top 10 School Stress Relievers for Students”, by Elizabeth Scott, suggests 10 effective methods to reduce stress of students and succeed in school. Students are feeling overwhelmed and depressed because of schoolwork and activities in school. The pressure that caused by the expectation of academic achievement which influences students’ future. First advice to reduce stress is taking a nap. Students tend to be a lack of sleep before the due date of assignments and exams. They also become less productive and unable to focus on studying well without enough sleep. Therefore, the author recommends taking a nap to busy students. This strategy is considered as adaptive strategies which reduce stress simply. This is also an effective strategy as problem-focused on coping which people attempt to reduce the cause of stress directly. Because if students took a nap, they would be able to be more productive to study and would not be sleepy. However, it depends on individuals because some students may feel more stress and tiredness if they used an important time to take a nap instead of studying. It may be more beneficial for some students to sleep early and have good sleep every night than taking a nap in terms of health. In addition, getting exercise regularly also helps students’ busy school life. Exercise is not only good for the health but also good to low the blood pressure reactions to stress. However, some people feel stress to do exercise even though it is a beneficial idea. This is the one of stress cause called approach-avoidance conflict. Therefore, doing exercise not always work well to release stress.

Parents

Parents face stressful situations by working, doing a household and raising a child. Especially, it is difficult to raise a child without managing their stress. There are four stress coping strategies in the article, “4 Tips for Managing Parenting Stress”, by Erlanger A. Turner. Specifically, asking help to professional and having social support are effective ways to reduce stress. Firstly, the author says psychologists help them not only to find the best way to deal with life’s difficulties but also to give advice on parenting from a professional perspective. Self-disclosure that parents reveal their stressful problems to the others is helpful. In this case, parents do not need to think about who they should disclose because psychologists are trustful not to make troubles. Secondly, having social support such as friends and family bonds is important. If parents feel overwhelmed, they would be able to rely on their friends or family to take care of children. They also can make own time to do what they want to do for fun.

Teacher

A teacher is one of the stressful jobs. According to the article, 9 Stress Management Strategies Every Teacher Needs to Know”, Chris Mumford insists unique stress coping strategies such as breath deeply, thinking of stress positively and forcing yourself to be grateful. It is a part of mindfulness meditation which is a practice to provide people with relaxation to breathe deeply. It works when teachers feel emotional stress in the class. Next, people think stress is negative. However, it would give a positive impact on their body such as increasing the heart rate from the article. It is also said that stress can be reduced if people do not view stress as harmful. In my opinion, it depends on individuals whether people can think the stress helps to achieve the challenges they are facing, although there is research to support the idea. The other strategy which forces themselves to be grateful is emotion-focused coping strategies. This is focusing on the control of feelings. If people can think that grateful everything including the cause of stress, it would be easy to move on and make their life better. I think it is a similar idea to the internal locus of control which the perception that people can control their fate.

There are several options to cope with stress. If people could find a suitable one, they would succeed to live in stressful situations.

Citations:

Scott, E. (2018, June 11). Top 10 School Stress Relievers for Students. Retrieved fromhttps://www.verywellmind.com/top-school-stress-relievers-for-students-3145179

Turner, A. E. (2013, Jun 24). 4 Tips for Managing Parenting Stress. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-race-good-health/201306/4-tips-managing-parenting-stress

Mumford, C. (n.d.). 9 Stress Management Strategies Every Teacher Needs to Know. Retrieved from https://www.wgu.edu/heyteach/article/9-stress-management-strategies-every-teacher-needs-know

#Spotlight #Stress

--Original published at Cecilia's Thoughts

Stress is such a difficult thing that almost everyone in society experiences it, more frequently then we probably should. Though there are many developments on how to deal with this stress. Each group, age, and type of people experience different kinds of stress. Three groups of people that I chose to research on ways to manage their stress are college students, athletes, and parents. I chose athletes and college students because I am a part of both of these groups so researching ways to manage the stress they experience will be helpful for my own life. And parenting is close to me because I am very close to my mom and I know that I cause her a lot of stress on top of other stressors in her life.

The first article I read was 10 ways that a college student can reduce their stress, it was written in 2010 so some of these strategies may be outdated or no longer as effective. I think that a few of these strategies are useful, they discuss get an adequate amount of sleeping, eating well, and exercising (Scott, 2010). Exercise is linked with both physiological and psychological benefits consistently. It also discusses seeking emotional support, which is very important because it brings someone resources and hope that things will get easier/better. Though there are some coping mechanisms that I think would be considered self-indulgence, such as getting a massage, yes this is relaxing but when the massage is over you will still have just as much on your plate. Overall, reading this article will bring you some success in reducing your stress.

The second article was focused on how athletes can manage their stress. This article only discusses five stress management tips: get adequate rest, engage in fun activities, manage your time, check your attitude, and get support (Barron, 2017). From an athlete’s point of view I think that all of these coping mechanisms would be useful. Getting support is something called self-disclosure, which allows you to talk to someone about what is stressing you out, which in some cases lifts a burden off of your shoulders. The only one that I would critique is checking your attitude, it is important to have  apositive attitude, but in some cases it is very hard to uphold this attitude all the time. Though I do believe with using other constructive strategies for coping with their stress, the positive attitude will be easier to uphold. After reading this article I think it would be very successful in helping athletes find ways to reduce some of their stress.

The last article I read was four tips that help manage parenting stress. Similarly to the previous articles it discusses using a support system, friends and family. In this article, it discusses for the first time in my research, seeking help from a professional when things become too much for you to handle. I think this is important to put in writing because in many cases people do not want to see a professional because of pride, but I think reading this article it will help people to make the decision to seek help for themselves. Turner also discusses making time for yourself, which I see as very important because parents are so caught up in their child’s life and in their significant other’s life. So it is important for a parent to take a step back and have a night or a few days for themself, which in my opinion would reduce a lot of stress. “It is okay to take a break for yourself. It’s actually healthy and more beneficial for you and your child to have some time apart” (Turner, 2013). This article would be very successful in helping reduce a parent’s stress because it points out that it is okay to take steps to help yourself, which I think many parents forget this once they become a mother or father.

Ultimately I think that these article did a fairly good job in providing ways to reduce stress levels in different groups while following the correct psychological ways to cope and reduce stress.

Stress Management for College Students:

Scott, J. (2010). College Life: 10 Ways to Reduce Stress. Everyday Health. Retrieved from https://www.everydayhealth.com/college-health/college-life-10-ways-to-reduce-stress.aspx

Stress Management for Athletes:

Barron, C. (2017). The Stress Management Tips For Athletes. NOVA labs. Retrieved from https://nova3labs.com/five-stress-management-tips-athletes/

Stress Management for Parents:

Turner, E. (2013). 4 Tips for Managing Parenting Stress. Psychology Today. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-race-good-health/201306/4-tips-managing-parenting-stress

--Original published at HuntersCollegeBlog

Stress is something that people deal with in their everyday lives. Whether it’d be college kids, adults, or athletes, everyone experiences stress in some way. For this post, I will be comparing how three different websites believe college students, musicians, and children should manage stress. Once I gather this information, I will relate it back to what I’ve learned in psych class to see how reliable it is.

The first website explains how college students should deal with stress. It talks about the different effects stress has on college students physically, and ways to help deal with stress. They suggest that eating healthy and exercising can help fight and reduce stress. According to Purdue University Global,  eating a healthier diet can give you the nutrition you need in order to fight off the stress. It suggests avoiding foods with high sugar and high levels of caffeine. It also suggests that exercising can help improve sleep which should reduce stress. Having an outlet and having a support system are also two ways that Purdue University Global suggests managing stress. They emphasize the importance on being able to take a break and doing things you like, and having friends and family there to support you. Having an everyday plan in place is also encouraged on Purdue University Global. More calming things such as meditation and aromatherapy are also mentioned. Meditation is said to have stress lowering abilities, and aromatherapy uses essential oils like lavender and lemon to lower stress. Being able to express your emotions and process them is also a way to help manage stress. I feel that these strategies are beneficial, because in class we talked about how regular exercise helps with coping with stress, as well as social support, and self indulgence, like doing things you enjoy in order to cope with stress.  We also talked about releasing your emotions (catharsis) and how important that is in relieving emotional stress.

The next website explains how musicians can deal with stress. Being a musician myself, I was very excited to read this one. It talks about how musicians who typically travel often experience tours, performance anxiety, and separation from loved ones. Constant changes in environments can also disturb the bodies stress response. Dr. Stephen Sideroff, a clinical director and assistant clinical professor of the psychiatry department of UCLA worked with musicians on dealing with stress. He suggests that breathing techniques and mediation can help with keeping yourself relaxed. He also suggests exercising as a way to relieve stress in order to let out the tension in your body. Sideroff also said that self-appreciation and self confidence is a great way to ease stress and anxiety when it comes to performing. Taking breaks and taking time for friends and family is also a good way to take away stress and just relax, especially since working gigs as a musician all the time can really take a toll on you. I believe as a musician, these coping strategies are essential. We learned in class how important exercise is, and how important it was to have a support system to contribute to resources and hope. Being a musician isn’t easy, so it’s extremely important to have a support system. In class we also talked about the importance of adapting in a way that creates less stress for you without making it complicated, defined as adaptive strategies, and these ways are definitely easy and applicable.

The last website talked about how children can manage stress. While some people may think adults deal with stress more frequently, children deal with it too, especially if those stressors have a bigger impact on their life (i.e. divorce). Lynn Lyons suggests that “the key in helping kids manage stress is teaching them to problem-solve, plan and know when to say yes and no to activities and commitments” (Tartakovsky). This is super important, because kids encounter problems all the time. She suggests that making time for certain things like play and sleep is essential. It’s also important that kids aren’t over scheduled, that way they have time for downtime and sleep. Teaching kids to listen to their bodies is also important. It teaches them that sometimes your body just needs a break. While we didn’t really talk about these specific coping mechanisms in class, I feel that they are important. Adaptive strategies such as avoiding overloading is important, because it’s able to decrease the problem of overworking kids without making things more complicated. I feel that this adaptive strategies also applies to getting more sleep, because it’s helping to decrease stress by letting the body relax and rejuvenate. Playing can fall under the category of self indulgence, because it allows the child to escape from stressful situations for a little bit. Based on our notes that we took in class, I feel that all three of these websites provide accurate and useful ways to cope with stress.

1. Purdue University Global (2018). The College Student’s Study Guide to Stress Management. Purdue University Global. Retrieved on November 4, 2018 from https://www.purdueglobal.edu/news-resources/college-students-guide-to-stress-management-infographic/
2. International Musician (23 September 2015). Don’t Sweat It: Your Guide to Managing Stress. International Musician. Retrieved on November 4, 2018 from https://internationalmusician.org/dont-sweat-it-your-guide-to-managing-stress/
3. Tartakovsky, M. (2016). 7 Tips For Helping Your Child Manage Stress. Psych Central. Retrieved on November 4, 2018 from https://psychcentral.com/lib/7-tips-for-helping-your-child-manage-stress/

--Original published at Garrettscollegeblog

As we have learned in class, many different ways exist to cope with and handle stress. Stress is so individualized that many times it proves extremely difficult to classify one coping method as the perfect one, however, certain groups experience the same kinds of stressors which allows people to identify coping methods best related to those stressors. For example, student athletes all at a certain point encounter a time where both an important game and tons of homework engulf their mind. This post will evaluate the success of such coping strategies for student athletes, new parents, and teachers.

Just like normal students who participate in extracurricular activities, student athletes deal with many stressors all at once. The idea that someone could have a twelve page paper due the same night that their team plays one of the top ranked teams in the country stresses me out just thinking about it. Recruitingrealities.com lays out five important coping strategies for student athletes: Get plenty of rest, time management, maintain a positive attitude, plan recreational activities that de-stress you, and cultivate a support system. All of these strategies present emotion-focused coping because they are aimed at aiding the person on the feelings resulting from the stressor, without interacting with the stressor itself. These strategies seem like the most logical way to cope with student athlete related stress because using problem focused coping would result in quitting the sport or dropping out of school. The emotion-focused coping allows the person to manage stress while still enjoying the sport they love and school.

New parents experience so much stress after their child is born. Not only will hey lose a lot of sleep, they will lose a lot of free time they previously possessed. Webmd.com offers twenty-five tips that can aid in the stress created by a new baby. I will not list all twenty-five, rather I will pick out the one that sticks out the most: Postpone energy draining projects. Unlike the strategies above, this list exposes many problem-focused coping. In this coping form the stressor is directly changed or interacted with instead of the emotions resulting from the stressor. When postponing these energy draining projects it clears the schedule up, preventing stress from lack of time to arise. Although a night out with friends might work great, dealing with the stressors themselves I this situation proves much more effective for coping with stress.

From grading hundreds of tests or essays to dealing with rowdy and disrespectful students, teaching stands as a very stressful job. Again, a pretty extensive list of thirteen different strategies is provided by educationsupportpartnership.org. The one that stuck out the most to me was “Don’t bottle up anger and frustrations.” It then goes on to explain this strategy as talking out the stress with the person causing it, something we learned in class as self-disclosure. When this is not possible, the article mentions physical activity to relieve stress rather than allowing it to build up. Once more we see an emotionally-focused strategy overpower a problem-focused strategy because interacting with the stressor itself as a teacher would in many cases take away from being a teacher, as stress is natural for the occupation.

https://www.recruitingrealities.com/blog/5-stress-management-tips-for-student-athletes

https://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/features/25-ways-to-handle-the-stress-of-a-new-baby#1

https://www.educationsupportpartnership.org.uk/blogs/claire-renn/how-handle-stress-teachers

--Original published at David's Blog

For this weeks spotlight post, I decided to do option number two, which was the prompt all about stress. Our task is to find three different websites that address ways in which to deal with stress. The three that we will go over have to be for different audiences such as college kids or older adults. We must go over each of the websites different strategies and judge how effective or successful each of the tips given would be.

The first website gave me tips for dealing with stress in high school. This is very important for young kids to know how to deal with stress. They have plenty of stressors in their high school carrier. Things like exams, quizzes, and social peer pressures. “academic pressure can get the best of you if you don’t learn how to deal with it properly” (Huffpost). The main topic that I gathered from this online site was that high school kids need to be better organized in their work. They need to do things like take more time during exam periods and take assignments one step at a time. Another thing the site suggests is that high school kids take more time for themselves. I believe these are all good tips for high school kids and have a good chance of being very effective. A lot of them deal with not over working and the main purpose of that is the ability to get good sleep. It’s know to be a common problem among those who go to school. they put things of till last minute and stay up all night doing homework, and lack of sleep can do a number on your stress levels. So I think by getting more sleep, it would be very effective for high schoolers and reduce their stress.

The next website that I looked at gave tips for college age students. College and high school kids have very similar stress related problems, which are being over worked and social pressures.  Only this time, the college kids normally have their stress amplified by more work. Just like the high schoolers, college kids need to make sure they don’t over load on their work. The website also lists that they should eat well, get exercise and receive emotional support. I like the ideas of eating well and having emotional support, but the exercise is the one I have a problem with.  We learned in class that doing exercise can help with stress only if the person actually enjoys doing it. This means that running would be ineffective if that person hated exercise. For example if I exercise or go for a run it’s more stressful since I get tired and run out of breath quick. I do like all the other tips it gives, because they are very useful when dealing with stress.

The last website I looked at dealt with stress in the work place. It’s important to stay relaxed at work so as to get your work done, and there is little chance to lash out at work or at home. Some of the main things the website was going over, was knowing your work and keeping it organized. This is a good idea so as to not be overwhelmed with work. There are two things I have a problem with on this website though. One, is it suggest to walk at lunch and two it says to listen to music on your way home. Like the last one, exercise is only good for those who enjoy it. When it comes to listening to music it can be good for reducing stress, but it depends on what it is. If you listen to very load and intense music it can cause a faster heart rate and even make your stress worse. However, if the music is sooth and calming it can help reduce your stress. In general the website  still gives out other good advice when it comes to dealing with stress.

• https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/27/academic-pressure-5-tips-_n_2774106.html
• https://www.everydayhealth.com/college-health/college-life-10-ways-to-reduce-stress.aspx
• https://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-deal-with-stress-at-work-3145273

Citation

Organization. “5 Ways To Cope With School Stress.” The Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 20 Aug. 2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/27/academic-pressure-5-tips-_n_2774106.html.

--Original published at jennacampanellipsych

I decided to first find stress management tips for college students. I found an article from Purdue University, a guide for stress management for college students. Their first tip is to eat well. They back this up by saying when you eat healthy you help your body avoid stress because you have the right nutritions. The next tip we talked about in class as well, exercise. This is proven to reduce stress, but as we discussed in class it has to be regular. Exercise produces endorphins and improves sleeping patterns. They next discuss having a support system, which we also learned about in class. Social support and self-disclosure can help fight stress and have hope for the future. The article also suggests using positive thinking and meditating. Meditating can help, just as we said in class to picture yourself somewhere else relaxing. Their last tip is journaling, they said it can help you process your problems and it strengthens immune cells. The next article I found was tips for stress management for athletes. Their first tip is to get plenty of rest. This is proven to be true, you body needs rest to be able to handle stress, especially if also playing a sport. They recommend to get 7-9 hours of sleep. Their next tip is to engage in fun activities, to focus on something relaxing and fun to destress. Having an outlet can help against stress. Next, they say to manage your time. They recommend having a planner with everything you need to go to or get done to help manage your time correctly. Next, they say to check your attitude. Positive thinking can help reduce stress, and this is what they recommend. Their last tip is getting support, which we know is a good tip, going back to having a support system. The last article I found was aimed toward teachers and stress management for them. Their first tip is to practice mindfulness. This is a tip that has been in each article and in our lecture. Changing you mindset to thinking positively is proven to help and it is something anyone can do. Their next tip is to share experiences with colleagues. This goes back to having a support system. They say relating to someone in your life who is experiencing the same problems as you can help lessen stress. Their next tip is focus on something you can do something about. They say do not waste time worrying about things out of your control. Within this tip, they also add to write down the things behind your stress and list them into things you can and cannot control. The next tip is setting realistic goals. They talk about how you are only human and cannot do everything, even if you want to. Teachers often feel like they need to do everything and more, without thinking of taking care of themselves. Their last tip is a common one, exercising regularly. We already talked about how this is proven to help and is a good idea for everyone and anyone.

Websites used:

https://www.purdueglobal.edu/news-resources/college-students-guide-to-stress-management-infographic/

https://nova3labs.com/five-stress-management-tips-athletes/

https://truestressmanagement.com/stress-management-for-teachers/

--Original published at Sydney’s Side

It is important to note, to effectively manage stress, there must be a multitude of strategies used. One coping technique it not going to help with different types of stress. The website “Everyday Health” published an article entitled “College Life: 10 Ways to Reduce Stress.” It is targeted toward college students and the tips pertain to activities many college students struggle with. Some examples of the strategies are; get enough sleep, eat well, and exercise. These strategies are likely to be successful if the student does them accurately. Many of the tips are everyday things forgotten or not done correctly due to the student’s workload. By practicing these strategies there is less stress created in the first place.  Many of the tips given in the article are considered problem-focused coping, meaning the strategies are directly aimed at the stressor. One example of this would be, not overloading with course work or a job. If an individual only takes on what they can handle, there will be less stress created in the first place. Overall the strategies can be helpful but will not completely eliminate stress for college students because college is stressful.  

“Child Development” also published an article to help with stress, but it applies more to parents. It is entitled “Stress Management for Parents” and similar to the previous article, the tips pertain to issues that parents struggle with. All the strategies given to cope with stress are emotion-focused coping which means they focus on feelings resulting from the stressor. The strategies would be effective, parents cannot aim their coping strategies to get rid of stress because it is probably their children. Some examples from the article are deep breathing and taking a mental vacation. If the individual pretends to be in a location where they feel calm and involve as many senses as possible. This can relieve stress and take the person’s mind off the stressor. At the bottom of the article there are a list of stress reducers which are all problem-focused coping because they are strategies to avoid stress. They include making a duplicate key to avoid being locked out, preparing a meal plan the night before, and waking up fifteen minutes earlier in the morning. They all would allow a parent to avoid the stress of last-minute complications with kids. 

Finally, Ohio State University published an article entitled “The P.E.R.F.E.C.T. way to help young athletes reduce stress” which applies to athletes. Many of the strategies have to do with practicing mindfulness which focuses on developing nonjudgmental awareness, acceptance, and staying in the present. The tips include positive self-talk, focus on the now, and chill out. The article claims the strategies will help athletes focus on themselves instead of the expectations others put on them. The strategies seem like they will help because there are many studies based on mindfulness-based stress reduction that make it reliable. Also, if the stress if coming from the pressure put on the athletes, practicing mindfulness will allow the athletes to only focus on themselves which will get rid of the stressor. 

College students: https://www.everydayhealth.com/college-health/college-life-10-ways-to-reduce-stress.aspx  

Parents: https://childdevelopmentinfo.com/family-living/stress/#.W9y4B2hKjrc  

Athletes: https://wexnermedical.osu.edu/blog/perfect-method-reduces-athlete-stress

--Original published at Jayln's Perspective

For our second Spotlight Blog Post, I have decided to focus on evaluating different stress relieving techniques. As we learned in class, stress is a response to a situation, threatening one’s sense of well-being. Different groups of people, such as students, athletes, and parents, all deal with various types of either acute (short-term) or chronic (long-term) stressors, thus it is important to see what kinds of strategies most effectively alleviate stress.

College Students

College students are prone to experiencing large amounts of acute stress. A few examples of acute stress could be an upcoming test, going home over break, or submitting a research paper. Although all of these stressors are different, they are all examples of short-term stress. This means even though college students get extremely worked up and stressed out over these examples, they are acute stressors meaning there is an end in sight. According to Melissa Cohen, who wrote the first website I visited called, “Student Guide to Surviving Stress and Anxiety in College and Beyond,” describes college student’s stress as being episodic acute, meaning they experience short term stress quite frequently. I was interested in this article because it focuses on how stressful testing situations can be, and as a college student, I often feel overwhelmed when I think about my own upcoming tests. Cohen provides many tips on how college students can reduce their anxiety before they go to take the exam. The first tip she discusses is studying effectively and efficiently. Based on what we discussed in class, studying effectively for an exam is a type of constructive strategy known as problem-focused coping. This means by preparing effectively for an exam, the stressor is being tackled directly. Another stress relieving technique she suggests before taking a test is to get a good night’s rest, eat a balanced breakfast, and to limit caffeine intake. Cohen says getting a good night’s sleep and eating breakfast makes college students feel calmer and less stressed going into test day. Also, since caffeine is a stimulate, it speeds up the Central Nervous System, which inhibits the body in terms of feeling relaxed. She then discusses how regular exercise not only provides physiological benefits, but it can also provide psychological benefits, such as easing a stressed-out mind. Cohen then discusses how college students also suffer from negative self-thoughts. Since college can be very difficult at times, she explains students must practice positive self-talk. If stressed-out students go into a testing situation, already feeling defeated, then they are setting themselves up for failure. Just as we discussed in class, she touches on how important social support can be for college students when they are feeling overwhelmed. Talking to someone about stress is another constructive strategy known as emotion-focused coping. Cohen closes by expressing how getting involved in a sports team, club, or pursuing a hobby is not only a great way to alleviate stress, but it is also a perfect way to get involved around campus.

Athletes

Athletes of all types and skill levels are often faced with high levels of stress when they realize what is expected of them during practices and games. Just like in college students, the type of stress athletes face is usually acute stress because their game schedules allow them to see an end in sight. On the Sports Psychology website, Aaron Moffett wrote an article targeting athletes which provides a variety of stress relieving techniques. He begins by saying all stress is not necessarily bad. For athletes, a little bit of healthy stress can actually enhance performance. This “good stress” is known as eustress, which can result from the responsibility of leading the team during practice. The “bad stress,” or distress, stems from poor performance in a big game. Moffett says athletes respond to negative stressors in one of three ways. First, they could have a physiological response, which could mean their heartbeat speeds up before a big game. Second, they could have a specific behavioral response, such as nervously passing back and forth. Lastly, athletes could have a cognitive response to a stressor, which could result in them thinking negatively about themselves. He advises athletes to match how they respond to stress with a specific coping strategy. Athletes who respond to stress in a physiological manner should try implementing certain breathing and muscle relaxing techniques. Inhaling and exhaling deeply and calmly will slow the heart rate, and it can also help get more oxygen to the muscles. Those who respond to stress with a certain behavior should first analyze whether or not it is a positive or negative behavior. For example, when some athletes get stressed, they respond with drinking or smoking. These are two examples of detrimental behavioral responses, and they are also ineffective coping strategies. Instead of responding to stress with a potentially harmful behavior, Moffett encourages athletes to either write “to-do” lists or to exercise. By writing lists, a person will feel more in control over what is stressing them out. As mentioned before, exercise has many positive psychological and physiological benefits. Lastly, those who respond to stress with an “I can’t do this” type of attitude need to utilize cognitive coping strategies. For example, it is important for athletes to practice positive self-talk. If an athlete struggles with defense, they should not respond with “I just can’t do this.” Instead, he should focus on how great his offense is, and continually challenge himself to improve defensively.

Parents

 Parenting is no doubt an extremely stressful job. The type of stress parents feel is not just acute, but they also feel a lot of chronic stress as well. For example, worrying about children is extremely different from worry about an upcoming test. The test anxiety has an end in sight, whereas the stress parents feel for their children lasts their whole lives. The article I visited called, “Stress Management for Parents” describes the constant tension parents feel as “chronic tension.” When parents feel worried, their bodies respond with fight or flight, the body’s natural response to threats. The article’s focus is primarily on techniques that relax the mind. The first tip discussed is called progressive relaxation. Tense parents are instructed to tighten each muscle group, and then after a few seconds, the muscles should be released. This technique relaxes both the mind and the body. The next tip discussed focuses on breathing. When a parent gets stressed or anxious, their breathing often gets shallow, which decreases oxygen flow to the rest of the body. The article instructs parents to spend 5-10 minutes a day correctly breathing. By laying on your back, placing your hands on your ribs, and focusing on taking deep breathes, the mind is relaxing, and the body is then fully oxygenated. The next tip recommended is taking a mental vacation. In class, we discussed how effective this strategy can be. When taking a mental vacation, you first picture a place where you feel calm. Then, using as many senses as you can, you put yourself there and imagine how it must feel. This technique engages the mind and provides relaxation.

The three articles I visited all mentioned how negative stress can be detrimental. Each article revealed healthy techniques, very similar to the ones we discussed in class, for college students, athletes, and parents.

https://www.learnpsychology.org/student-stress-anxiety-guide/

https://appliedsportpsych.org/resources/health-fitness-resources/stress-management-tips-for-good-health/

https://childdevelopmentinfo.com/how-to-be-a-parent/angry_child/stress/#.W92eLi-ZNQJ

--Original published at RachelsCollegeBlog

There are multiple things or events that can cause someone stress, these are called stressors. Some stressors include, daily hassles, traumatic events, and different life changes. There are many strategies that people can participate in to relieve stress. Everybody is unique, and one strategy may work for one person but not for another.

The first site that I came across provided stress management tips for athletes. Some of the stress management tips that they provided included, have a support system, have a positive attitude and participate in other physical activities. Most of the strategies that were provided have a possibility of being successful. A support system is a coping strategy that has been shown to have a positive effect on decreasing stress levels. Sometimes you just need a hug or someone to talk to. Having a support system will allow for you to have hope for the future and confidence in your own abilities. Having a positive attitude or being more optimistic is a good stress management strategy as well. When someone is optimistic they are able to better cope with stress and stressful situations as well as have better health in both eh short and long term. Those that are optimistic also have smaller increases in their blood pressure during times of stress. Finally, participating in other recreational activities can help manage stress as well. Regular physical activities have been shown to have a positive impact on both mental and physical health. Exercise reduces stress as well as mild depression. Aerobic activities have also been shown to put people in a better mood, as people who participate in aerobic activities express more self-confidence and a decrease in fatigue.

The second site that I found was directed towards college students. Obtain emotional support, get enough sleep, and breathe were a few stress management strategies that the website referenced. Emotional support is a good stress management strategy, as it allows you to talk about what is stressing you out. This is a constructive strategy called emotion-focused coping. The strategy is when you focus on the feelings that are involved in what is stressing you, the emotional support them comes from family and friends. This allows you to get what is causing you stress off of your chest. People who sleep do not leave enough time to sleep, end up being fatigued and lack alertness. This increases the amount of stress that a person may be under. When getting a decent night’s sleep, you are allowing yourself to be less fatigued allowing you to be more productive during the day, decreasing the amount of stress you are under. Breathing is a large part of relaxation and relaxation techniques that reduce stress. Those who have used relaxation techniques have been shown to have less stress. Breathing techniques have also been shown to reduce suffering and improve compassion and insight.

The third sight that I found was directed towards teachers. Some of the stress management tips that they provided included keeping a journal, make time for faith, and make time for physical affection. Keeping is a strategy that allows you to write down your stresses, allowing you to get the issue off of your chest. Faith is a something that allows people to destress themselves. Lack of control is a large factor that plays into stress, which is why religion is a technique that can be used to manage stress. Religion allows you to have control over yourself, which is something that allows you to reduce stress because you have control over something. In most religions you also have a support group, as people in religious groups are there for one another. Physical affection is also something that the website mentioned to be a technique to manage stress. This is something that may help for some, as it provides support both positive physically and emotionally support.

https://www.recruitingrealities.com/blog/5-stress-management-tips-for-student-athletes

https://www.everydayhealth.com/college-health/college-life-10-ways-to-reduce-stress.aspx

http://www.coolcatteacher.com/manage-teaching-stress/