“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 .
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Hi Adam!
I agree that April is a very stressful time for many college students due to final papers and exams. However, these are acute stressors and can be easily dealt with through some coping strategies. I think it is a good idea to take Netflix breaks during your studies so that you do not wear yourself down or outdo yourself. If you stress yourself out for too long, you could run your body into exhaustion and make yourself more prone to sickness and diseases. I also think it is important to spend time with your friends at the end of a hard day. Social support does a very good job of calming the body and reducing blood pressure and stress hormones. That is probably why you feel almost stress-free when you are hanging out with them. I also agree that aerobic exercises like running and soccer are also very effective for releasing stress.
Between doing homework, working out, and hanging with friends, I completely understand that it can be hard to find time to fit cooking into your schedule. There are however, other strategies that help with stress and do not interfere with your busy schedule. For example, people who are easy going and relaxed tend to be less stressful along with people who feel control of their life and their outcomes. Feeling an internal control over your own fate leads to good health, higher income, and better grades.
Thanks for the read and I hope you stay stress free during this last month of school!
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I completely agree that this is the most stressful time of the semester. With all of the tests, projects, papers, and presentations across all the classes, there is bound to be a lot of stress. It’s good that you found coping methods that work for you. With a strong social support system around you, even when the workload piles up, you will have people in your corner supporting you. Working out and playing soccer is also a good way to relieve stress. Regular consistent exercise is great for your body, and playing soccer can offer some sort of catharsis for you. Taking study breaks to watch entertaining videos on YouTube or Netflix is also a good coping method. It allows you to relax a little during your studies, and keeps you from over working yourself. However, you have to be careful that you aren’t taking too much time out of your studying to watch these videos. It could easily turn from an adaptive strategy to maladaptive. Finding time to cook would also help relieve stress and would probably be healthier than your other meal options here. If you are able to cook meals for yourself, you’ll be able to feel like you successfully achieved something, and you’ll probably enjoy the food more because of it. With all of that being said, you’ve got a good coping plan to help get you through this last month of the semester. Good luck!
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Adam,
I agree that this time of the semester is a busy time for college students. Being a freshman, this is the second time having to prepare for finals, yet I still don’t feel 100% confident that I know what I’m doing. Finals can be a huge stressor on college students, but I find your coping strategy to be very unique. Cooking is a good distractor to take some of your stress away. I know personally I cannot cook, so that would stress me out MORE! Having that self-disclosure with friends is a good way to end a stressful day or night when you have been staring at text books for a while. Sometimes being around your friends helps build that self efficacy where you start to feel better and give you the strength and confidence in what you did. I think you have some good ways to relieve your stress and I think if you keep it up, you will be able to balance your work load.
Thanks for the read!
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