Tips For Dealing With Stress For College Students

Stress in college life is real. It is one of the hurdles faced by most college students regardless of what year they are in. Stress is not always bad but having too much of it in long period of time can be damaging both to your physical and mental well-beings. Short-term stress for example, can benefit you in some ways such as helping you raise your grades, pursue career opportunity, as well as polish an assignment. Meanwhile, long-term stress is detrimental. Hence, it is best to address stress by finding out the reason and how to deal with it properly. 

The challenge of college student in managing stress

Being college student is not easy especially with so many assignments to complete, juggling between class and part-time jobs, dating, socializing, etc. It is to be expected for college students to experience stress one way or another. The most important thing is know how to deal with it and navigate it to something more beneficial. 

Types of stress college students may experience

There are basically three types of stress college students (and anyone, really) may experience. They are acute stress, episodic acute stress, and chronic acute stress. The first one is the type of stress mostly caused by day-to-day stressors such as running to class, receiving bad grades, waking up late, etc. The second one is when you experience acute stress multiple times over an extended period with common symptoms such as tension headache and migrain. The third one is stress accumulated in along period leading to severe symptoms such as losing or gaining weight drastically, anxiety, sleep deprivation, etc. 

Manage your stress

There are ways you can do to help manage your stress, such as:

Eat well

Make sure to reduce junk foods intake and opt for healthier foods. Nutritious meals help you through the day by giving enough energy to move and think. 

Get enough sleep

Sleep deprivation can cause stress and be caused by it. Sleep is necessity that helps your body and mind function better. Getting enough sleep will help improve your mood and reduce the level of stress.

Exercise regularly

Staying physically active can also help manage your stress because your body will push out stress-related hormones. Regular exercise also helps in maintaining your mental health. 

Find stress outlet

Stress sometimes is inevitable so what you have to do is find the right outlet to reduce it and navigate it toward something more beneficial for you. Hence, you won’t be too overwhelmed with stress. 

Symptoms of stress in college students

If you are college student, it is important to check yourself from time to time to see if you are in bad or good state. There are symptoms you can notice if you are under stress such as irritability, loneliness, helplessness, vertigo, muscle tension, fatigue, shortness of breath, headache, or stomachache. There are also other symptoms that affect your cognitive and behavior such as binge or reduced eating, erratic sleep habits, loss of concentration, negative outlook, decreased sex drive, and so on.