Manage Your Stress
College life can be stressful. You will need new stress management skills to manage the different kinds of stress you may experience. The following activities will provide you with a foundation for identifying stressors in your life and tools to reduce stress.
What is Stress?
Stress is the body’s response to any demand placed upon it. Stress is a natural response and has benefits, but too much stress can have negative impacts on your mental and physical health.
Signs of Excessive Stress:
You may notice some of the following symptoms or signs of excessive stress:
- Psychological feeling anxious, irritable, forgetful, impulsive, overwhelmed, exhausted
- Physical headaches, increased heart rate, perspiration, upset stomach, muscle tension
- Behavioral changes in sleeping or eating patterns, arguing, withdrawal from friends, binge gaming/television
Causes of Stress:
Many things in life can cause stress. For instance, stressors can be:
- Interpersonal roommate conflicts, family demands, work responsibilities
- Life Events death of a loved one, moving, break-ups, divorce of parents
- Financial bills, unplanned expenses, tuition
- Psychological thoughts, beliefs, worries, changes in mood
- Physiological illness, injury, sleep disturbances, poor nutrition, environmental factors/condition
- Lifestyle Choices lack of sleep, lack of exercise, poor time management, use of alcohol, tobacco or other drugs
- Organizational rules, educational requirements, role expectations
Effective Stress Management:
- Be aware of the sources of your stress and how you experience it.
- For example: I grind my teeth while cleaning my roommate’s mess.
- Develop a healthy strategy to manage your stress, the stressor, or both.
- For example: I’m anxious about my living situation - I make an appointment with Student Counseling Services to talk about how to communicate directly and assertively with my roommate.
- Evaluate if what you did is working. As you reflect on your stress and stressors, you will build effective strategies to use in the future.
- For example: Talking to my roommate about the mess leads to making a cleaning schedule, which is helping keep my stress down.
Strategies for Calming Stress:
You’ve learned about stress and how to recognize what creates stress for you. Now try some of these strategies for calming your stress.
- Organize Your Time
- A cluttered schedule that doesn’t take care of the important things in your life in a timely way will definitely lead to more stress. Try these things to help organize your time.
- Prioritize your tasks into “essential,” “important,” and “trivial.”
- Follow that order for completing tasks and take one thing at a time.
- Schedule some free time for yourself, too.
- Learn more strategies through the “Manage Your Time” tool.
- Practice Self-Care
- Reducing stress can start with a change in personal attitude and habits. Try these things to help calm your stressful feelings.
- Recognize where stress strikes you first (e.g. neck tension, headache, low motivation.) The earlier you identify signals of stress, the easier it is to change your behavior and stop its progression.
- Learn to be satisfied with less than perfect performance. If a problem is beyond your control now, let it go for the time being.
- Take care of your body. Eat well, sleep enough, exercise regularly, and breathe. Eliminate pseudo-solutions that impair your health such as sleep aids, energy drinks, alcohol, cigarettes, and vaping.
- Change your internal language. Instead of saying, “I have to…,” say “I choose to…” Emotionally support yourself the way you would a close friend.
- Express Your Stress
- There are many ways to express your frustration, stress, and anger. Hiding your feelings is often more stressful in the long run than talking about it, especially when you express yourself effectively. Try these techniques for expressing stress.
- Recognize short-term solutions such as shouting, “venting,” or crying for what they are – short-term. Use them as needed but don’t grow dependent on them.
- Keep a journal. Observe when you are stressed, the causes, your responses, and the outcome. Make some observations about which techniques are most helpful.
- Share your concern with someone – a friend, a family member, or a counselor. Be open to feedback about what to do.
- Communicate assertively and directly with others about conflicts that arise. Be factual and use “I messages” to describe how you’re feeling.
- Plan for The Long Term
- Anticipating and preparing for stress and stressful situations is part of getting to know yourself and is necessary for a healthful life.
- Develop preventative, long-term strategies for dealing with stress (e.g.., nutrition, relaxation, regular exercise) and immediate, responsive techniques (e.g., assertiveness training) to deal with events and episodes that come up in the short term.
- Don’t wait for the time “when you can relax.” That time may never come. Learn to relax now.
Contact Us
Office of Counseling Services
St. Joseph Academic & Health Resource Center
Building #13, Room 202
Office: 504-520-7315
Fax: 504-520-7943
Mailing Address
1 Drexel Drive
P.O. Box D
New Orleans, LA 70125
Hours of Operation
Monday - Friday: 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM
After 5:00 pm - By Appointments Only
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM Closed for Lunch