Students Need to Relieve College Stress

Being a college student is stressful and it’s easy to get caught up in the pressures of student life. While some pressure can be motivating and push you to do better in school, too much can actually cause you to do worse. According to the American College Health Association in their Fall 2009 National College Health Assessment, 27.8% of college students reported that stress affected their academic performance by causing them to receive a lower grade on an exam or project, a lower grade or incomplete in a course, drop a course, or significantly disrupt their work on a thesis, dissertation, or practicum work. It is important for students to realize that while the majority of their time should be devoted to academics, they also need to take some time to relieve the stress that comes with college.

Relieve stress through exercise. Physical activity is a way you can get outside of your mind and focus on your body. It is also a natural way to decrease stress hormones and increase endorphins. Whether you need to release negative feelings you have about a bad test grade, or clear your mind and get it off of school for a while, there is a workout for you. High intensity workouts, such as boxing or running, can be just the outlet you need to get frustration or anger out of your system. A low intensity work out, such as yoga or Pilates, can be a great way to chill out and focus on calming your body as well as your mind.

Relieve stress through volunteering. When your life seems too difficult and overwhelming, it might be time you helped someone else out with theirs. Volunteering your time and taking your attention off of yourself for a while is a great way to temporarily escape the pressures you are under. More importantly, spending some time focusing on others, rather than yourself, can help you to see your problems in a different context and realize your life may be more manageable than you thought.

Relieve stress through "you time." All work and no play isn’t good for anyone, so it is important that you take a break to work on something other than homework. Taking some time to read a book that isn’t a textbook, or learning how to do something that is more creative than academic, can help you lead a more balanced life and be even productive in the long run.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 9th, 2010 at 11:23 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.