How to Deal with Stress as a Student
Being a student is supposed to be fun: you’re in the prime of your life and you have the world at your fingertips. But the truth is that being a student is also very stressful: you’ve got assignments to complete and deadlines to hit combined with the pressure of planning your future. Statistics are proving this to be true with a survey by the American College Health Association reporting that 57 per cent of students questioned had felt ‘overwhelmed with anxiety’.
We all know that stress isn’t good when experienced in excess. It can affect our emotional and physical health causing symptoms such as a short temper or increased agitation, tension headaches and changes to eating and sleeping habits. However, it’s not all bad news. Here are a few simple stress-reduction strategies which can help you to manage stress and gain control of the situation.
We all know that stress isn’t good when experienced in excess. It can affect our emotional and physical health causing symptoms such as a short temper or increased agitation, tension headaches and changes to eating and sleeping habits. However, it’s not all bad news. Here are a few simple stress-reduction strategies which can help you to manage stress and gain control of the situation.
A Balancing Act
Creating a healthy balance in your schedule is an important step towards managing stress effectively. Maybe you’re doing an MSN administration program and have deadlines coming out of your ears. It’s a good idea to keep track of all those deadlines in a planner so that there are no surprises. This will also help you to come up with rough estimations of how long you’ll need for each assignment so you can plan your time accordingly. It’s really important to factor in all the other aspects of your life too especially the fun parts like hobbies, sports and meeting up with friends. By writing it all down in a planner you’ll have a better perspective on how well you’re balancing your schedule.
Make sure that you are taking regular breaks whilst doing your studying. You might think that if you study for 6 hours straight you’ll definitely get that assignment finished but the truth is your concentration span will begin to wane after a few hours. Without a break, the quality of work in the latter half won’t be as good as it would if you’d had short breaks every few hours. Fortunately many institutions, such as Bradley University, offer the resources to help students develop the skills required to reduce their levels of academic stress.
Get Plenty of Exercise
If you’re doing an RN to MSN online program, then you’ll already know that physical activity can notably reduce stress. It causes your body to produce feel-good endorphins and helps you burn off the energy generated by stress. Whether it’s a high-intensity work out at the gym or a brisk 30 minute walk round the park, as long as it gets your blood pumping and accelerates your breathing then it’ll be benefitting you and reducing your stress levels.
Switch Off and Go to Sleep
Sleep deprivation can greatly increase stress levels and cause many of the physical symptoms related to stress. It’s important to make sure you are getting the right amount of sleep each night but just as important as the amount is the quality. If you’re up till midnight finishing off an online MSN administration assignment, then the chances are that even if you get into bed straight away you won’t go to sleep for a few hours. Using technology before bed actually stimulates your brain and working before bed definitely won’t have relaxed your mind. Instead you need to create a cut off time for studying and also for gadgets and electronics so that you can spend those few hours before bed fully relaxing.
So, if your stress levels are at an all time high at the moment then why not try instigating a few of these techniques and see if they help lower your blood pressure a bit. It’s time to enjoy being a student and realize that you can still achieve great things without the addition of stress.