Have you ever thought about the expectations that an average student has to meet? As soon as they start their educational journey, they are faced with different metrics and standardized requirements. Nobody cares about their special talent; they are put in a mold and required to learn the same things as everyone else. By the time they reach college, stress becomes part of their daily life.
Researchers found that external expectations are the main culprit for the chronic stress that all students experience. A huge percentage of college students reported that they feel sad, overwhelmed, and depressed because they aren’t able to meet the expectations of their professors and parents.
Let’s clarify something right from the start: it’s impossible to eradicate stress from your life. You’re just a human, who has to deal with daily responsibility. But it is possible to change your attitude towards stressful situations, and manage the effects they have on you.
Tips for Students: How to Cope with Stress
- Recognize the Triggers
What are the most common situations that trigger a stressful response in students? If you ask any college student, they will immediately mention exams and writing assignments as the main cause of anxiety in their lives. They don’t have enough time to cover the entire studying material and write each research paper that’s obligatory for a decent grade. Many students find a way to cope with the situation: they go to a writing service and say “I need a pro to edit my research paper.” But to find such a solution, you have to recognize the stress trigger first. In this case, the student knows that if they try to complete all the work without assistance, they will get overwhelmed by the process.
Homework, extracurricular activities, transitions in your studies, and relationships cause stress, too. The question is: what’s your personal source of anxiety? Journaling is a useful practice that helps you identify the causes. Write a daily entry each evening, and think about the things that made you nervous. Once you learn how to recognize these situations, you’ll stay aware and conscious when they occur. You’ll be able to control your reaction.
- Don’t Sacrifice Your Sleep
Students are known to spend entire nights writing or studying before exam week. If we’re being completely honest, they are also known to spend their nights partying. Don’t be notorious for missing sleep! Yes; your schedule is packed, but your body and mind get more stressed as you deprived them of rest.
Aim for at least eight hours of consistent sleep every night. If you’re too stressed to fall asleep, improve your environment! Turn the TV off, leave your phone aside, and make your room as cozy as possible. You can also try relaxation techniques; they will help you prepare for a calm night.
- Mind Your Diet
Soda, sugar, and fast food. Is that the foundation of your diet? Unfortunately, too many students neglect the importance of healthy food for their immune system, brainpower, and ability to cope with stress in their lives.
A healthy diet will help you control light-headedness. It will make you more focused and alert, so you won’t find the classes torturing and you’ll have enough energy to complete the homework afterward.
- Organize Your Schedule
Do you know why academic writing makes you stressed? You procrastinate its stages. You convince yourself that there’s more than enough time by the deadline, so you waste many days before you realize: it’s too late to start and complete a successful research process. The same thing happens with your attempts to study for the exams. Instead of studying for one hour every day as soon as the term begins, you procrastinate the process and you accumulate too much material.
A simple organizational technique will prevent acute stress before deadlines. Use an app on your phone and plan your daily responsibilities. Study and work on your homework every day! When you approach the process step by step, you won’t find it overwhelming.
Recognize the Stress and Seek Solutions
When you have a problem, recognition is the first step towards recovery. Students should stop neglecting issues like chronic stress, anxiety, and depression. Small daily issues can lead to major problems that affect their ability to cope with daily life.
If you’re stressed, learn to identify the situations that make you restless. Once you make that big step forward, you’ll be able to try different techniques that help you cope.
BIO: James Collins blogs about wellness, student life, and counseling. He’s interested in the way different social situations affect individuals, and he tries to offer tips that help people handle the daily stress they face. James finds blogging useful; it’s the best tool for sharing experience.
