Stress: A Students Worst Nightmare And How To Manage It

For our blog this week the topic is Stress Management. For all of us students here at Syracuse there are moments of major stress. College in general can be stressful at times (especially during weeks with many exams/projects/papers assigned close to one another in different courses). Everyone handles stress differently, some seem to handle it better than others. However there are strategies that can help you manage your stress allow you to complete your work all at the same time.

A key skill in stress management is controlling your reaction to stressful situations. this means if you let your reactions in times of stress get the best of you the outcome won't be pretty. If you change your reaction to that situation, then you minimize its effect and reduce the stress.

The first step is to decide what caused the problem. This means you need to find out what is causing you stress and why it is causing you stress. For example I have a major essay, a final speech, and a project to work on this week. Those are three major things that can easily cause alot of stress and the easy thins would to become stressed out and flustered over all the work i have to do this week; however now that I have figured out what the problem is I can use the proper strategies to manage the stress.

The second step is very related to the first in that you need to figure out what caused the stress. It could be classes, friends or family, fear of failing your assignments, or your assignments in general. As i stated in step number 1 I've have established that both my problem and cause for my stress are my classes and assignments.

Another step to managing stress is to learn how to relax. Positive stress can give you the energy to excel, but prolonged negative stress can result in physical and mental maladies. In other words its good have hobbies/outlet that will help you alleviate the stress that builds up within yourself over time. This outlet can be a number of things; sports, going to the gym, baking, listening to music, etc.

Last but not least another way to help manage your stress is to organize your surroundings and responsibilities. The more control you have you have on the world around the less stress you will have.

I have struggled with Math 122 all semester. So I chose to use the Stress Reduction Plan. The point of this plan is to incorporate these activities into you weekly routine. These strategies are intended to help you recognize that you can control your stress levels by engaging yourself in activities that have a double benefit; they reduce the stress and you enjoy them. There are 6 categories: physical activity, pamper yourself, change your environment, share it, enjoy, get help. So the six things I do are Work out/play a sport, get extra sleep when I can, when I change my environment I go play basketball or go to a friends dorm and just hangout, I talk to my family daily and my friends all the time, when studying I listen to music to calm me and help me focus, I do get extra help whether its tutoring or meeting with a TA.

Using this strategy I feel that I can accomplish my work much more efficiently. Not just in Math but in any class. I highly recommend using this strategy to keep the stresses of college in check.