Stress Management
- What is stress? What is anxiety?
- How much stress is too much stress?
- What does this have to do with health?
- How to deal with school stress (especially during exams!)
What is stress? What is anxiety?
Stress is the body's natural reaction to change, both psychological and physical. Anxiety is a physical reaction to perceived danger arising from intense or challenging situations. When we are "stressed out", or anxious our bodies respond in kind, eliciting occasionally extreme responses of "fight" (anxiety, sleeplessness, hyperactivity), "flight" (procrastination, distraction, quitting) or "freeze" (blanking out, "exam freeze").
How much stress is too much stress?
Some stress is ok: we need some stress in order to get us to perform tasks at hand - if we were totally unstressed, not much would get accomplished. This is simply not true. Moderate stress will help get a job done, but maximum stress will be counterproductive and will lead to lowered achievement and burn out.
What does this have to do with health?
Stress and anxiety can have very real repercussions on the body. When we are stressed out or anxious, two things happen which take a toll on health: the direct effects of stress leads to ill health and we forget to take care of ourselves well during stressful times. Stress, change and anxiety can manifest themselves in the body in many ways. Some people experience extreme fatigue, others sleeplessness. Some develop stomach or digestive problems while others might experience headaches or other disruptions to normal bodily patterns. Stress is a real physical force in the body. This force can be compounded by the fact that often we do not take care of ourselves physically or emotional during stressful times (we're too busy being stressed out to take time to de-stress - go figure!). We eat badly (fast food, junk food, lots of food) or not at all, do not get enough sleep, let exercise fall by the wayside, drink to quell anxiety, etc. Learning how to care for yourself will actually alleviate stress in the first place, as well as reduce stress when it occurs.
How to deal with school stress (especially during exams!):
Imagine you are running a marathon. It is a marathon that starts in September and ends in December and only gets harder and more uphill as the race progresses. How would you treat yourself and your body if you were running a marathon? What would you feed yourself? How much sleep would you need? What kind of focus and determination will get you through this race? Here are some tips:
- Increase your strength
- Pace yourself. Pick a level and mode of work that keeps you busy but does not overwhelm you.
- Take breaks and let the anxiety levels drop off again. Taking breaks, both big and little, from stress-inducing work routines allows the body to return to a normal, less anxious resting state.
- Keep your goals in mind. Keep your eye on the finish line. Know where you want to be going and it will help you get there. If you have no idea why you're here or where you're going, take some time to re-focus and think about what you want to be getting from the work you're doing.
- Encourage yourself. Self-criticism is a bad habit that slows you down and doesn't help the quality of your work. Speak to yourself the way you would speak to a friend or relative struggling through something difficult.
- Know what your tasks are. It's awfully difficult to maintain focus and reduce anxiety if your you do not know what you need to accomplish and what your deadlines are. Know your "enemy" (tasks, workload) and you'll feel far less overwhelmed and anxiety will decrease.
- Be good to yourself. Eat as well as you can, get an ample amount of sleep, exercise and skip the alcohol and drugs (caffeine included!) while you are running your marathon. Your body is the machine that gets you through school: be good to it.
- Enjoy the ride. You're not in school (or life) to suffer. If the journey's painful, something's wrong.
- Be realistic (make the course a little easier) Lower your expectations. If everything HAS to be an A+, the course is very steep and that much harder. If you lower expectations of yourself, stress and anxiety will be lowered as well, and, because you're relaxed, you may even find that you can run a better "race"!
- Share your stress. Although sometimes it might not feel this way, the university is designed to help you. Share your stress with profs, tutors, RLCs, dons, Student Services staff. Don't be afraid to ask for help - people will be glad to come to your assistance. Reduce the workload by negotiating ("can I do this after I'm done exams?") and saying "no" ("I'd love to, but I just can't right now. Ask me next term").
Student Community & Leadership Development (SC&LD)
Tel: (416) 736-5144
Location: S172 Ross Building
A division of Student Community Development (SCD)
