UNDERSTAND AND COPE WITH STRESS

College life can be very stressful. Sometimes parents, faculty and others tend to idealize their college experience and remember it as that idyllic time when they had few worries or responsibilities. To students currently attending college, however, the process is often stressful and frustrating. The competition for grades, the need to perform, relationships, and many other aspects of the college environment cause stress.

Before condemning stress outright, we need to understand that stress is only harmful when it is excessive. Much of the stress that we all experience is helpful and stimulating. The challenges of life tend to be stressful and an attempt to avoid stress completely would lead to a rather boring existence. The problem comes when you experience too much stress. Although some stress reactions are part of deeper and more serious emotional problems, many are not, and can be handled with relatively simple counseling and stress–management techniques.

There are four primary sources of stress:

1. Environment – noise, pollution, traffic and crowding, and the weather are the common sources.
2. Physiological – illness, injuries, hormonal fluctuations, and inadequate sleep or nutrition.
3. Your Thoughts – the way you think affects how you respond. Negative self–talk, catastrophizing, and perfectionism, all contribute to increased stress.
4. Social Stressors – financial problems, work demands, social events, and losing a loved one.

Symptoms of stress appear in many forms. Some symptoms only impact the person who is directly experiencing stress, while other symptoms may have an impact on our relationships with others. Perhaps you experience some of the examples below when your stress levels are elevated.

Physical symptoms:

Muscular tension, colds or other illnesses, high blood pressure, indigestion, difficulty sleeping, fatigue, headaches and backaches.

Emotional symptoms:

Irritability, depression, anger, fear or anxiety, mood swings. Cognitive symptoms: forgetfulness, unwanted or repetitive thoughts, difficulty concentrating.

Some tips that can help you to cope with stress:

1. The right balance of sleep, food, exercise, work, school, and recreation is crucial. Some people are in a constant state of trying to catch up. They find themselves rushing and hurrying from one activity to another, always racing with the clock and never getting on top of things. Part of this problem, for many students, is not being well organized. Effective time management can help.
2. Discussing your problems with a trusted, empathic friend can allow you to gain new perspective and can allow you to move out of what might seem like an isolated and negative internal world. The act of verbalizing your concerns and putting them together will often help give you a sense of control.
3. Clarifying your values and deciding what you really want out of your life, can help you feel better about yourself and have that sense of satisfaction and centeredness that helps you deal with the stresses of life
4. Write down all the negative messages you can think of your situation, your status and your life. Then, develop some positive coping statements that you might use to replace negative self–talk. Your friend might be of great help on this one.
5. Develop your own simple relaxation technique. Closing your eyes for a minute and focusing on slow breathing (no internal vocalization) can relax you instantly. Another relaxing technique is to imagine your favorite spot and spend a few seconds resting there. This is an effective strategy in those moments before starting on an anxiety–inducing test.
6. Keep a journal of your concerns and worries, it will allow you to reflect on possible responses. Writing may help gain perspective.
7. The most important thing to remember is that all international students are "on the same boat". Everyone is trying to make new friends, adapting to a new way of life and coping with these changes. Therefore it is important to hear how other international students are adjusting to their new life in the USA, how they are coping with the adventure of the unknown journey and how they handle stress and related anxieties.

If you want more information about this subject please visit our website (www.isoa.org) or click here.
Source: University of Florida, Counseling Center. (www.counsel.ufl.edu) Indiana State University (www.indstate.edu)


We hope this information is useful for you and help you having a better semester at school.

Ana Salazar
ISO – Customer Care Unit


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