Piling it on
Student health part 3 of 4: Stress
Brandon Hollingsworth
Issue date: 10/11/07 Section: News
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It's not an unusual occurrence-everyone experiences stress from one degree to another in their lifetime.
"Stress is your mental physical and emotional response to change," Nancy Edge, of JSU's Student Health Center, said. "Some stress is necessary to complete daily tasks."
However, in addition to the daily grind, there are periods when stress does become considerably worse.
For college students, midterms, finals and the upcoming holiday season are all stressful events that can add significantly to the burdens already shouldered by a student, and the effects can be damaging to one's well-being.
"Usually the times when students feel the most stressed is the beginning of the school year," Counseling and Career Services director Rickey Naugher said. "Midterms and final exams would [also] be a time when students experience a higher level of stress."
Typical problems related to stress range from disturbed sleep patterns or increased anxiety. On the more extreme end, pressures faced in college can become so strong that they force students to drop out, distancing themselves from college environments, according to behavioral psychiatrist David Falk.
While psychologists agree that stress is a commonplace event, that doesn't mean it can't turn into something much more dangerous. What begins as simple stress can degrade into a full-blown depression, and such occurrences are on the rise.
Ninety-two percent of college counseling directors said the number of students with severe psychological problems has increased in recent years, according to the 2006 National Survey for Counseling Center Directors. Concurrently, demand for mental health services is up at colleges and universities across the United States, putting additional strain on already-taxed counseling staffs and school resources.
At JSU, issues with stress, depression and other mental and emotional problems fall under the umbrella of the office of Counseling and Career Services.
"It would be difficult to put a number on how many students we see for stress," Naugher said. "I would say about 25 to 30 students come in with stress-related problems in a semester."
Treatments for stress and related issues vary, depending on the severity and impact on the student.
When students exhibit high amounts of stress, Naugher said, the CCS staff conducts a complete emotional assessment, looking for the causes of the stress and whether it is a result of a larger underlying problem or a standalone issue. From there, the question becomes how best to deal with the stress and its effects.
"Stress, if left untreated, can lead to emotional, concentration, memory and coordination problems," Naugher said.
A 1999 study by Shannon Ross, Bradley Neibling and Teresa Heckert asked 100 students to rank 40 stressful situations by severity, in order to determine the sources of stress in a typical collegian's life. The top five causes were change in sleeping habits, vacations/breaks, change in eating habits, increased workloads and new responsibilities. Those causes reflect the significant shifts in routine and lifestyle one often encounters in making the transition from adolescence to adulthood.
"College students are a group particularly prone to stress, due to the transitional nature of college life," the study said.
The authors went on to say, "Grades [are] not the only source of stress for college students. Other sources include excessive homework, unclear assignments and uncomfortable classrooms."
Additionally, stress affects undergraduates and graduate students differently. The problems encountered by undergrads, including changes to living circumstances, eating habits and responsibility shifts, tend to be the biggest stressors, according to a 1985 study from the Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE).
The same report cited very different stressors for grad students: uncertainty about future career choices, feelings of helplessness and inability to form interpersonal relationships due to time constraints.
It is vital to understand where to draw the line between normal stress encountered in everyday life, and overwhelming stress that can have a major negative impact.
Generally, a student can identify and deal with normal stress on his or her own, according to Naugher. People have individual ways of dealing with normal stress, from listening to music, to exercise, to engaging in relaxing hobbies.
The trouble, of course, comes when such measures have no noticeable impact on stress levels. Then stress becomes a much more insidious threat.
"With dangerous stress, you have other issues involved [than with normal stress]," Naugher said. "During stages of dangerous stress, it's difficult for a person to even go through daily routines."
Solutions could go beyond the individual level. Some researchers have proposed more sweeping institutional changes for colleges and universities. The 1985 ASHE study suggested more involvement for faculty advisers, better preparation strategies for incoming students and improving campus mental health services.
On campus, help is available through Counseling and Career Services. CCS offers one-on-one counseling for stress management, and workshops focusing on how to deal with stress in one's life.
But if a student's issues go beyond the capabilities of the CCS staff to handle, he or she may have to seek off-campus treatment, from medications to sessions with professional therapists.
"[Those] resources would be through the Mental Health Center and private counselors," Naugher said. "They would teach a person how to deal with stress effectively and how to catch it before it gets out of control."
With tests and holidays fast approaching, it may very well be in a student's best interest to listen to what his body is telling him. Often, how he deals with stress can be the difference between a manageable problem and a dangerous situation.
Stress doesn't have to be a specter hovering over your daily life. Try out these tips for dealing with stress:
--Learn better ways to manage your time. Prioritize your tasks. Think about which things are most important, and do those first.
--Find better ways to cope. Look at how you have been dealing with stress. Be honest about what works and what does not. Think about other tactics that might work better.
--Take good care of yourself. Get plenty of rest. Eat well. Do not smoke. Limit how much alcohol you drink.
--Try out new ways of thinking. Work on letting go of things you cannot change.
--Finally, don't be afraid to ask for help. People who have a strong network of family and friends manage stress better.
-- source: WebMD.com
Where does stress cross the line into dangerous territory? Here are some warning signs you should look for:
--Changes in sleep patterns; taking longer to fall asleep; waking up tired and not well rested
--Changes in eating patterns
--More frequent headaches than normal
--Shorter temper than normal
--Recurring colds and minor illness
--Frequent muscle ache and/or tightness
--More disorganized than normal for you
--Increased difficulty in task completion
--A greater sense of persistent time pressure
--Increased generalized frustration and anger
-- source: campusblues.com
Brandon Hollingsworth is the news editor of The Chanticleer. He can be reached at (256) 782-8521 or at chantynews@gmail.com. You can read his weekly science blog at brandononscience.blogspot.com.
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