College life can be very stressful. Perceived obstacles to goal achievement, environmental changes, competition for grades, relationships and many other aspects of the college environment cause stress.
According to campusblues.com, stress is a physical and psychological reaction to issues and events from one’s environment. Excessive stress usually develops over a period of time and often goes unnoticed by the individual until a physical or emotional toll has been taken.
“Relationships stress me out the most because it’s hard to focus on what’s really important,” said Melody Jackson, a junior education major at The University of Memphis.
According to the American Psychological Association, 75 to 90 percent of all physician office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints. Stress is linked to the six leading causes of death — heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver and suicide.
“The important factor is how students handle stress,” said Jacqueline DeFouw, health educator at The U of M. “Development of coping techniques is important for college students.”
Learning to recognize the physical and psychological warning signs of stress is the key. According to campusblues.com, some of the warning signs for stress are changes in sleep patterns, changes in eating patterns, increasingly frequent headaches, shorter temper, a greater sense of persistent time pressure, recurring colds and minor illness and increased difficulty in task completion.
“Graduating from college, and the responsibility that comes after graduation, is most stressful for me,” said Christy Butler, senior sociology major at The U of M. “You know that after you graduate the future is in your hands.”
According to a study cited in the Chronicle of Higher Education, anxiety in college students has reached record levels. What would have been rated as a very high level of stress for students in the 1950s is average for today’s student.
The consensus among college health professionals is that college life today presents many more and competing demands for students’ time, energy and attention, meaning that modern students find it much harder to balance academic, financial and social requirements and opportunities.
However, some college students have their own ways of conquering stress.
“The best way to overcome stress for me is through prayer,” said Allonya Payne, senior theater major at The U of M. “Stress is not a positive way of life.”
