College student Jasmine Morriston was a junior when she saw her grades suffer after a particularly stressful year. Her parents divorced after more than 30 years together, and her father was diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Furthermore, Morriston suffered a miscarriage.
“In the fall my grades dropped and I was put on academic probation,” she said. “I didn’t do any better in the spring, and now I’m faced with possibly losing my opportunity to continue at school.”
Morriston said some of her professors were willing to work with her on the time she missed, but the stress made it difficult to focus and concentrate. She did not seek help for her stress.
“At the time I just felt like I was dealing with everything the best I could,” Morriston said. “I didn’t feel a need for any other help.”
Morriston isn’t alone in her struggle with stress while attending college.
According to the spring 2013 National College Health Assessment administered by the American College Health Association, stress was the leading factor in affecting the academic performance of college students. Of the more than 96,000 student participants, 30.7 percent said stress had caused them to do poorly on an exam or project, or affected their letter grade in a class.
This same study found that in the last 12 months, 80 percent of students felt they experienced an average or more than average level of stress.
Unfortunately, unmanaged stress has short and long term effects, according to Dr. Earle Donelson, coordinator for triage and outreach at the University of Memphis Counseling Center.
“It’s hard to get people to understand that 40 years down the road leading a type A life without any kind of stress reduction is going to have consequences for you,” he said. “There’s a price tag for that.”
Donelson said long term unmanaged stress can lead to frequent headaches and body aches as well as wear and tear on your heart. In extreme cases, individuals can suffer panic attacks and nervous breakdowns.
In sessions with his clients, Donelson works to find the right stress reducing techniques for each individual.
“We have to teach people to be aware of what stresses them, how do they recognize it, and what’s the long term consequence if they don’t,” Donelson said.
In addition to the free individual and group counseling services that the U of M offers is the Relaxation Zone. Located in 211 Wilder Tower, the center is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The center occupies two separate rooms. One room has two shiatsu massage chairs and a small table-top Zen garden. The other room has a vibration massage chair. Both rooms have what Dr. Shawn Levstek, a staff counselor at the counseling center, calls the “bread and butter” of the relaxation zone—the biofeedback computer station.
“The goal of the program is for people to manipulate their biology using their thoughts and their breathing, and then see what’s actually happening in their body,” Levstek said.
Even at rest, your heart rate has normal variations. During times of stress, the variability is erratic. In more positive situations, the variability tends to be more rhythmic.
This rhythmic heart rate variability is called coherence, and the biofeedback program is designed to measure your heart rate and help you train yourself to enter that coherence.
Levstek recommends to start with mindful breathing. The biofeedback program has a breathing meter to follow and regulate breathing. It is adjustable so each person can find their ideal breathing rhythm.
The next step is to focus your thoughts.
Levstek said experiment with thoughts to find what will put your body at ease. Each person is different.
Some students think about being with loved ones or in safe, familiar places. Levstek has his own method.
“For me, it’s humming music,” he said. “When I hum music I just get into the coherence.”
The U of M’s Counseling Center website also offers mindfulness support. This collection of audio recordings provide guided meditation and breathing exercises created by Mark Reck, a senior staff psychologist at the University of Vermont’s Counseling and Psychiatric Services.
Students can find more information at http://www.memphis.edu/cpcc/ms.htm.
“What researchers have found is that when your heart rhythms and your breathing rhythm and your brain waves are all in synchronicity, the body enters a state of relaxation that is just very beneficial health-wise,” Levstek said.
