According to a recent study, 45% of students in high school admit to being stressed almost every day. 61% of teenagers between 13 and 17 feel stress over producing satisfactory grades. The American Institute of Stress notes 75% of high school students and 50% of middle schoolers report feeling stressed by schoolwork on a regular basis.
Experiencing school and college life can be overwhelming at times due to various factors. Starting from excelling in studies, relations with friends and peers, or managing the already set standards by teachers or parents. If the stress piles up, it can affect mental health, physical health, and even performance.
It has also been diagnosed that students who deal with stress gradually succumb to depression and anxiety. But there are techniques and coping skills students can learn to manage their academic stress. Knowing how to deal with stress for students, and practicing stress management for college students can help students and parents be prepared to deal with any particular situation.
Causes of Stress in Students
Every student's experience is different, and different situations can be stressful to different students. Some reasons students experience stress include:
1.) Isolation from Family and Friends - Living alone can be rewarding. However, it comes with a lot of responsibility. A person who lives alone is accountable for all of their decisions, which can be stressful, especially if it's their first time with this kind of freedom.
2.) Social Stress - Young adults and teens can feel a lot of pressure to fit in and make friends. Struggling to find a friend group or connect with peers can have negative effects on their mental health and self-identity.
3.) Financial Struggles - Undergraduate degree programs are incredibly expensive. Even with financial aid, many students can't afford the costs associated with continuing education. Those who push through experience increased stress and feel backed against a wall, struggling to decide if it's better to finish their degree and continue taking on debt, or drop out with less debt.
4.) Trauma - Trauma can have a big impact on mental health and how students respond to stress. A student experiencing the passing of their loved one, a messy dissolved friendship, a violation of their bodily autonomy, bullying, or a complicated breakup can lead to gaps in work and schooling.
5.) Academic Pressure - 70% of teens state they worry the most about academic pressure. Parents, teachers, and coaches pressure students to excel and overachieve in their academic careers. This eventually affects mental health and may cause other issues. Coping with academic pressure starts with recognizing it as a stressor rather than a personal failing. The pressure to perform is one of the most commonly reported sources of stress among U.S. teens.
6.) Relationship Issues - Relationships, especially at a young age, can feel new and exciting. But for most students, navigating romantic relationships can be new territory that can feel overwhelming. Understanding what you want in life and in a partner builds as you have more and more life experience and get to know yourself better. But students are often trying to figure out what careers they want in the midst of exploring romantic opportunities, and having to make such big decisions can be stressful for teens and young adults.
7.) Post-School/Grad Plans - Many career doors are only opened with postgraduate degrees, which take additional years of education, and sometimes fellowships or residency hours. Making the decision to complete an additional program or start your career can be stressful, as both have their pros and cons. Because of this, many students experience stress towards the end of their programs.
Symptoms Of Stress In Students
Symptoms of stress vary between students. Listed below are some of the most common stress symptoms:
Feeling agitated, anxious, short-tempered, or depressed
Feeling unwell quite frequently
Frequent headaches, stomachaches, or other aches and pains.
Sleep troubles - sleeping too much or sleeping too little, insomnia
Skipping meals or overeating
Troubled focus and lack of concentration
High blood pressure
Fatigue
Feeling overwhelmed or hopeless
Isolating
Increased use of alcohol, drugs, coffee, tobacco, or abuse of medication
Sudden outbursts of crying
These symptoms of stress can be a huge roadblock in your educational journey. Many students pause and eventually end their academic careers because of the stress they’re experiencing. If you're interested in finishing your academic program, you have to learn how to properly manage stress and use techniques to cope with stress. A therapist can help you manage your symptoms and provide support that will benefit you long after you finish your program and start your career.
Stress Management Techniques
When a student's stress is left untreated, their mental health and overall health absorb the negative effects. Stress makes day-to-day life hard. It impacts your grades, relationships, and physical health. But learning how to manage stress as a student will have lasting impacts on your academic career, professional career, and personal life.
Here are stress management tips for students that combine quick stress relief techniques with longer-term stress reduction habits:
Get Proper Rest and Sleep - As a student, there’s always something exciting happening in the dorms, around campus, and in local places around your university, plus your rigorous and often relentless course load. College and high school students are notoriously sleep-deprived because of their busy schedules and activities. But if you don’t prioritize your sleep by implementing an adequate and consistent sleep schedule, your productivity, mood, academic performance, and mental health will decline.
Focus on Health and Nutrition - Students need to prioritize nutrition. Having a healthy, nutritious diet allows your body to recover and your brain to operate properly. What you eat can either boost your brainpower and bodily function or deplete your mental energy. A healthy diet is the key to releasing cortisol and stress from your body and allows your brain to focus on what you’re studying. With a balanced diet, you’ll be less likely to experience mood swings and energy crashes. It can also be beneficial to limit excess caffeine.
Try Visualizations - Guided imagery or visualizations have proved to be helpful tools. They can help stressed students cope with academic, social, and other stressors. You can do it by sitting in a quiet, comfortable place, imagining a peaceful environment for several minutes. This can have a positive impact on your mental health. A trained therapist can always help you with visualization techniques.
Get Some Exercise - One of the healthiest ways for students to blow off steam is to exercise regularly. Many studies have shown that students who do physical exercise on a regular basis are less prone to stress and mental health issues. While it can be hard to fit exercise into a busy schedule, it can have big benefits in your life.
Learn Meditation - It can be hard for busy students to concentrate. With the help of meditation and mindfulness therapy, students can have increased focus and concentration.
Listen to Music - Who doesn't love music, right? Music is not only a fantastic source of entertainment but a convenient stress reliever, too, with multiple mental benefits. Studies claim that relaxing music helps calm the body and mind and recover quickly from a stressful situation. Listening to music is among the best stress management techniques for students!
Build Your Support Network - Having a strong support network can help manage stress. Cut out regular time to invest in the relationships that are stress-relieving and positive. Go for walks with your friends, take a break from studying, and reset with an encouraging community.
Practice Progressive Muscle Relaxation - one of the best stress management techniques for students. This technique is used to relax the body's muscles, reducing muscle tension and increasing calmness. Practice it by sitting or lying down in a comfortable position. Begin by tensing a muscle group and relaxing the muscle group while focusing on the sensation of relaxation. Continue this technique from your feet to the top of your head, relaxing different muscle groups. It is highly effective in improving sleep, managing anxiety, and relieving stress.
Organize Your Surroundings - Clutter can cause stress and distraction, which in turn can make a student less productive. The distraction from a cluttered space can affect studies and lower grades. So try to keep your space as clean as possible because a clean space means a free and fresh mind that will keep you organized and on the right track.
Be Optimistic - Multiple benefits come from a positive outlook on stress. Positive thoughts can exponentially increase productivity and physical well-being. Optimism can significantly affect your physical and mental health, lessening the chances of developing chronic stress.
Time Management - For students, there’s never enough time in the day. Everything is grabbing at your attention and pulling you in different directions. It’s stressful, and without time management skills, it can be completely overwhelming. If you’re frequently anxious and stressed, scrambling to finish discussion board posts and papers due at midnight, you might benefit from learning better time management techniques. Try maintaining a routine, breaking down tasks into manageable to-dos, time blocking, or Pomodoro.
Give Yourself A Break - You might want to force yourself to study all weekend but without adequate breaks, you won’t be quite as productive. When you feel drained and stressed, take a short break. Go for a walk and clear your head. If eventually you burn out and overwork, you’ll need to take a semester off rather than a short break. Your body will always claim back rest. So do what relaxes your mind; take short breaks, read a book, watch a YouTube video, work on your hobby, or hang out with a friend. Giving yourself a break is essential to stress management.
Learn Breathing Techniques - It can be difficult for students to think clearly and focus when they’re stressed. An easy and quick way to calm yourself down from a panic attack or intense stress is through breathing exercises. Try box breathing or counting while breathing. The best thing about these techniques is that they can be done privately and anywhere. Next time you’re in a line waiting, try a breathing technique: inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 4, and exhale for 4. This activates your body’s natural relaxation response. Notice how you’re calmer and able to think more clearly.
Start Journaling - Journaling has always been a popular opportunity to clear your mind and sort out your thoughts. While journaling trends have come and gone, penning down your daily thoughts remains an easy way to lower and manage stress levels.
Ask for Help - When you feel the stress is not manageable, it’s time to meet with a therapist. Check if your school or college offers any mental health resources. If they have a long waitlist, get on the list, but look for therapists who are covered by your insurance or offer affordable self-pay rates. In therapy, you’ll be able to narrow down what’s causing your stress, how to manage it long-term, and how to prioritize your mental health.
Quick Stress Relief Techniques Students Can Use Right Now
The techniques above might seem like too big of a time commitment. And while they have long-lasting benefits, let’s do something quick. If you only have a few minutes before you need to start studying, these stress relief techniques for students quickly lower stress:
Two to five minutes of breathing exercise
Five to ten minutes of listening to calm music
Five to ten minutes of progressive muscle relaxation
A ten-minute walk or stretch break
For more passive student stress reduction techniques, focus on sleep, your daily nutrition, and time management.
Next Steps for Stress Management
Stress is inevitable in students’ lives and will show up throughout your life. With the help of stress management techniques, though, students can reduce the harmful effects of stress on their mental and physical well-being. If you’re a student, we encourage you to practice these stress management techniques for long-lasting life improvement.
We’d also like to extend our support. Our highly qualified team of therapists offers stress management therapy for students, and we’re currently accepting new clients with no waitlist. Don’t wait until you reach a breaking point because of stress.
If you’re ready to take the next step for your mental health, reach out to our support team to schedule a therapy appointment. Students usually see their therapist within 7 to 10 days of scheduling a therapy appointment.
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