Students' Guide to Managing Stress

STUDENT GUIDE - MANAGING STRESS

Students' Guide to Managing Stress

Jack Wilcox

Veronica Fields

Tina Simmons

Nicholas Sady

Gen 300

Submitted to:

Draza Nikolic. PhD

March 25, 2004

This paper will address three aspects of stress a student may encounter. Those aspects are types of stress, symptoms of stress and managing stress. In the types of stress we cover environmental, physiological and social stressors. In looking at symptoms of stress we cover physical, emotional and cognitive symptoms. We conclude, by discussing managing stress where we cover time management, financial management and life management.

Students' Guide to Managing Stress

In today's corporate world it is advantageous, if not required, for an individual to have some type of degree. Many companies require degrees for advancement and in some cases, require degrees before they will consider you as a perspective employee. Because corporate America is pushing for a degreed workforce, many Americans have found themselves back in the classroom. Most of those people have found that becoming a student can be extremely stressful. Whether that stress is environmental, physiological, social, or a combination of all three is hard to determine. One thing is certain; that not a day goes by that a student does not encounter some form of stress.

Students that decide to attend any form of post education will encounter some form of stress. Our research looked at three major factors of stress. The first is environmental stress. Finding a quiet location where you could relax, read a homework assignment, or even write a paper is rare. Noise, pollution, traffic, crowding, and even the weather (Archer & Carroll, 2003) can play major roles in your study locations. These are examples of the environment's role in stress.

The next type of stress is physiological. Physiological stress includes illness, injuries, hormonal fluctuations, inadequate sleep and nutrition (Archer & Carroll, 2003). The literature indicates that the average age of a college student is increasing. A majority of them have a family to take care of, a full time job, and a full workload of homework. Under these conditions, it is impossible to get a full eight hours of sleep. Taking care of one's body is priority number one. One must take care of themselves by eating right and getting enough sleep in order to avoid the factors of physiological stress.

Finally yet importantly, social stressors affect many college students. Some examples include financial problems, work demands, social events, and losing a loved one (Archer & Carroll, 2003). Students know money a major contributing factor of stress in every individual's life. How are we going to pay next months rent, next semester's tuition, books, food, etc? Stress comes in various types. Whether we realize it or not, students must be able to recognize symptoms of stress in order to know if their body or mind is affected.

"Symptoms of stress appear in many forms. Some symptoms only affect the person who is directly experiencing stress. Other symptoms may have an impact on our relationships with others." (Archer & Carroll, 2003, Stress and College Students, Para 5). This paper discusses the three categories of symptoms one encounters with stress. The first symptom that one might face deals with the physical aspect of their body.

Have you ever worked on a project that gave you a headache after much thought? One might face this physical symptom. Muscular tensions, colds, ulcers and high blood pressure are but a few physical symptoms of stress (Archer & Carroll, 2003). Next are the emotional symptoms.

Have you ever reached a point mentally where you were so overwhelmed you felt you could not go on? This is an example of an emotional symptom of stress. This is one of the most common emotional symptoms that a college student might face. Depression, anger and mood swings (Archer & Carroll, 2003) are also common emotional symptoms encountered when one is stressed. Last but not least are the cognitive symptoms.

Forgetfulness,