Students, regardless of their level, experience stress that negatively impacts various aspects of their lives, including mental and physical health, grades, happiness, and relationships. Studies have shown that teenagers show stress levels similar to that of adults. Directly or indirectly, stress affects students’ health-related elements: sleep patterns, workout routine, healthy diet, etc., which further degrades health. According to a survey conducted by APA (American Psychological Association), more than half of the students revealed doing three hours of homework at nighttime in addition to an intensive day at school with fully packed classes and extracurriculars. It clearly explains what leads students to chronic stress. Before jumping onto the top 7 stress management techniques for students, let’s look at the primary stress-causing factors.
Common Causes of Stress in Students
Studies also reveal that school and related activities lead to stress that continues to college and becomes a deep-rooted mental health problem, which results in academic disengagement. Here are the most common sources of stress in students:
- School
- Homework
- Social interactions
- Changes (e.g., moving out, graduation, living a solo life, etc.)
- Relationships
- Work
Being a high school student naturally welcomes stress in your life. A high schooler continually worries about the competition over grades, being good at extracurriculars, acing college entrance exams, making life-changing decisions for the future, deciding on a career, etc. Along with this, high schoolers also have to face social challenges frequently.
All of this stress comes along in college, but the intensity differs. A college student always feels stressed while making new friends, handling work, living independently without parental backup, and dealing with romantic relationships. All of this damages the health of students and creates never-ending problems.
Here are the top 7 stress management techniques for students that will help relieve stress:
1. Fix your sleep schedule
Due to hectic schedules, students usually skip sleeping to get work done. Unfortunately, it exposes them to many potential risks and disadvantages. Sleep deprivation makes it difficult to be productive, and learning is interrupted.
Therefore, don’t ignore your sleep and get a minimum of 8 hours of sleep to ensure that your brain functions properly. It is also suggested to take power naps throughout the day to enhance your working capacity.
2. Practice Visualization
Visualization helps in lowering stress levels as it provides a calming effect. In addition, guided imagery also disconnects you from stress-causing scenarios. You can practice visualization to imagine scoring high points on tests or giving a good presentation, and it will leave an optimistic effect on your mind, turning off the body’s stress response.
3. Workout Regularly
Working out is another way to cut off stress from your day. Exercises like yoga, morning walks to university/school, cycling, or running on a treadmill with a friend are great stress relievers for students. Start exercising regularly and continue this habit to enjoy a stress-free life.
4. Take Deep Breaths
Sometimes your body suddenly enters a stress zone that detaches you from reality. You can’t think clearly at that moment, but all you have to do is breathe deeply. Virtually, you can do it anywhere within two to three minutes. Furthermore, it also helps lower anxiety during tests and when stress becomes irresistible.
5. Listen to calming music
Music is another example of a stress reliever with various cognitive benefits. It calms down your mind and stimulates oxytocin that increases happiness levels and puts you in a positive mood while reducing stress. Students can play classical music in the background when doing homework. Waking up to upbeat music also proves to be helpful. Choose melodies that soothe your brain and play them whenever you feel the need.
6. Eat healthy food
It may not be well-known, but your food intake is responsible for either boosting your brainpower or sucking it up. Eating a healthy diet isn’t only a stress manager. It improves your problems like lightheadedness, mood swings, etc.
7. Organize
An unorganized and dirty environment adds to your stress and lowers your efficiency. Students living in cluttered spaces negatively affect their grades. That’s why to eliminate stress from your daily life, ensure that your surroundings are clean and organized, and your study desk should be minimal to maximize productivity.
Besides directly removing stress, having an organized space benefits you in various other ways. It saves your time finding misplaced items and helps strengthen your relationship with your roommate. A clean study area motivates students to prepare for the test.
8. Think Positively and Make affirmations
Research shows that optimistic people obtain favorable results according to their desires because positive thinking brings good outcomes in many aspects, including relationships, grades in school, health, etc.
Understand how to have positive self-talk and make encouraging affirmations that lead you to a brighter future.