Stress Management
Stress Management 101
A string of 3 STEM classes over the next 5 hours. A huge, time-sensitive experiment this afternoon. A meeting to lead tonight. Two midterms tomorrow and the next day. Oftentimes, life can be stressful – especially as you juggle so many different aspects of college life. We’d be wrong if we said no one has been stressed before.
The goal of this guide is to help you understand that stress is completely normal and is something that can be managed, even when it seems overwhelming to the point where you may think it’s impossible to maintain balance during the busiest season of the semester.
What is Stress?
In simple terms, stress is a physiological and mental response to external demands or challenges. Stress can be short-term (caused by daily responsibilities like studying for a test) or long-term (spawned from sudden, negative change, such as losing a job). Although you may have heard that “some stress is good for you,” chronic stress can negatively impact multiple aspects of our health, including how well we fight germs, digest food, pump blood, and sleep at night.
This is why it is super important to be aware – to be mindful – of how your mind and body responds to stress. Are you having trouble sleeping? Feeling down, mentally or physically, more often? Recognizing these responses will be essential to understanding that there are small, but often significant, lifestyle changes you could implement to even help prevent stress from taking a larger toll on your mind and body.
Mindful Self-Care
Ensuring you practice mindful self-care, an everyday process of being aware of and attending to your basic physiological and emotional needs, could help reduce and prevent stress. A consistent practice of mindful self-care can help to boost productivity.
Assessing your self-care behavior
Use the following link to take the Mindful Self-Care Scale (MSCS), a 5 minute questionnaire that helps you to understand your current self-care behavior. One thing to note: the scale was created for medical professionals (e.g., nurses, doctors, EMTs). However, the main purpose is to help you pinpoint areas of strength and weakness in how you attend to your basic physiological and emotional needs, how you manage the small and large stressors in your life, and to suggest effective strategies to help improve self-care.
Domains of self-care
Self-care can be measured and bucketed into six main domains, which are shown in the table below. Also included are some tips to help support each domain of self-care to best manage your stress.
Mindful Relaxation – Calm your mind and relax for a moment. Small acts of mindful relaxation can create a summative impact on your well-being.
● Listen. Take some time to listen to music, a podcast, or a quick guided meditation.
● Read. Challenge yourself to one chapter a day – it shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes. Enjoy a great book.
● Connect. Find time to talk to, take a walk with, eat with, watch a movie with friends or family.
Physical Care – Involves your eating, hydration, and physical activity practices. A healthy body’s response to stress is better than an unhealthy body’s stress response.
● Hydration. Try to drink at least 6 cups of water daily. Get a reusable water bottle
● Food. Ensure you’re eating protein, veggies, and healthy fats. It’s okay to sometimes treat yourself.
● Exercise. Try to get 20-30 minutes of physical activity every other day. Even a 15 minute walk everyday is beneficial to your health.
● Plan. Like your other commitments, schedule your physical activities for yourself or participate in scheduled sports, yoga, or dance classes.
Self-Compassion & Purpose – Don’t see this as chessy; it’s super important. Sometimes, we are the hardest on ourselves, so it’s important to be compassionate with yourself and to understand your self-worth.
● Gratitude. Write down 3 things you are grateful for (or think about 3 gratitudes before you go to sleep).
● Express. Take some time to journal your thoughts/feelings. Or, you can reach out to someone to share a high and low about your day. Supportive and positive self-talk also helps a lot.
● Remind Yourself. Remember that both challenges and failures are normal – everyone experience roadblocks and difficulties
Supportive Relationships – Having more supportive & rewarding relationships is linked to better mental health and general wellbeing.
● Reach out. Consider reaching out to the OSCC to find a counselor or therapist to listen and support you in your challenges. Reach out to your family or friends to talk about anything you’re facing.
● Reflect. Think about your relationships and how you might spend more time with people with whom you are your best and healthiest self, and less time with those with whom you feel stressed, challenged, or overwhelmed.
● Have Fun. Make plans with those you care about most that are fun!
Supportive Structure – This relates to the impact environmental factors have on you, and how you make your environment more supportive.
● Set Boundaries. Allocate some “me” time, understanding that it’s okay to say “no” sometimes when things become overwhelming. Be sure to be communicative of your situation and others should be able to understand you.
● Organization. Make your workspace or living space organized, relaxing, and comforting to best support your productivity and relaxation, respectively.
● Simplify. Control your schedule, finding ways to make it more accommodating to you.
● Set Tech Limits. This one’s hard for everyone – but try to reduce your screen time, especially before you go to bed. This can help with reducing information overload.
Mindful Awareness – How cognizant are you about how you’re feeling and your thoughts? The practice of mindfulness involves actively being present and aware of your emotions and behaviors.
● Reflect. Consider areas of your work or personal life where you may be taking on too much.
● Take Breaks. When you have multiple tasks, tackle one at a time and take short breaks (5-minutes).
● Don’t Rush. During your next meal, be fully present when eating and drinking. This means of healthy focusing could help take your mind off other stressors.
● Meditate. Even sitting for five minutes with your eyes closed and paying attention to your breath can help you center yourself throughout a busy day.
Two Myths About Stress Management & Self-Care
“Self-care is overly time consuming.” Although there are times when practicing self-care could take, let’s say, a chunk of your Sunday morning (e.g., nature hike), a lot of self-care practices do not take up a significant amount of time. A lot of the tips presented above are hopefully conducive to a busy college student’s schedule.
“Self-care is a one-time thing.” This ties in with the first myth – people believe self-care is time consuming so, therefore, it should be a “one-time” thing. However, even integrating 10-15 minutes of self-care everyday is beneficial to your health and wellbeing.
Final Words
It may seem challenging to implement some of the practices that were mentioned in this guide, especially as you juggle research, classes, extracurriculars, maintaining relationships, and the other things going on in your life. However, integrating self-care in your daily life can definitely help with reducing stress, improving well-being, and supporting a positive mindset.
––––
Sources
University of Buffalo. Mindful Wellness Assessment. http://ed.buffalo.edu/mindful-assessment.html
Canadian Mental Health Association. Beneath the surface: Self-care myths and facts. https://cmha.ca/beneath-the-surface-self-care-myths-and-facts/
Cook-Cottone & Guyker (2018). The Development and Validation of the Mindful Self-Care Scale (MSCS): an Assessment of Practices that Support Positive Embodiment. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12671-017-0759-1
