College is stressful and that seems to be something that all students can agree on. Whether it is the day-to-day stress of getting homework in on time or the massive panic students feel around finals, most everyone experienced some sort of stress during their college years. Is it getting to be too much?
With school work, homework, internships, jobs and everything else students have to deal with, they can get over stressed very easily and it is showing. In a 2012 survey of college students by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 64 percent of students who dropped out said it was for a mental health related reason.
Professors and employers are asking a lot of students and it is having a negative effect on students and their stress levels.
“I work on campus and I also have a job back home,” Sarah Davis, English and secondary education major, said. “A few hours here and there doesn’t seem like a lot until suddenly an extra hour is all you needed to finish that paper.”
Students also find it difficult to balance everything they have to do, which just adds to the massive amount of pressure they are under.
“It isn’t my hardest class or job or life outside of school [that causes the most stress.] It’s a combination of everything,” Davis said. “Just when I think I almost have a handle on one aspect of life, another area always throws a curveball.”
Even though students have to deal with all of this pressure and stress, they have found good ways of coping with it.
Many students like going to the gym or working out to de-stress. Other students take “me time,” where they go shopping, get themselves pampered or even just hang out with friends.
“I’m also a huge supporter of naps, Davis said. “My roommates laugh because if I have ten minutes that I can’t get something else done during then I will take that time to snooze. It’s amazing how much a quick nap can really work against the feelings of stress.”
“For me time, I like to listen to music or watch Netflix,” Mary Kate Moran, junior education major, said. “I like to take a deep breath, close my eyes and just try to let go of what is worrying me the most.”
Many students also like to allot themselves one or two “mental health days” per semester. Those are days where students take off from class and from work and just relax and work on their mental health.
“I think relaxation is very important for college students because if we do not take time to rest, we miss out on some of the fun ‘non-stress’ experiences in college,” Moran said.
It seems that stress is just another part of going to college, but it does not mean that students are going to let it take over their lives.
“Making time to relax is the only way to survive college,” Davis said. “A little bit of stress is normal and can even be motivating, but too much is destructive. Everything in moderation, because too much time chilling can cause even more stress, but just a little bit of relaxation can be rejuvenating enough for us to tackle whatever life throws at us.”
