Student Ideas: How to Reduce Stress in College

group of three college students sat on outsde steps at fron tof college building. They are laughing together and looking as though they are stress free

You didn’t assume college life would be so stressful, did you? Students choose courses, attend classes, take exams, and write countless papers. You knew that. You were ready for those responsibilities when you started filling out applications. But now that you’re facing the real experience, you realise it’s more overwhelming than you expected.

Do you know how you’ll handle this?

First step: acknowledge the fact that you’re a victim of college stress. You overthink things. You worry too much about the grades, your friendships, and all those papers.

Now that you’re aware of the problem, it’s time to start doing something about it. We’ll suggest six techniques of stress management for college students. They work!

1. Get Enough Sleep

When you’re stressed, you can’t sleep well. When you don’t sleep well, the levels of stress spike.

Sleep deprivation leads to cognitive impairment. You don’t have energy to stay focused during lectures and reach your full potential while studying.

The habit of staying up late into the night has to stop! Go to bed earlier, so you’ll get at least eight hours of night sleep before the next day starts.

2. Exercise

You don’t have 20-30 minutes for exercise every day? That’s a sign of something being seriously wrong with the way you manage your time. Maybe it’s time to let EduBirdie write your essay and have some time for yourself.

You need a daily activity that sets you free. Jogging around the campus in the morning or evening is the perfect activity! You’ll meet other students who do the same and you’ll enjoy the activity together. You can also go to the gym, sign up for yoga or aerobic classes… choose whatever type of exercise you want. It gives you something extra to do within a day, but it’s something you’ll truly enjoy.

3. Get Emotional Support

Your friends are going through the same struggles as you are. It’s okay to share. You’ll support each other and you’ll realise that whatever happens at college, you don’t have to go through it alone.

If you’re a believer, spirituality and faith can help you feel more confident in yourself. Life is never easy, but when you believe that everything has a higher purpose in life, you’ll focus better.

4. Stay Connected to Home

If you’re away from home for the first time, it’s easy to start feeling disconnected from your family and friends. But as long as you have a video conferencing app on your phone, nothing can stop you from keeping the connections alive.

Call them. Talk to them! Share daily moments and the simple conversation will help you relax.

5. Avoid Relaxing with Alcohol

Repeat this after me: alcohol is no solution to stress.

Remember that!

Yes; a drink or two will help you forget about the problems. But daily consumption of alcohol also disturbs your focus and prevents you from learning well. So you’ll procrastinate. Then, when exam week comes, you’ll feel incapable to cover all that material in a short period of time.

That’s something you don’t want, since it means getting more stressed out.

6. Try Not to Overload Your Schedule    

The goal of managing stress in college is all about time management. You can use Google Calendar or a similar app to schedule exams and classes, and plan your daily activities. But if your daily to-do list is packed with complex tasks, you’ll burn out sooner than you expect.

You can’t focus solely on classes, work, studying, assignments, and exams. No! You need to live your life in between. Hang out with your new friends, allow yourself to love, and engage in your hobbies.

Relax; It’s Just College

When someone older tells you that college was the best period of their life, it seems too hard to believe. But that’s the case for most people. They remember their time at college with a smile on their face. It will be the same for you. But you have to realise that all these struggles will pass and you can persist through them.

College is stressful, but it’s also fun. Find fun things to do without forgetting about your responsibilities to attend classes and study. When you hit the balance, you’ll manage the stress levels. You’ll be a happy and successful college student!

*collaborative post


Author Bio

Robert Everett is an academic researcher, writer, and editor. Writing is his passion, and he believes that any student can get better at it. He frequently shares writing tips through Twitter.

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