Mental Health Corner: The importance of stress management

By Julia Rhea

November marks the “beginning of the end” mark for college students everywhere. With the passing of October exams and onset of Fall break, comes a sense of temporary relief from academic stress.  Soon, preparation for December exams will begin and the fall semester, along with 2018, will be coming to a close. While this change is welcomed by some, it also causes an onset of stress for others. Stress is a very common experience for college students and one of the leading causes of:

• Heart disease
• Emotional distress
• High blood pressure
• Depression

How do college students offset stress while dealing with so many outside factors affecting their day to day lives? They likely utilize stress management techniques. Self-care is just as important as any other maintenance we prioritize for something we’re constantly utilizing. Just as a car needs tune-ups, oil-changes and general TLC, so do we!

Great examples of stress management techniques that help alleviate buildups of stress and tension in the mind and body are:

• Stretching: Scientists say, spending 10 minutes a day stretching will stimulate receptors in the nervous system that decrease the production of stress hormones, as well as help relieve physical tension.
• Meditation and Breathing Exercises:Meditation and breathing techniques have been found to help reduce stress by helping eliminate the large assortment of thoughts and anxieties roaming around in our brains. A very simple, yet effective breathing technique is done by closing your eyes and inhaling for four seconds, holding your breath for seven seconds and exhaling for eight seconds. Repeating this three to four times will result in feeling more at ease mentally and physically.
• Mindfulness Exercises: Mindfulness exercises help alleviate stress by making you more aware of your thoughts and over time, prohibits a stress response from being initiated by events that otherwise would have caused it. A great mindfulness/gratitude exercise to do in your free time, is the GLAD activity. This activity is great for tracking negative thoughts and helping to re-center you emotionally. GLAD is an acronym for the four words: grateful, learned, achieved and delightful. The activity calls for you to make a daily inventory of something you’re grateful for, something you’ve learned that day, something you’ve achieved that day and something that delighted you. By doing this daily and retracting those positive thoughts, you’ll train yourself to process more positive emotions than before.
• Physical Exercise: Exercise reduces levels of the body's stress hormones and produces endorphins, which are chemicals in the brain that are the body's natural painkillers and mood elevators. Ten minutes of cardiovascular exercise, such as jogging or biking, will surely make a difference in your stress level and mood.

While utilizing these stress management exercises are helpful, please remember that the key to eliminating the onset of the feeling is to tackle it early on.

If stress is a major concern for you, please schedule an appointment to speak with a counselor here at Southwest Tennessee Community College. Counseling is available for students by appointment at the Macon campus Tuesdays and Fridays and the Union campus Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Other centers are by appointment only. Call (901) 333-5121 or email jrhea@southwest.tn.edu.