Stress is the body’s reaction to feeling challenged and overwhelmed. As a College student, it’s easy for stress to build up in your life that you may have not dealt with before. The changes and newfound independence of starting College can be exciting, but can also cause a lot of pressure. That’s on top of all the emotions and stress of being a teenager when your brain is still developing and growing! Stress is a part of our everyday lives at any age, but understanding how to deal with it can make life a lot easier. So here are some tips on how to de-stress as a student!
Understand why:
Becoming stressed is the easy part, but figuring out what is causing the stress and what the best solutions are isn’t always so obvious. Taking the time to tune into your emotions and figure out what it is that’s causing you to be stressed, whether it’s an upcoming assignment that’s due or struggling to settle into the new College routine. No matter what it is, taking a moment to recognise the cause of stress it is the first step towards dealing with those emotions and having a clearer idea of how to approach it.
Take time doing what you love:
Starting College comes with a lot of new responsibilities and expectations, with this it’s easy to get into a routine where you don’t have much personal time. Making sure you make time to do things that you love such as a hobby, or socialising with friends is just as important as other activities in your weekly schedule. Planning to do things you enjoy can be a great motivator through the week as well as a way of feeling less overwhelmed when you are looking forward to something positive. As well as this, doing what you love is a part of self-care and can keep your mental wellbeing happy. A great way of fitting time like this into your schedule can be getting involved in the enrichment activities offered in the College. There are various types of activities that fit to many interests, so it’s worth having a look! Enrichment (sharepoint.com)
Practice some breathing exercises:
Becoming stressed can be physically overwhelming as well as mentally. Learning some simple breathing exercises can help to calm you physically, which will subsequently help to calm your mind down too. It’s an efficient way of calming yourself down in a short amount of time and can help clear your mind to understand what it is you need to do to be less stressed.
Follow this link to learn about how to do some different breathing exercises and how they can help 10 Breathing Exercises to Try: For Stress, Training, and Lung Capacity (healthline.com) .
Other physical practices such as meditation and yoga are great ways to help manage your mind in your free time. This will help prepare you mentally for stressful situations that may occur and train your mind to handle your emotions. You can find some helpful yoga positions for stress by following this link Yoga for Stress: Breath, Poses, and Meditation to Calm Anxiety (healthline.com)
Healthy lifestyle habits:
As a student it’s easy to fall into unhealthy habits such as having a poor sleeping pattern, eating unhealthy food or spending too much time looking at a screen, but factors such as these can have a significant impact on stress levels. Maintaining healthy habits physically will hugely benefit your mental health too.
We would recommend having a realistic schedule with time for study, work, personal time, and a healthy sleeping pattern. Doing regular exercise and eating food that is good for you will also help to lower rates of stress and will help you to unwind. Sticking to these habits can often avoid a lot of stress occurring. Stress is not completely avoidable, but having healthy habits can make a big difference .At Middlesbrough College we are always here to support our students and will help you to take care of your wellbeing. If you want further support, or need someone to talk to, don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Middlesbrough College counselling service. This is free and confidential for all of our students. Find out more: Counselling | Student Support | Student Services | Middlesbrough College (mbro.ac.uk)