Stress
Everyone experiences stress throughout their life. It's a normal side effect of having various responsibilities, busy schedules, heavy workloads, and balancing a social life. While stress can provide benefits in short bursts, too much stress can be harmful, especially when it occurs over long periods of time without rest.
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Acute vs Chronic Stress
Acute
Short term stress that can help someone perform everyday activities or brief challenges (for example, getting the motivation and energy to start or finish a project)
Chronic
Long term stress that is not beneficial in completing tasks and can be debilitating or exhausting (see below for some signs of chronic stress)
Symptoms of Chronic Stress
Physical
- Racing heart or chest pains
- Exhaustion
- Trouble sleeping
- Muscle tension or jaw clenching
- Stomach or digestive problems
- Weak immune system
Mental
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Irritability
- Trouble concentrating
Behavioral
- Excessive technology use
- Eating too much or too little
- Increased use of alcohol, tobacco, drugs
- Withdrawing from others
- Burnout
Strategies for Reducing Chronic Stress
- Consistency is key (small walks every day will probably be more beneficial than an intense workout once a week)
- Putting your body in its resting state as much as possible (physical activity, enough sleep, nutritious foods, relaxing hobbies, etc can all help with this)
- Strong, genuine social connections with friends and family
- Being around nature (seeing trees, bodies of water, etc.)
- Maintaining beneficial habits in all 8 dimensions of wellness on a daily basis (see below for ideas)
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Using Wellness to Combat Stress
- Experience positive emotions like optimism, spirituality, hopefulness, gratitude, happiness, creativity, perseverance, justice, meaning and purpose, as well as the practice of free will
- Think of something that made you laugh recently
- Tell someone a joke
- Practice mindfulness
- being in the moment can help negative thoughts or worries from taking over
- Genuinely smile
- Check out the emotional wellness page for more resources
- Go outside in nature (even 10 minutes can help reduce stress)
- Check out the environmental wellness page for more resources
- Seek out resources like...
- the Office of Financial Aid
- make a CARE referral
- Replenish
- Money Smart Lakers
- Check out the financial wellness page for more resources
- Give yourself brain breaks (either draw a picture or do something creative if you're doing logical thinking, or do a puzzle or something logical if you've been doing a lot of creative thinking)
- Check out the intellectual wellness page for more resources
- Do some time management
- Write a To Do list
- Figure out your top priorities
- Time-block your day(s) so that each to-do is covered
- Check out the occupational wellness page for more resources
- Get adequate, quality sleep (7-9 hours is recommended for adults-- check out our sleep and naps page for more information)
- Eat a balanced diet (including whole grains, fruits/vegetables, protein, and healthy fats)
- Check out the physical wellness page for more resources
- Keep up your social connections
- Text or call a friend
- Send a letter to a loved one
- Say hi to someone on the bus
- Check out the social wellness page for more resources
- Everyone has their own way of staying well spiritually (praying, meditating or volunteering are all examples)
- Meditation has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, and it actually physically changes our brains!
- Here is a 1 minute meditation video to get you started
- Check out the spiritual wellness page for more resources
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