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.
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)
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
