Lyons: Tips for dealing with college stress

A new year of college is as stressful as it is exciting: Grades, internships and other obligations will conspire to destabilize students’ lives if they’re not careful. A new year of college is as stressful as it is exciting: Grades, internships and other obligations will conspire to destabilize students’ lives if they’re not careful.

But don’t fret: If you, like many of your peers, are feeling more flustered than a West Virginian in a library, I’m here to help. Below, I’ve enumerated several easy tips for quelling the pressures of college life.

Exercise

According to the Mayo Clinic, there exists a link between physical activity and an improved state of mind: When you exercise, endorphins — so-called “feel-good neurotransmitters” — are released, dispelling stress. Keep this in mind when you opt out of walking up to the Pete to watch a marathon of MTV’s “Teen Mom.” Don’t feel like running or lifting weights? Try something simpler, like taking the steps to your third-floor class or walking to the South Side via South Oakland the next time you see a movie. The research group suggests that exercising regularly is correlated with a better attitude and less stress.

Counseling

If physical activity and sweating aren’t your things, visit the University’s Counseling Center in room 334 of the William Pitt Union. This free service offers both individual and group counseling sessions in which you can share your personal and/or academic concerns with a qualified psychologist or counselor. Meetings are completely confidential. So if you’re stressed after failing that third organic chemistry exam the second time you’ve taken the class, the Counseling Center is a great place to voice your concerns.

Saying No

If these tips don’t diminish your stress level, be more assertive in declining commitments. The Mayo Clinic recently reported that assertive people tend to be more comfortable saying “no” to tasks they do not desire completing, consequently leading to less stress. Those with passive tendencies tend to take on more of others’ workloads so that they can keep everyone happy and often fail to voice their opinions in group settings, considering the group’s consensus more important than their own interests and preferences. This can create internal conflict that results in more stress in the passive person’s life. I’m not saying you should tell your roommate to jump off the Cathedral next time he asks you to participate in his psychology experiment — there is a right and a wrong way to be assertive to avoid conflict  but politely declining might just help you avoid that kind of stress.

Strength in Numbers

If none of the previously listed methods work, you can always take comfort in knowing that the stress you’re experiencing is hardly unique and you can easily form a support group. A study published in the College Student Journal found that the majority of stresses students faced resulted from common daily changes — shifting social activities, sleeping and eating habits or intended areas of study; increased class workloads and new responsibilities — rather than major life developments. For those of you who are new to the college scene, you will more than likely experience most, if not all, of these hassles at the beginning of a new year — each of these changes were stressful to roughly three-quarters of the students who participated in the College Student Journal study. So talk to your peers. There’s a good chance that they will actually share concerns and stressors similar to your own, especially at the beginning of the year. In other words, you probably aren’t the only roommate in your house or dorm that is anxious as a result of the lack of sleep you’ve all been getting due to using StumbleUpon.com or Sporcle until the wee hours of the morning.

From a personal standpoint, I can say that when stress starts to get to me, I take a step back and remember that my current problems will likely pale in comparison to what comes afterward. At the end of the day, we only have four years to worry about changes in college life before it’s off to the “real world.” To be honest, I’d rather be apprehensive about whether Ke$ha’s next album will be as sLeAzY as her last one than waste precious time worrying about small changes when I could be enjoying what little time I have with my friends.