Students blog

Stress is a part of everyday life in college, whether it be from living on your own for the first time or trying to figure out these seemingly impossible college classes. Certain classes within your chosen major can make you rethink your decision, but with the right healthy habits in and outside of the classroom, it can make excelling in these classes all that much easier.

Correlation Of Various College Major and Stress Levels

I interviewed upperclassmen college students on my campus, all with varying majors, to see what they do to help with everyday college stress and what advice they would like to give future freshmen. I interviewed several upperclassmen with majors such as Biomedical Science, General Business, Kinesiology, and my own Animal Science. Overall, the majors that centered around teaching, kinesiology, and general business had a lower stress environment; while the majors centered around science or math, like animal science and biomedical science had a very high stress environment. No matter the specific major, stress can hit at any moment, and it can be pretty jarring.

Spending Time with Those That Make You Happy

There are many different ways to help deal with this or help prevent too much stress in the future. My friend majoring in kinesiology enjoys spending time outside playing sports with his friends. He also enjoys spending time with their family at church or meditating with friends.

Stay On Schedule with Your Studies

My friend majoring in biomedical science likes to help prevent future stress by paying special attention to her study schedule. In addition to in-class time, she schedules at least 2 hours of study time for each class each week, sometimes more. She says this keeps her up-to-date on all the new information making her more confident in her knowledge on the subject which makes her calmer and less stressed in the long run.

Enjoy and Perfect Your Talents

My friend majoring in general business has a different type of stress management technique; he loves to play the drums and perfect his skill with new songs. He also loves to hang out with his friends or play video games. Being around people you love like a close friend or family member is a wonderful way to destress. Just talking about how you feel and what you are worried over helps relieve pressure and can bring a clearer mindset to get back to work.

Get Outside

My personal way to help relieve prevalent stress in my major is to spend time outside. Taking a walk; being in fresh air, walking around watching nature, is very therapeutic and can also help you see different ways to solve problems. Another way that I have found to help is to take a break and focus on yourself. Making a meal, doing some skincare, or taking a shower are great ways to take your mind out of what you are stressed over and put it in a more relaxed state. You will feel more refreshed and will have a clean slate to start again.

It is safe to say it is easy for students new to living on their own to be drawn to the poorer choices in stress management on a whim because they weren’t expecting some resistance in their studies. Making good habits early and plans for when a certain class or just life is getting too hard is how you can build lifelong habits that are amazing for your health both physically and mentally. I hope you can find a stress management system that works for you and that you try some of the ideas to help these stressful school years.

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us – click here to pitch your idea and get started! 

As a first-generation college student, I struggled to balance my personal well-being, social interaction, and academic life. I was not prepared to handle the stress to perform academically, to feel accepted while also dealing with racial disparities, and dealing with financial concerns to pay for school while also taking on jobs to meet other financial obligations. It became a never-ending cycle to achieve a sense of balance between being a proactive full-time student while also working full-time to provide for myself.

On the plus side, I acquired relevant work experience, developed self-sufficiency and transferrable life skills. However, due to the fear of failure, limited free time, loneliness, and high levels of stress, this resulted in severe social anxiety. I was always exhausted from trying to perfect myself intellectually and monetarily and had entirely disregarded my self-confidence, mental health, and spiritual needs. I realized that prioritizing healthy habits that brought me joy and peace was the only way I could begin accepting and loving myself.

Peace Within

To get more in-tune with my body and my own power, each week I practice releasing endorphins in the gym, followed by a great long stretch. Once a week, I put aside time to prepare meals so that I may always eat for my muscles, stomach, and brain. To lift my spirits, I make sure to listen to powerfully uplifting speakers like Pastor Mike McClure Jr., Judge Lynn Toler, and Robert T. Kiyosaki. The Big Brother Big Sister youth program is where I socially volunteer to utilize my creativity and inspire the future generation. Lastly, I joined the newly established dance team at my university that’s filled with excitement and community. I learned to not worry about things that I could not control, and to accept the things that make me who I am. I had to learn to love me.

Owning My Power

It took a tremendous amount of will and perseverance to adopt a new lifestyle. In the past I kept reminding myself, with a connotation of defeat, that I must carry out said obligations. This mindset made daily tasks feel like an immortal chore. Instead, I know that I am rewarding myself and that I have been given the freedom to carry out different tasks throughout the day. Giving myself permission to constantly practice my best self has a more positive connotation. I have been granted the opportunity to check items off my daily to-do list, and I am fortunate to do so. I stand up straighter and am satisfied to embrace the person I've been suppressing. Today my soul is completely nurtured.

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us – click here to pitch your idea and get started! 

Managing day-to-day college life can be a tough time, from managing time commitments, striving to stay organized, maintaining relationships, and even meeting that 11:59 pm deadline. Constantly trapped in your mind with so many thoughts, you just want that one moment of relaxation. Here are five tips/ways to de-stress: 

Meditate

Meditation is scientifically proven to help decrease stress and promote an overall wellbeing. If you are a beginner, starting out is very simple; you can look up “guided meditation” videos and/or audios to help move you through the tranquil process. Most videos or audios range from five to fifteen minutes. Choose what fits into the time you have available.

Take Breaks

Another way is just to take a break. Even though this seems like a cliche, it seriously helps you clear your mind off your task. Stress can take over not just our mental, but our physical health as well. Just by taking a few minutes away for yourself, you can do certain things that you enjoy such as: listening to music, taking a bubble bath, doing a facemask, or even calling up a friend. These few alone-time minutes can seriously help you and your mental health.

Get Moving

Move around and keep your body active to de-stress! While exercising, your body releases positive hormones called endorphins, which means that it’ll help you feel less stressed. There are many ways of exercising, whichever one you choose to partake in, your stress levels will slowly but surely decrease. Take a walk around your campus, enroll in a dance class, or go to your local gym for an hour or two. 

Unplug From Your Devices

Another tip is “unplugging”. This is one I personally struggle with sometimes. To “unplug” is to move away or turn off the electronic device that’s distracting you from the task at hand. Since Gen-Z grew up with this type of technology, it’s a little difficult to take it out of our lives even just for a couple of minutes. We’re so used to looking at the blue light, waiting for a notification from our favorite person or influencer. Simply putting your phone in the “do not disturb” feature or silencing it will help you not worry about it as much.

Journal

Lastly, step away from a stress-filled situation to spend a few minutes journaling. Writing your thoughts down can help increase positive thinking and even help you better understand yourself. If you not sure where to start, search online for many different interesting prompts to help you on your journaling journey. 

Overall, stress is something all college students experience and strive to manage. I hope these de-stress tips helped you out!

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us – click here to pitch your idea and get started! 

College can be exciting, stressful, fun, and overwhelming all at the same time. Enjoying your time spent in your college years while also taking advantage of the opportunities that are available to you is extremely important. Many of us juggle a part-time job or sport with a demanding class schedule that leaves us asking “how do I manage my stress during a time like this?” Here are some tips to help you balance all the pieces of your college life whether you’re an incoming freshman or you’re planning to graduate in the spring.

Relieve Stress by Writing

I have made a habit of journaling to help myself decompress during the week. Journaling can be extremely helpful for alleviating stress and anxiety. Some things I love to journal about are my goals, positive affirmations, and sometimes just thoughts to help organize my ideas. Starting your day off with journaling can help you begin your day in a positive manner.

Sweat Away the Stress

Working out during the week through an activity that’s fun for you can be a great way to let off some steam. Some ways you can do this are by taking a walk/jogging around campus, attending a workout class with some friends, or simply trying a new hobby like hiking or biking. Everyone likes working out in different ways and so there’s no wrong way to get your exercise in.

Fight the F.O.M.O.

Schedule time for yourself to enjoy moments with the people that are important to you. The “fear of missing out” is a common feeling among college students and can make handling multiple responsibilities nearly impossible. I have found that scheduling a dinner with your roommates once a week or coffee with a friend can make even the most chaotic weeks enjoyable and easier to get through. The people you surround yourself with are the people who help you become who you’re striving to be; don’t let those important relationships pass you by. However, it is also important to keep in mind that you shouldn’t stress about missing certain events, it won’t matter to you in the future and there will most likely be another opportunity just like it.

The ultimate key to managing stress during college is not expecting yourself to do a million things at once. Just remember it’s okay to take some things off your plate if you feel overwhelmed or unable to complete everything you’re responsible for. College is all about taking advantage of opportunities and helping yourself become the best version of yourself possible. This takes patience, mistakes, and practice. Taking care of yourself is the first step to becoming successful at anything else. It is extremely important to value your mental and physical health before prioritizing your other responsibilities.

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us – click here to pitch your idea and get started! 

As the semester ends it means finals are slowly approaching, and there's something everyone shares from this: stress, anxiety, and the feeling of being overwhelmed. Everyone should be learning to de-stress from the finals, take a step back and breathe. It's important to remember that it's completely natural to feel stress and anxiety in ourselves but those shouldn’t stop us from obtaining peace. It can all start with taking breaks from social media, taking care of your body, taking some time to unwind and relax, and connecting with friends and family.

Like you, I also become overwhelmed with stress when finals approach; it leaves me restless and unable to properly focus. I've realized now though that taking some time to destress isn’t a bad thing. Here are three techniques I do when I'm filled with anxiety.

Meditate

First and most importantly, maintaining a clear and calm mindset can get you up and going and could help you finish strong. It could start with you in your room. Set up your space to be clean and peaceful. Ordering your surroundings can help order your mind. Adding plants to your space can help decrease stress and promote a more meditative environment. Meditation is a common practice along with yoga and prayer that can help your mind and body.

Get Moving

Another approach you can attempt is exercise, staying fit and being active can let you destress, it can also apply to taking a walk, jog or quick run. Eating well and getting enough sleep helps maintain the best health. A healthy body promotes a healthy mind too.

Unplug

Unplugging from social media could be one of the best escapes to destress, even if it's for a short period of time. You can listen to music or spend time on one of your hobbies. Try something new. One thing about social media is the novelty it brings. Our brain craves that. If we give it novelty outside of social media, we can still satisfy that while experiencing new things.

These are just suggestions; you can change it to fit your liking. But remember – stress only happens when you feel you must figure everything out at once. Just take a deep breath and move forward. For more tips on how to handle anxiety and stress, visit this blog.

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us – click here to pitch your idea and get started! 

Stress is not inherently a bad thing. Stress can be a good motivator and can help you be productive. No one lives a completely stress-free life. The important thing to recognize is when your stress begins to take over everyday tasks and becomes counter-productive. If your stress begins to impinge on your ability to complete daily tasks or if it becomes debilitating, it’s well past the point of you having to talk to someone. Here are four things students can do to manage stress.

Evaluate The Semester

First, understand that semesters are variable and can range from overwhelming to easy. It is not forever, even though it may seem that way, and you will get through it. Lowering your expectations for school and concentrating more on improving your life balance to improve your stress will work wonders for your mental well-being.

If you are working while also enrolled in school, try to see if you can reduce your work hours for your busiest school weeks or around big projects. Go over your semester with your boss and see if you can work around difficult weeks. Perhaps you can drop a shift here or there or take a few fewer hours and make up for it later. Trying to balance too many things at once is one of the leading causes of stress and the simplest solution is almost always the best: do less!

Have a Game Plan

Maximizing your available time is another key tip in reducing the stress you feel when your plate is full. Getting a scheduler and planning out your week, hour by hour or day by day can help you feel more in control of your life. You can see what you must complete and can more easily schedule more downtime. That could mean you take a half-hour/hour each day to go for a walk or run, read, hang out with friends, go to the gym, watch tv, or just zone out. Make sure you are actively scheduling your time!

Use Your Resources

One of the hardest things to do when you are feeling overwhelmed is to reach out for help. This means going to your professor's office hours when you don't understand a concept in class. This means heading over to your wellness center and talking to a counselor about your stress. This means participating in campus activities or club events. This means seeking out workshops dedicated to making you a better student. Utilize the resources on your campus that are there to make your life easier!

Study for Mastery

Lastly, studying more efficiently can reduce the amount of time it feels like you’re spending on tasks. Don't spend 4 hours studying what could be learned in 20 min. One of the worst ways that you can study is simply by re-reading the material. Instead, try writing out your notes again or writing them in a different format; even better yet, explain your notes to a friend! Mastery of a subject comes when you can explain it to someone else. For math or science-heavy subjects, the only way to study is by practicing questions repeatedly, so get extra questions from your professor or online.

Putting these tips into practice can be much harder than just reading about them. It is important to take small, incremental steps and make sure you aren’t overwhelming yourself all at once.

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us – click here to pitch your idea and get started! 

It is easy for college students to feel overwhelmed while juggling classes, study sessions, a job, and a social life, not to mention preparing for a future after college. But it can also be an incredibly exciting and wonderful time! Prioritizing mental health is so important for college students. Finding ways to help manage stress and relieve anxiety will have such a healthy impact on your overall health and wellness, and it will make your college experience all the better.

One easy way that you can improve your mental health and wellbeing is caring for a houseplant. There are many ways that plants can better your overall health and wellbeing. Owning a plant has been shown to:

• lower stress and anxiety
• improve mood
• give you a greater sense of purpose and responsibility
• improve productivity
• increase attention span
• and improve air quality!

Reduce Stress Levels

How can one plant do all of this? Well to start, having plants around you makes you feel more relaxed, comfortable, and can reduce your physiological and psychological stress. Researchers found that students in a computer lab who were surrounded by plants had lower blood pressure than those who had no plants. Plants can make you feel less stressed, happier, and more optimistic. Watching a plant grow and admiring its beauty will instantly improve your mood.

Increase Brain Function

Studies have also shown that plants improve productivity and increase attention span, two things that all college students want in their life! Houseplants engage your senses, decreasing cortisol levels and increasing productivity. In one specific study, brain scans of students in a classroom showed that students who studied with real plants in the classroom were more attentive and concentrated better than those who did not have plants around them. Having a plant in your room allows for studying better and longer.

Become a Plant Parent

If you’re new to plant ownership, look for plants that need little maintenance, such as aloe vera, spider or snake plants, and succulents. Caring for a plant will give you a sense of responsibility and will improve your overall confidence. It strengthens your bond with nature and gives you a stronger sense of purpose.

It may be intimidating at first to be in charge of keeping a plant alive, but it is way easier than you might have thought. Once your plant starts growing and flourishing it will encourage you to continue the pattern of caring and helping it grow. And the wonderful thing is that the plant gives back by improving your air quality. It does so by removing carbon dioxide from the air and replacing it with oxygen. Having a plant allows you to gain a greater sense of purpose as well as cleaner air to breathe.

There are many things you can do to benefit your mental health, and owning a plant is just one of them. Even if you live in a small dorm or apartment, all you need is a little bit of sunlight and a small plant that doesn’t take up a lot of space. It is that simple! You can visit a local nursery or any home improvement store and find a plant for less than $10. You are one small action away from becoming a plant parent and a happier college student. Stress less and own a plant!

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us – click here to pitch your idea and get started! 

As the Spring semester gets into full swing, stress and anxiety can begin to creep into every college student’s day-to-day life. Here are ten simple ways to help you shift your mindset, feel relaxed & have better outcomes.

1. Spend a quick minute saying gratitude statements for all you currently have. 
2. Keep a journal to help you process anxious feelings. It doesn’t have to be lengthy; even setting aside 3-5 minutes to write each day can be beneficial.
3. Try meditation and mindful breathing to help rejuvenate and refresh your outlook. There are many free apps that can help guide you through this process. If you have very little space in your day, try doing it when you first wake up or as the last thing you do before you go to bed. 
4. Reframe how you talk to yourself. Your words have energy so telling yourself, “I can’t do it” will negatively affect your motivation and performance. Say instead, “I can do it, I am here to try...” to help bring about a positive change to your attitude.
5. Big exams can bring about big stress levels. Along with studying ahead of time, be prepared to combat text anxiety on exam day. Get plenty of rest and have some relaxation exercises at the ready, such as deep breathing.
6. Take a hot shower to help you to feel relaxed.
7. Reward yourself when you accomplish short goals. Treat yourself with a favorite snack after a study session or build in time to socialize with friends after finishing a big assignment.
8. Reach out to friends or mentors. Staying connected to others either through a virtual chat or getting together in person can boost your mood and renew your motivation.
9. Remember that tomorrow is a new day. Don’t waste your energy worrying about what you did not do. Look ahead and vow to try your best going forward.
10. Be thankful that each day is a new opportunity.

Finally, keep in mind that college students face daily stressors and academic demands that can potentially aggravate mental health issues. Don’t be afraid to seek a therapist to talk with and help you find useful tools to use when you are not in your comfort zone. Contact your campus health services to find out what resources are offered.

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us – click here to pitch your idea and get started! 

Having a bad day or feeling stressed? Why not take a trip to the hair salon? A new hair style could be just the “pick me up” you need. College students can always use a way to unwind from the stress of their classes and exams. Popular options are working out, meditating, socializing with friends, or treating yourself at a local coffee shop. Who needs an iced coffee when you could just get a new hairdo?!

A 2-for-1 deal

Hair stylists should be celebrated for their great works. They often double as both a beautician and a therapist – it’s a 2-for-1 deal! They not only cater to the needs of your hair but also to your soul. In fact, getting your hair done can be very therapeutic. On those days when it feels like whatever could go wrong, does go wrong, a visit to the hair salon can leave you feeling renewed.

A listening ear

When you close your eyes and lay your head back to get washed, it is like all your problems have vanished. You take a deep inhale, exhale, and release the weight of the world that was on your shoulders when you walked through the door. The appointment progresses, you engage in conversation, your stylist works their magic, In the process, they are the listening ear you have been needing. Then there is a big reveal. You leave not only less stressed, but also as a happy customer with a newfound confidence.

With so much going on today, college students need to find ways to destress and rejuvenate themselves. As you can see, visiting a hair salon is one of my favorite ways to unwind. Take some well-deserved time for yourself and schedule a hair appointment to relax and refresh.

Do you have a compelling story or student success tips you’d like to see published on the Pearson Students blog?  If you are a college student and interested in writing for us - click here to pitch your idea and get started!