All students face stress caused by their studies. Too much information, an inability to control what’s going on, a lack of understanding of what to do can lead to stress. In order to cope with stress, try reviewing your study habits and attitudes. Figure out what’s most important to you, and make some changes to your lifestyle that will allow you to cope with stress.
Find out what happens in your body when you are stressed
Do your shoulders tense up? Does your breathing become labored? Do you feel an unpleasant taste in your mouth? If you feel something in your stomach clench or your palms sweat, you’re probably nervous.
- If you recognize the symptoms of stress, you will find it easier to relate the feeling to what caused it.
- The sooner you notice the symptoms, the sooner you can take action and calm down.
Identify the source of your stress
Is a certain person, situation, or place making you nervous? In order to deal with stress, you need to know the reason for it. Sometimes it will be easy to identify the cause, but sometimes stress will be the result of several factors.
- Most commonly, studying is stressful due to homework, grades, lack of sleep, overwhelm, problems with peers, and more.
- Identifying the stress factors is the first step to realizing that there is nothing wrong with the situation. If you feel that you can find a way out, you will be less nervous. So, you can organize your daily routine or, for example buy college essay to avoid worries
- Don’t blame yourself for being nervous. Once you have identified the source of your stress, try to deal with the situation objectively. Just tell yourself this: “I’m nervous right now. This is a natural reaction. Stress is not a reflection of me.”
Take three deep breaths
Diaphragmatic breathing triggers the relaxation process in the body. Breathe in through your nose and allow the air to flow down to your stomach and out through your mouth. This will help you calm down in a difficult situation.
- It may be helpful to raise and lower the shoulders, turn them around, or carefully turn the head. When a person feels stressed, the muscles get tight. By relaxing your muscles, you help yourself to get rid of stress.
- Take deep breaths before you start a stressful activity, and you’ll find it easier to keep your balance.
Ask for help
If you don’t know how to react to a difficult situation, find someone to help you. If you’re at university, talk to a teacher, psychologist, or teammate. If the situation concerns study, you may need a descriptive essay helper, etc.
- Everyone needs to ask for help from time to time. Asking for help doesn’t mean you’re stupid or not able to help yourself. Accepting your weaknesses is a sign of intelligence.
- When asking for help, give as much important information as you can: how you identified the source of the problem, what you did to solve it, and so on.
Try to stop the flow of thoughts
Sometimes excessive emotions lead to a messy flow of thoughts. If you are familiar with this, learn how to stop the flow:
- interrupt the thoughts, stop, “turn off” your attention from them, and shift it to something else for a while.
- Try saying to yourself, ” No more thoughts. It’s better to do something else and get back to it after lunch. This technique is also called adaptive distancing.
Try to distance yourself from the situation that is causing you stress
If you can’t cope with a situation, person or place, you can walk away. Physical distance from the source of stress will allow you to reduce anxiety.
- You can take a walk outside, go to the restroom (there you can be alone), or do something else. Say you forgot something in the car, so you can quickly go outside.
- It is helpful to have a favorite safe place on academic grounds. For example, if you like to be in quiet places, go to the library if you feel you can’t handle the tension.
- In certain situations, doing so will be impossible. For example, you can’t go out during an exam or an important presentation. However, you can always do so if a conversation with a person throws you off balance. Just say this: “I’m overwhelmed with emotion right now, I need a break, okay?”