Stress!!!

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As a student, you're trying to deal with your assignments piling up, trying to maintain your grades, while trying to have a decent social life, while trying to find time for family and other things, you're bound to get a tad stressed out.

Prolonged stress takes a toll on your physical and emotional health, as well as relationships.
It's important to recognise the signs of stress in the forms of,

Physical Symptoms
  • headaches
  • stomach upsets
  • disturbances in sleep
  • change of appetite

Other signs
  • problems with concentration, losing focus
  • becoming easily distracted
  • negative and self defeating thinking


Now that we've recognised stress, what are some ways to ease and get rid of stress?
  1.  Keep a stress journal
    This is an easy way to identify situations, experiences or people who trigger tension or worry.
  2. Avoid caffeine!
    Sometimes you'll feel like you need your coffee or V, however caffeine can increase feelings of anxiety.
  3. Learn relaxation exercises
    It may seem pointless and unhelpful on paper and writing, however speaking from personal experience, deep breathing and meditation really does help ease my mind.
  4. Exercise regularly and pair that with a nutritious diet
    Make sure to check out posts from our fitness blogger Amy, for routines and playlists catered to beginners as well as the more advanced. You can also find tips from Keanu, who writes about nutrition, healthy snacking, and eating on a student budget.
  5. Take breaks to reenergize
    It's easy to overload your schedule and all of a sudden it's too hard to keep up with everything, make sure you take a break, gain perspective, and be realistic with your time and scheduling. Talk to a friend, listen to some music, clean your room, watch your favourite show and just have a few laughs.
  6.  SLEEP!
    Sleep is so important! Try to keep a regular sleeping schedule with at least 8 hours of sleep. To make this easier, make sure your environment is comfortable to sleep in, take a hot shower, and avoid caffeine and food in general before bed. Don't forget, you can't make up for lost sleep.

There isn't really a quick fix, but if you'd like a quick escape from your worries, print out this mandala and start colouring in :)



Stay tuned for next week where we'll talk about time management!


Sources:
  1. Healthy Women, 2017. Stress & Time Management for College Students. [Online] Available at: http://www.healthywomen.org/content/article/stress-time-management-college-students[Accessed 25 September 2017].





Written by: Kaixin

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