Facing the Stress in College, Essay Example

Stress affects many students who are in college because of many different reasons. This paper discusses types of stress: distress, hyperstress and hypostress and eustress. In order to be able to deal with challenges of college academic and social life, you must be ready to put adaptive mechanisms in place every time you are under stress.

Distress is a type of stress that occurs as a result of many constant readjustments that happen in a routine. When one is under distress, he feels uncomfortable and gets a feeling of unfamiliarity. The best way to cope with this stress is to reduce the number of tasks that one has to perform every day.

Making a program of activities for every single day, according to Hancock and Warm, is also very important since it makes you psychologically prepared for every activity (16). For example, you need to plan for all the lessons that are scheduled for that day, you need to anticipate assignments and set aside time to go through all the work that has been assigned to you. Never carry over today’s assignment to the following day.

Hyperstress occurs when one is overworked. When one is suffering from Hyperstress, minor things tend to ignite explosive emotional responses. One tends to feel irritable and fatigue literally takes over. A student who stays in the lecture room for 16 hours a day, studying is sure to suffer from Hyperstress.

The best coping strategy for Hyperstress is avoiding overworking your body. You should take a break after every two hours or after one lecture session is over. The break may vary depending on the intensity of the class work during a certain session. For every two hours of class work that you do, you should rest for not less than 20 minutes. Additionally, perform fitness exercises every day. Be a member of the college basketball, football or cricket. In other words, do not overdo something to the extent of forgetting all about everything else.

Hypostress is the exact opposite of hyperstress. In this case, the individual becomes very bored and unchallenging. When one is not challenged for a very long time, restlessness occurs. This restlessness can best be defined as hypostress. In order for someone who likes to study a lot to deal with this type of stress, there is need to be innovative enough and to come up with helpful initiatives in order to make up for time when there are no lectures.

People who love sporting may feel extremely unchallenged by any amount of class work. In this case, it is good to prioritize on studies but also to make the best use of time spent during your favorite sport. As Roth and Cohen put it, “…concentrating on something that is not your best love might be quite a challenge if you are not disciplined….” (816)

It is good to avoid tasks that are too repetitive. You have to try and make your study time interesting through allocating time that is commensurate with your strengths and weaknesses. Do not allocate mathematics too much time just because it is your favorite subject; rather, think of how you can unravel the secret of how you can turn English, the subject that you hate most, into your best subject.

Sachs describes Eustress as a unique type of stress that affects people who want some immediate strength in order to perform a seemingly impossible task such as a routine exercise in the gym (62). Eustress can be very intriguing since it brings about very strong emotional reactions.

The best way to overcome eustress is to train in the presence of a gym instructor, in case the gym situation is the one that triggers this form of stress. Some people suffer this form of stress when the examination date approaches. In this case, you should consult your teacher who might assess your preparedness for the upcoming task. Your teacher will advise you on the preparation strategies that you need to adopt without exacerbating your stress condition.

In most cases, eustress affects people some few moments before the start of the activity. At such a moment, it is good to breathe in and out heavily in order to calm your nerves. If circumstances allow, you may discuss your feelings with your friends. This helps ease tension.

Works Cited

Sachs, Bernice “Coping With Stress”. Stress Medicine 7(1) 2006 p. 61-63

Roth, Serah and Cohen, Lucy. “Approach, Avoidance, and Coping with Stress”. American Psychology Association (7): 1986 p. 813-819.

Hancock, Peter and Warm John.  “Dynamic Model of Stress and Sustained Attention.”  Hum Perf Extrem Environ. 7(1) 2003 p.15-28.