10 Stress Management Techniques for Students

Do you know what would happen if the pressure cooker didn’t come with a whistle? The whistle helps us know if the heat is too high or the food is cooked enough. In the same way, the stress in our bodies acts as a whistle. They act as a response to too much pressure or overwhelmedness. As educational requirements turn stricter in all levels of education, and emphasis on learning and earning has increased, students experience significant school stress. This stress can affect their health, happiness levels, and grades too.  Hence, students must be able to identify and manage stress effectively. In this blog, we will be sharing some stress management techniques for students!

What is Stress?

Stress is the natural defense mechanism in our bodies. The brain identifies a stressful state or a potentially stressful situation and releases hormones that prompt the adrenaline rush in our bodies. There are various triggers of stress that vary across each individual. Our personal experiences, environmental effects, media consumption, genetics, personality, and other factors influence how much stress can we cope with. The intensity of stress also differs across various situations.

However, evolutionary theories suggest that stress activates a “fight or flight” mode in our bodies in response to a dangerous situation and activates our immune system. This helps us respond quickly to dangerous or threatening situations. Often stress helps us in a positive way to fight and overcome the state we are in. We tend to push ourselves to study better, score better, and achive better. But, too much stress can leave us overwhemed which makes us unable to cope with it.

Causes of Stress in Students 

A major step in managing stress is to identify the various reasons why the stress exists in the first place. Common causes of student stress include:

• Schoolwork (academics in school)
• Homework (volume and level of home assignments)
• Extracurricular activities (sports, cultural activities etc.)
• Social challenges ( interacting with peers and teachers, self-esteem)
• Transitions (between grades, transfers, relocation)
• Relationships (with peers, teachers and family)
• Work (additional work that they might undertake)

Students face the incredible competitiveness of taking challenging classes, garnering notable extracurriculars, preparing for college placements, and making life-changing decisions for their future.

At the same time, they have to navigate through social challenges inherent to the schooling experience. Making new friends, handling more workload, being without parental support sometimes are a part of the social experiences.

Psychological Causes of Stress

Being at a vulnerable age, students are highly influenced by multiple factors that can trigger stress. Let’s see what are the psychological stresses in students.

Fear of Failure: students are always stressed about whether they will pass the exam. What if they aren’t able to understand and fail in school? They fear the consequences because they aren’t reminded their strengths. They often feel they aren’t studying or scoring enough.

Peer Pressure: The most common causes in peer pressure. Elder often unintentionally compare students with other and expect them to be equally focused and score higher than other kids. This makes students lose confidence and lower their self-esteem.

Feeling of Uncertainty: Sometimes students go through a feeling of what will happen after studies? Will they get admitted to the best college/University? These thoughts trigger stress during their school life.

According to a study by Deb et al., in 2015, showed that nearly two-thirds (63.5%) of the Indian students reported stress due to academic pressure and 1.9% exhibited severe stress.

What are the Signs of Stress?

So, how can we know that we are stressed? Often people are unable to articulate whether they are in a stressful situation. They might overlook major symptoms by saying it’s “just the usual” or “life is tough”, etc. It is extremely essential that we know the signs and stops when our body signals. The following are a few common Physical and Psychological signs of stress.

Physical Signs of Stress	Psychological Signs of Stress
Increase in Blood Pressure Display of anger or aggression Low Energy level Loss of Appetite Sweating	Anxiousness Avoidance Being afraid Feeling sad or lost Irritated and frustrated

Stress Management Techniques for Students

Students often feel the need to relieve stress, but with a busy schedule and lack of knowledge about stress management techniques, it becomes difficult for students to be mindful of it. Hence, we will now discuss options that are relatively easy, quick, and relevant to students: 

“Stress is not what happens to us. It’s our response to what happens. And RESPONSE is something we can choose.”- Maureen Killoran

1. Get Enough Sleep

Students with packed schedules often tend to lose sleep in the drive to be productive. However, a sleep-deprived state puts you at a disadvantage. Your productivity automatically decreases, you may find it more difficult to concentrate, and you may even be a health concern over a long time. 

You shouldn’t neglect your sleep schedule. Strive to get at least 7-8 hours a night and take power naps when you need them to retain productivity. 

2. Practice Visualization

Another stress management techniques for students is Visualization. It is an easy and effective way to feel better. Visualisations can help you keep your cool, take a break from stress, and turn off your body’s anxious response. 

For a few minutes each day, imagine, in detail, what you’d like to happen and want to achieve, whether it’s delivering a speech without getting nervous, acing an exam, or something else. Use this practice of guided imagery, then work hard with a fresh mind space and believe that you can make it happen.

Also Read: Importance of Time Management for Students

3. Exercise Regularly

In their busy academic schedule, students often forget to maintain physical fitness. Regular exercise can help you blow off steam. It can also help you enjoy life more and live a healthier and longer life. This can be done in any form from doing yoga, walking or biking to school, hitting the gym or practising any other sport you like. 

Must Read: Importance of Sports In A Student’s Life

4. Take Calming Breaths

A quick way to calm down in anxious times is to practice breathing exercises. This can be done anywhere to relieve stress within minutes. Especially do this for overcoming anxiety before or during tests and other times when the pressure feels overpowering. 

5. Practice Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR)

Progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) can turn out to be a great stress reliever. This technique involves contracting and relaxing all muscles until the body feels relieved.

You can learn to free stress from your body in seconds with this stress management technique for students. This can be helpful for students before sleeping as it calms the stress exerted on the body all day. Test-induced panic can also be reduced by practising this before a test. 

6. Listen to Music

Listening to music has also displayed many cognitive benefits. Music can help you calm yourself down or stimulate your mind. You can play classical music while studying, play cheerful music to “wake up” mentally, or relax with the help of your favourite soft melodies.

7. Get Organized

Being clumsy can cause stress and lower productivity. Several students live in an unorganised environment, and this can negatively impact their grades. Keep a minimalist, organised study area, free of distractions and any clutter.

Must Read: 10 Organizational Skills Every Student Must Have

8. Eat a Healthy Diet

Students tend to lose consciousness about eating habits due to stress. Your diet can either increase your brainpower or drain your mental energy. A healthy diet can function as one of the great stress management techniques for students. Improving your diet can prevent you from undergoing diet-related mood swings, light-headedness, and more.

9. Try Self-Hypnosis

You can often trick yourself into feeling a certain way. For example, you might find yourself “getting very sleepy” when trying to pull all-nighters than on usual nights. Self-hypnosis can be a stress management technique for students and a productivity tool.

You can better release tension from your body and stress from your mind and plant helpful thoughts in your subconscious with the influence of autosuggestion.

Check Out – Productivity Improvement Techniques

10. Use Positive Thinking and Affirmations

Optimists indeed experience better circumstances because their way of thinking helps create better circumstances. Positive thinking can bring better health, better relationships, and even better grades. There are many stress management techniques for students through which you can affirm yourself and feel better. 

Stress Management for Students PPT

Stress management in students from Freelance clinical Microbiologist

With the multiple challenges and sources of stress in student life, one cannot obliterate stress. But they can find a way to manage it.  We hope you found some helpful stress management techniques for students! For more such content related to student life, stay tuned to Leverage Edu!