The new school year is just around the corner and with it comes the excitement of new classes, new friends, and maybe even an entirely new school. Depending on the person, this could be seen as an opportunity, or a mountain of anxiety. It’s important to keep this stress to a minimum if possible, especially as classes start moving forward and exams begin to appear. Here, we’ll discuss what stress is, how to recognize when it can be too much, and some strategies for managing it.
Embrace the good stress!
Some stress is a good thing. It can help us get to work on something we’ve put off maybe just a little too long, or give us a jolt of energy right before a test. This is called eustress – stress which is beneficial in reasonable amounts. Eustress is usually acute, meaning that it only lasts for a brief moment like when giving a presentation in front of peers. Chronic stress on the other hand can be a major problem and is what people are usually talking about when they simply refer to stress. Instead of being short lived, chronic stress lasts a long time, keeping people constantly in a state of mild to severe stress.
The Science of Stress
Let’s break down what happens physiologically during stress. Stress evolved to create a fight or flight response in response to a provoking stimulus. Picture this: You suddenly come face to face with a bear. This stimulus is first detected by your eyes which pass the signal via the optic nerve to a part of your brain called the amygdala. From here, the signal is sent to the hypothalamus which controls a lot of the automatic functions of the nervous system. The signal is then transferred to the adrenal glands which release adrenaline which begins circulating throughout the body.
The result? our heartbeat and breathing quicken, sweat appears, muscles tense, and blood sugars rise in an attempt to prepare yourself to either run away or combat whatever is stressing them. Basically, your body turbocharges itself in response to potential danger.
While this survival mechanism has been a trusty ally of ours for our entire existence, it begins to backfire with modern stressors. Faster heartbeats, sweat, and muscle tension won’t help a public speech go away or get you out of a traffic jam any faster. As you can imagine, staying at a constant state of turbocharge is fatiguing, and can only last for so long.
The Dark Side of Chronic Stress
We’ve established that a little stress is normal, maybe even beneficial, and the reason why we have stress, but there are downsides to chronic stress. High blood pressure, which can increase risk of stroke, is associated with high levels of chronic stress, along with an increase in artery clogging deposits which put people at increased risk of cardiovascular issues. Research also shows that chronic stress can alter the brain, increasing the likelihood of developing mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression. Again, these issues are found with chronic stress. Short bursts of stress like a near-miss in traffic aren’t likely to cause these long term issues.
Mastering Stress: Your Ultimate Toolkit
So if chronic stress is bad, how do we combat it? There are several methods that people find helpful.
- Get Moving:The first is through physical activity. Getting exercise is a great way to tone down stress levels. It can be a simple walk around the block or an intensive cardio workout, any exercise will help curb stress.
- Breathe Deeply: Deep breathing and stretching are also great ways to ground yourself when you feel stress is becoming a little too much. It’s for this reason that people often find yoga helpful as a way to relieve stress. Practicing deep breathing can be more difficult than it sounds. More than just taking a deep breath, the inhales and exhales need to be purposeful and slow. One technique is box breathing: inhale for four seconds, hold for four seconds, exhale for four seconds, and hold for four seconds. Repeat and feel the calm wash over you.
- Prioritize Sleep:A way to make sure stress doesn’t compile on itself is to make sure you get enough sleep. Getting a minimum of 8 hours of restful sleep per night is critical to making sure you have the energy to cope with daily stressors. Not getting enough sleep can make any small stressor feel like a big one.
- Stay Connected:Another way to help alleviate stress is through social interaction. Strong friendships can help create resilience factors which help people deal with stress when times are difficult. Going through stressful situations together can also have the effect of strengthening friendships. A great example of this is how close sports teams are because of the rigor of practice and training that goes into a successful season.
This makes going back to school somewhat of a double edged sword. It offers many opportunities for stressful situations, both acute and chronic, but it also puts you back around friends to help manage it. Combine that with physical activity, deep breathing, and sleep and you’ll be all set for all of the stressors bound to come this school year.
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