Essay On Stress In College Students

College is a time of extreme stress due to societal and parental pressures. College students have expectations they have to live up to in order to fulfill and satisfy the needs of both their parents and society. Stress is expressed through a variety of symptoms that can be hazardous to student’s physical and mental health. With such high expectations to do well during college, students may become sleep deprived, which impairs mental capacity, but sleep deprivation is only one of a vast array of symptoms. Stress is present in all aspects of life and there are multiple causes of stress, especially, during the college period which may present itself through many symptoms, but with stress, there are also various coping methods to help students

The pressure to succeed is one of the biggest factor of stress in college. Ally Holterman writes Mental Health Problems for College Students Are Increasing to inform about the increase of mental illness of college students. Jason Shelby, a student Holterman writes about, is one of the many college students in America that could not function due to anxiety of failing. Social Media used by college students adds to the factors of depression and anxiety. The expectations of young people on the media influences students to think less of themselves and can even lead to eating disorders.

Some of the major effects on students are alcoholism, depression, health, and damaged self-esteem. All of these take a toll on the students, though some learn to cope with the stress levels better than others. Those that have a hard time coping with the different levels of stress college throws at them may find themselves suffering from, one or multiple, effects brought on by stress.

Stress is unavoidable, no matter the situation, location, or time; stress is always present. Stress is found in higher levels during the duration in which students attend college. It is predictably higher among college students, freshmans in particular, because of the extreme expectations set upon them by their parents and, of course, society. The need to please their parents, longing for success in life, and being able to sustain a reasonable income in the future, all of which falls into the hands of college students who are making critical decisions which may decide the outcome for a large portion of their lives. If these students end up hating their future jobs, the stress of having to go back into college to study for a new career

College represents a form of higher learning. For many, it is also a time for personal growth as we transition into adulthood. This in itself is a stressful situation as one must make drastic adjustments to a new role, environment, and demands. Stress is a major contributor to the development of mental and emotional issues (Rodgers, L., Tennison, L. 2009). Research has been done to determine the impact of depression and anxiety on university students. It has been

With an increased demand for skilled labors, many students nowadays find themselves needing to complete some form of higher education at college to ensure their success in the workplace and their future career goals. Although freshmen students often enter college with high expectations and ambitions, many eventually drop out of college. Why does that happen? In an ever-changing and more competitive environment, the demanding expectations on college students now soar at unprecedented heights, creating stressful and unpleasant experiences for many of them as they try to keep up with all the burdens inflicted upon them. In their writings, Dr. Christine B. Whelan, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Alan Schwartz, and Nisha Ramachandran explore and illustrate some of the stress-creating challenges that freshmen struggle with today. Even though many factors contribute to the huge list of problems for first-year students, many of the problems that create stress for college freshmen fall under the categories of academic factors, (what adverb to add) teachers, and personal-life conflicts.

According to Webster, stress can be defined as, “A specific response by the body to a stimulus, as fear or pain, that disturbs or interferes with the normal physiological equilibrium of an organism” (Webster, NEEDS CITATION). Stress is something that is very common in everyday life and affects people differently. Stress often stems from things that people have limited control over and collides with other things in one’s life. College students are prone to increased stress levels because of pressure from classes and factors outside of their studies. While there have been copious amounts of research pertaining to stress, this review of literature seeks to examine the relationship between college students and stress as measured by academic performance.

Helen W. Bland, Department of Public Health, Georgia Southern University; Bridget F. Melton, Department of Health and Human Science, Georgia Southern University; Lauren E. Bigham, Department of Counseling Psychology,University of Georgia; Paul D. Welle, Department of Engineering and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon University.

Stress not only affects the work performance and grades in the classroom of a college student, it also affects their personal life too. With stress, people usually have too much pressure. They are overloaded with whatever is pressuring them, it brings them down and eventually over runs them. This frequently occurs with the lives of college students, especially if they have many assignments due. Thankfully, there are many ways to relieve and/or reduce stress levels. Three main ways to relieve stress levels are to form time management skills, to practice good sleeping habits, and to exercise regularly.

At one time or another, most people experience stress. The term stress has been used to describe a variety of negative feelings and reactions that accompany threatening or challenging situations. However, not all stress reactions are negative. A certain amount of stress is actually necessary for survival. For example, birth is one of the most stressful experiences of life. The high level of hormones released during birth, which are also involved in the stress response, are believed to prepare the newborn infant for adaptation to the challenges of life outside the womb. These biological responses to stress make the newborn more alert promoting the bonding process and, by extension, the child's physical survival.

College life can be extremely stressful, especially for freshmen. However, it’s not just freshman that can be can be affected by stress, no one on earth is immune to stress. Stress is the body’s way of reacting to physical demand around it. Stress occurs when the bodies tension levels rise, exceeding one’s tension level causing the person to feel stressed and overloaded. Stress can be caused by many things, and college students have been known to be more susceptible to stress; especially in their first year. Often times, first-year students struggle with managing all the new responsibilities they have to take on. They often struggle with the stress that comes along with being independent academically and financially. As easy as it is to quickly become stressed, it’s also just as easy to manage stress. A student could manage stress by ensuring that they’re not overloaded by managing their time well, taking time out of their day to relax, and making sure that they have good, solid, emotional support.

Over the years many studies have been conducted to determine what creates stress and how college students can cope with stress. Stressors in a student’s life can be created through personal, educational and social experiences. A student faces many experiences while transitioning from high school, to college, and into adulthood. These experiences include: living arrangements, personal finances, important career decisions, experiences of failure, interpersonal relationships, and personal finances. These stressors involved with daily hassles can create an unhealthy high pressure environment which makes stress for college students inevitable. During one study, researchers found that physical activity throughout a student’s life can increase one’s stress tolerance and positively cope with stressors (Bland, Melton, Bigham, & Welle, 2012).

Over the last few years, stress levels have climbed 30 percent amongst all college aged students (Feldt, 2008). Stress is defined as “A state of psychological and psychological arousal that results when outside demands surpass a person’s abilities” (Zajacova, Lynch, & Espenshade, 2005). The increased pattern of stress is due to more college students determining their success based upon materialistic measures and thinking futuristically (Zajacova et al., 2005). Unfortunately, a rise in stress can have many adverse health outcomes for most people. Stress suppresses the immune system, making it more difficult for your body to fight off viruses that lead to a variety of illnesses (Straub, 2014). That being said, My Real Age Test showed my inability to manage my stress was a large concern and will be the focus of my intervention (Sharecare, 2015).

The human body is like a car engine. It needs fuels to be powered for it to run, but instead of fuel we need food and nutrients to keep a steady metabolism. If too many calories are consumed (being over 3,500 calories) then those calories turn into adipose or fat. In stressful situations, a person can become inclined to eat more than or less than recommended and this can lead to a change in their weight; for example, the infamous freshmen fifteen. The freshmen fifteen are the common weight gain of college freshmen that is the result of stressful events throughout the first year of school. While not every student can become subjected to this it is a great example of the affects stress can have on an individual. Stress and weight gain can affect any person even adolescents.

Leaving home for the first time and going away for school can be very difficult for some people. In many cases for college freshman this is their first time being away from their home and parents. Many times they get home sick and want to isolate themselves. They have to get into a new routine of going to school, and change can be very difficult. It is definitely hard to get into the swing of college. They have to navigate through classes in a new format while living away from all the comforts of parents. A college student's life usually consists of attending classes, long hours of studying, working at a job (sometimes), and having a social life. Some students work at a job or study harder than others, but