College students work hard and face high stress. Be Well to Do Well is a campus effort to encourage students to take control of stress. Merely working harder does not ensure doing better. A small investment in stress reduction can yield significant benefits now and for a lifetime. In fact, students who seek help do better academically. Find out more here . . . What is Stress? Common stressors Symptoms & ffects Stress quizzes Coping with stress Managing stress Behaviors to avoid Resources & campus services NEW! Financial stress resources Stress Can Be Toxic to Your Body! Graphic courtesy of Mental Health America: http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/

Fact: Stress impacts your academics
Chronic stress interferes with learning and memory¹ and students who are stressed-out have lower GPAs than their classmates². For those students who have learned to manage stress, their grades are not affected by the level of stress², but approximately one-third are unable to effectively manage their stress³.

A July 2008 study of 24,000 students from 14 colleges and universities showed stress is a problem for 70% of students, and stress has impaired the academic performance for thirty-three percent⁴.

In a 2007 study, Stress in America, the American Psychological Association (APA) reported that stress has had a significant negative impact on the lives of one-half of all Americans, causing physical symptoms (77%), psychological symptoms (73%), and fighting with friends or loved ones (54%).

Other research has found that if we manage our stress we can feel better and function more effectively in school. Studies show:

• Proven: A single all-nighter lowers GPA⁵. Adequate sleep is necessary for the brain to process and recall information efficiently¹.
• Effective time management supports lower stress and higher satisfaction¹³.
• Healthful eating reduces stress⁶.
• Regular exercise reduces stress.⁷, ⁸
• Spirituality and mindfulness meditation leads to lower stress, less depression, greater empathy, higher satisfaction of life, and lowered risk of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and possibly cancer.¹, ⁸, ⁹, ¹⁰, ¹¹
• Social support reduces stress.¹⁴
  

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What is Stress?
Stress is your body's response to changes and challenges in your daily life, sometimes described as physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension. Often it results when demands exceed resources-such as time, money, sleep, or support.

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Common Stressors

Undergraduate students:

Finances Academics Time management Relationships Distant professors Family expectations Sexual and gender identity

Adjusting to new environment/culture Immigration/visa issues Housing difficulties Parental conflict Roommate conflicts Death/illness of loved one Career and graduate school decisions

Graduate students:

In short-term doses, moderate stress can help with focus, motivation, energy, and productivity, but chronic stress is harmful.

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Common Signs, Symptoms and Effects of Harmful Stress:

• Fatigue
• Tearfulness
• Disrupted sleep
• Impaired concentration and memory
• Irritability, hostility
• Feeling nervous or anxious
• Feeling overwhelmed
• Strained relationships
• Weight gain or loss
• Sexual dysfunction or loss of interest
• Physical complaints
• Compromised health

Your perception, flexibility, and repertoire of responses to stress will affect your capacity to cope and restore balance.

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Are You a Stress-Head?
1. How vulnerable are you to stress? Take this simple test:
http://www.bhs.umn.edu/topics/stressmgmt/stresstest.htm

2. What do you know about stress? Take this simple test:
http://locator.apa.org/quiz/

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Coping with Stress:
The APA recommends the following tips¹² :

• Identify the sources of stress in your life
• Learn your own stress signals (i.e. headaches, anger, fatigue, muscle tension)
• Recognize how you deal with stress (do you use unhealthy behaviors?)
• Find healthy ways to manage stress (see below)
• Take care of yourself to maintain health even when not stressed
• Reach out for support (i.e. friends, family, faith leader, professional)

When faced with stress, it's natural for people to make an effort to respond, but not all efforts are potentially effective. The range of coping behaviors and attitudes is broad and some can actually worsen stress or diminish our capacity to cope.

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Common Things to Avoid in Managing Stress:

• Use of alcohol or other drugs
• Unhealthy eating (overeating, fasting, eating junk/sugar/caffeine)
• Binging on TV, video games, or internet
• Self berating and belittling
• Working harder not smarter
• Sleeping fewer hours
• Isolating from others
• Lashing-out with anger and hostility
• Taking on more work and responsibilities

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Healthy Ways to Manage Stress:
Information (books, journal articles, videos, links, podcasts, etc.) about stress management is available below for the following highlighted items.

• Adequate sleep*
• Healthful diet*
• Regular exercise*
• Optimism*
• Social support*
• Time management*
• Relaxation*
• Humor, laughter
• Generosity
• Playfulness
• Spirituality*
• Journaling*
• Sex*
• Forgiveness (of self and others)
• Creative activities
• Meditation*
• Music
• Hot bath
• Prayer*
• Set reasonable limits
• Positive and realistic self talk*
• Control only what's controllable-accept the rest

For general information, self-tests, and tips on much of the above:

Stress Management Techniques and Practices, About.Com: Stress Management, The New York Times Company, 2008
http://stress.about.com/od/tensiontamers/u/Managing_your_stress.htm?p=1

Stress, MayoClinic.com, 2008,
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress/SR99999

Managing Stress and Transitions Podcasts, University of Minnesota, 2008
http://www.osa.umn.edu/podcasts/

To learn more about stress read:
Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide to Stress, Stress-related Diseases and Coping, by Robert M. Sapolsky.
http://www.amazon.com/Why-Zebras-Dont-Ulcers-Third/dp/0805073698/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226108498&sr=1-1

Or watch it on DVD:
National Geographic Specials: Stress: Portrait of a Killer
Available from Shop PBS (Item No. NAGS424)

For more information about mental health, click here.

For printable handouts about ways to manage stress:

• Dealing with stress of graduate school (pdf)
  
• Stress and UC Berkeley
  
• Stop sabotaging your time management
  

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Campus services:
The Tang Center provides a wide range of counseling programs to help students with personal, academic, career, health-related issues and crisis concerns. Please visit our stress and anxiety page more information about services and appointments offered at Tang. Visit our Counseling and Psychological Services site for many resources, including online assessments, workshop information, and more.

CARE services provides stress-reduction services and support for UC Berkeley faculty and staff.

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Additional Information and Links Related to Stress and Stress Management:

Attitude:

Positive thinking: Practice this stress management skill, 2007 http://www.mayoclinic.com/print/positive-thinking/SR00009/METHOD=print

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Diet:

Emmons, H. (2006). The Chemistry of Joy. New York: Simon and Schuster.
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Joy-Three-Step-Overcoming-Depression/dp/0743265076

Good Nutrition: How to Combat Stress with Good Nutrition, About.Com: Stress Management, The New York Times Company, 2008
http://stress.about.com/od/dietandsuppliments/a/goodnutrition.htm

Stress: Can it cause weight gain? MayoClinic.com, 2007
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress/AN01128

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Exercise:

Emmons, H. (2006). The Chemistry of Joy. New York: Simon and Schuster.
http://www.amazon.com/Chemistry-Joy-Three-Step-Overcoming-Depression/dp/0743265076

Exercise fuels the brain's stress buffers, American Psychological Association, 2004, http://www.apahelpcenter.org/articles/article.php?id=25

Blumenthal, J. A., Sherwood, A., Babyak, M. A., et al., A. (2005). Effects of exercise and stress management training on markers of cardiovascular risk in patients with ischemic heart disease: A randomized controlled trial, JAMA, 293, 1626-1634.

Mansky, P., Sannes, T., Wallerstedt, D., et al., (2006). Tai Chi Chuan: Mind-Body Practice or Exercise Intervention? Studying the Benefit for Cancer Survivors. Integrative Cancer Therapies, 5, 192-201.

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Relationships and Social Support:

Social support: Tap this tool to reduce stress, MayoClinic.com, 2008
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/social-support/SR00033

Relationship Stress: Marriage, Relationship Skills & Social Support, About.Com: Stress Management, The New York Times Company, 2008

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Sex:

Sex and Stress: The Benefits of Sex, and How to Keep Things Hot When Stressed, About.Com: Stress Management, The New York Times Company, 2007
http://stress.about.com/od/generaltechniques/a/sexandstress.htm

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Sleep:

Spiegel, K., Leproult, R., Van Cauter, E. (1999). Impact of sleep debt on metabolic and endocrine function. The Lancet, 354, 1435-1439.

Thacher, P. V. (2008). University students and the "All Nighter": Correlates and patterns of students' engagement in a single night of total sleep deprivation. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 6, 16-31.

Wagner, U., Gais, S., Born, J. (2001). Emotional memory formation is enhanced across sleep intervals with high amounts of rapid eye movement sleep. Learning and Memory, 8, 112-119.

Sleep Guide, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2008 http://www.mckinley.uiuc.edu/handouts/sleep_guide.html

WebMD video about sleep and stress
What is the role of sleep in stress?
http://www.webmd.com/video/farrell-sleep-stress

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Spirituality, Relaxation and Meditation:

Kabat-Zinn, J. (1990). Full catastrophe living: Using the wisdom of your body and mind to face stress, pain, and illness. New York: Random House.
http://www.amazon.com/Full-Catastrophe-Living-Wisdom-Illness/dp/0385303122

Mansky, P., Sannes, T., Wallerstedt, D., et al., (2006). Tai Chi Chuan: Mind-body practice or exercise intervention? Studying the benefit for cancer survivors. Integrative Cancer Therapies, 5, 192-201.

Shapiro, S. L., Schwartz, G. E., Bonner, G. (1998). Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on medical and premedical students. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 21, 581-599.

Tuck, I., Alleyne, R., Thinganjana, W. (2006). Spirituality and stress management in healthy adults. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 24, 245-253.

Spirituality and stress relief: Make the connection, MayoClinic.com, 2008
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress-relief/SR00035

For meditation instructions and online audio meditations:
Meditation for Stress Management
http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/counseling/successstrategies/meditation.shtml

For a link to free podcasts of guided meditations:
http://www.meditationoasis.com/podcast/listen-to-podcast/

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Time Management:

Macan, T. H., Shahani, C., Dipboye, R. L.; Phillips, A. P. (1990). College students' time management: Correlations with academic performance and stress. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 760-768.

Time Management Guide - time management skill and techniques
http://www.time-management-guide.com/time-management-skills.html

Mind Tools - Tips about time-management skills
http://www.psychwww.com/mtsite/page5.html

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References

1. Sapolsky, R. M., (2004). Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers: The Acclaimed Guide To Stress, Stress-Related Diseases, and Coping, New York: Macmillan.
2. 2007 College Survey Health Report - Health and Academic Performance: Minnesota Undergraduate Students, Boynton Health Service, University of Minnesota, 2008 http://www.bhs.umn.edu/reports/HealthAcademicPerformanceReport_2007.pdf
   
3. Mental Health: University of Minnesota, Boynton Health Service, University of Minnesota, 2007 http://www.bhs.umn.edu/healthdata/results/chs/UMTC_07/UMTC_Report2.pdf
   
4. Stress a Major Health Problem in the U.S., Warns APA, American Psychological Association, 2007 http://www.apa.org/releases/stressproblem.html
   
5. Thacher, P. V. (2008). University students and the "All Nighter": Correlates and patterns of students' engagement in a single night of total sleep deprivation. Behavioral Sleep Medicine, 6, 16-31.
   
6. Emmons, H. (2006). The Chemistry of Joy. New York: Simon and Schuster.
7. Exercise fuels the brain's stress buffers, American Psychological Association, 2004, http://www.apahelpcenter.org/articles/article.php?id=25
8. Blumenthal, J. A., Sherwood, A., Babyak, M. A., et al., A. (2005). Effects of exercise and stress management training on markers of cardiovascular risk in patients with ischemic heart disease: A randomized controlled trial, JAMA, 293, 1626-1634.
9. Mansky, P., Sannes, T., Wallerstedt, D., et al., (2006). Tai Chi Chuan: Mind-body practice or exercise intervention? Studying the benefit for cancer survivors. Integrative Cancer Therapies, 5, 192-201.
10. Spiegel, K., Leproult, R., Van Cauter, E. (1999). Impact of sleep debt on metabolic and endocrine function. The Lancet, 354, 1435-1439.
11. Shapiro, S. L., Schwartz, G. E., Bonner, G. (1998). Effects of mindfulness-based stress reduction on medical and premedical students. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 21, 581-599.
12. Stress Tip Sheet, American Psychological Association, 2007 http://apahelpcenter.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=pageA&item=42
13. Macan, T. H., Shahani, C., Dipboye, R. L.; Phillips, A. P. (1990). College students' time management: Correlations with academic performance and stress. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 760-768.
14. Social support: Tap this tool to reduce stress, MayoClinic.com, 2008
    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/social-support/SR0003

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