The Online Reflector

Stress can become a strong inhibitory emotion for everyday activities. It can be roused by a number of issues when on a college campus, including health problems, poor time management, poor study skills and homesickness.

However, several members of the campus community offer a few basic strategies that can help students reduce stress and enhance their academic performance.

Tammie Dones, a psychologist and director of training at the University of Indianapolis counseling center, advises students to take care of their physical needs. She said students should be conscious of the fact that getting the recommended eight hours of sleep every night can be difficult. But it is imperative for their mental health to try, as often as possible, to sleep.

Visiting the counseling center may help students to cope with anxiety and depression. Dones said that there is not shame in seeking extra help when necessary. The center is on the second floor of Schwitzer Student Center in Room 210.

Dones also said that if students do not sleep well, they may have difficulty concentrating in their classes.

“[Students] may feel ragged emotionally when sleep deprived,” Dones said.

Dones also recommends that students practice healthy eating habits.

“Think about your eating as proactive and planned versus reactive,” she said.

She explained that this means that students should work on creating a disposition toward wholesome eating in order to become healthier both physically and mentally and should also avoid injurious food binges.

Dones said a nutritious diet produces a more efficient mental performance because the brain needs certain chemicals to function. These chemicals exist in larger quantities in nutritious foods.

As students begin to schedule activities in order to improve their time management, Dones also pointed out that they should be wary of overcomplicating their lives through excessive scheduling, which can limit some of the benefits of time management.

Sarah Mulder is in her second year of the doctor of psychology program and said that no cure—all can remedy poor time management, but she suggested that students use the agenda book the school offers, a cell phone or paper calendar, or some other form of tool to map out their activities.

Dones also suggested laying out conflicting demands in the same visual plane to reduce forgetfulness.

Mulder said that holding a job while also being a student may be a poor decision if one is unmotivated and disorganized. She said that if a student wishes to hold a job and also commit to school, he or she should be careful not to spread him or herself too thin.

Students presented with a term paper or some other long-term project can use a method Dones described as “backward-chaining,” which is the act of breaking a larger task into smaller components to ease the stress that it could produce.

Alex Borowsky is another student in the doctor of psychology program. He proposed a similar method for studying. He said that students should reward themselves every half hour. But cautioned against rewarding oneself before the work is finished because this would undermine the reinforcement process.

Borowsky also proposed that students study in a place similar to the test location. For example, finding an empty lecture hall and studying there may be useful.

“Study in test form; make up questions for yourself,” Mulder said.

Another common stressor is test anxiety. For the physical symptoms, Dones suggested that a student take deep breaths if the breath is shallow and the heart rate is on the rise.

For the mental symptoms, she suggested that the student try reasoning out exaggerated thoughts and “decatastrophizing the thinking process” by avoiding all-or-nothing predictions.

Mulder recommended not ignoring one’s studies merely because they provoke anxiety. If something provokes much anxiety or stress, one should attempt repeatedly to do it to lessen the anxiety. If one tries to escape or avoid the stress-causing entity, it is likely to fester and grow worse.

According to Dones, students should use the clubs and organizations on campus to try to find others with whom to eat with and walk to classes.

Mulder said that commuters, even more so than dorm-dwellers, should join clubs to fill in the spaces between classes and to be more socially active in smaller group settings.

Dones said that students, especially those new to the campus, should maintain an open posture when in social settings. When conversing, they should sustain eye contact and smile. When working with a partner or in a group, they should make the overture to say, for example, “Hey, do you want to get coffee and work on this later?”

Residents should quell the impulse to go home on some weekends so that they can become a part of the campus community, Dones said.

Mulder also noted how easy it is to become overwhelmed with feelings, especially when students are removed from friends and family.

She also said it is increasingly simple with social networking to maintain contact with loved ones and old friends, so residents should avoid isolating themselves from potential new friends on campus.

Striving to maintain a healthy relationship with one’s roommate also can reduce stress. Dones advised being unafraid to calmly convey one’s complaints in a respectful manner.

“Your own habits and idiosyncrasies are so engrained that you don’t even notice them anymore,” Mulder said. “But when you’re living with someone, you notice theirs immediately.”

Dones also said that it is helpful for people to encourage themselves if they are feeling discouraged.

“It also may be useful,” Dones said, “to send reassuring mental messages to yourself to avoid future catastrophes.”