Without a doubt, one of the most applicable concepts in this course is how to cope with stress. No matter what path one chooses in life, you cannot get away from stress. So, learning the right way to deal with this stress is without a doubt one of the most important skills in life.
Depending on your college path, we're going to have to deal with finals twice a year for at most 3 more years. Using informational control coping strategies, like proactive coping by starting to study to avoid some of the stress of cramming for everyone's upcoming finals. Also, maintaining physical activity throughout the year and during finals week can lower the amount of time we spend ruminating on stressful finals. This also can reduce the effect of stressful finals or the aftermath of a bad grade or on our long-term heart health by promoting oxygen use in the body and lowering blood pressure. Along with exercise, maintaining a decently healthy diet can help reduce stress as well. That means limiting the cases of Redbull and McDonald's that we eat.
In 5 years or whenever you finish school, after our last finals, things will probably get even more stressful as we go out into the real world and try to find a sustainable job. So, making sure that we remember these useful tips that help us stay sane in the short run and alive in the long run is definitely a good idea.
99% of the Stress, 1% of the Semester
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I think this is a very relate-able topic. To all college students. I definitely know that when finals week rolls around I start to panic. I like that you tell us that our diet and exercise habits can affect our stress levels. I never knew that and I think I will try it. I always forget to work out during finals week because I have so much to do. But now I will make a point to do it for my own health!
With school getting more and more difficult, and now that we are beginning to step into the real-world, these concepts are one of the most important things we can learn. I know personally that I've used these lessons, especially during finals. I think the main idea we can take from coping with stress is remembering to stay positive. Good post.
LOVE this blog! I also wrote my final blog post about the way psychology and its studies have changed my outlook on stressful situations. I completely agree with you on the fact that college can be a stressful time for many individuals, especially during finals. I really enjoyed the first image you used about "Occupy Library" and how 99% of the stress in college is during 1% of our time here-SO TRUE! Once again, great post!
This is a very relatable topic and couldn't be more directed toward college students. You can practically cut the stress with a knife in the libraries during finals week. I can personally vouch for the fitness aspect as a stress reducer. For finals last semester I practically sat on my butt and studied for a week straight and it was beyond stressful. This semester, so far at least, i have been maintaining my work out days even if i have a midterm, and it actually relieves and prevents stress for me. How? I'm not entirely sure, maybe something about exercising is similar to "purging" the stress?
Obviously college students experience stress almost everyday, but what I found most interesting was your inclusion of life after college because I think it's something a lot of people underestimate. The stress will be different but I agree that going out into the real world will be even more stressful than schoolwork...you have to worry about getting a good job and there are fewer deadlines and people expect you to be self-sufficient and if you aren't, it won't affect anyone but yourself. Very interesting post and nice pictures, very relevant to your topic.
I thought the chapter on coping with stress was very ironic. I started reading it this week (week before finals official start) and instead of learning how to better cope with stressers, i just became more stressed because i had to read it AND retain the knowledge. None of the techniques I learned about in the chapter actually helped me, instead I just continued to keep on keepin' on.
At giord023, I agree with you. The tips we learned through the psych book didn't really help me. I believe that each individual has their own methodology for dealing with stress. This methodology can also teach others more about a persons characteristics.
All I can say is that I absolutely love this blog. The memes you've got on here are awesome. In the 2 years that I have been a college student, I have found that college is basically just a big guilt-and-stress-fest. Either you're stressed and studying, or you're..(ehem)..putting things off and feeling guilty about it. It's good to read some helpful tips on how to manage it all.