Stress, at least for me, is a part of our daily lives and during the college years the stress of finals, interviews and social events seems never-ending. Whether it's the little hassles in life or the large events, stress plays an important role.
That's why I think the topic of stress is the most important topic we learned about in psychology and learning how to cope with stress is something I know I will use in the future.
I have always looked at meditation and thought, why would I ever do that? When I was 12 years old my soccer coach made it a team ritual to meditate before our state games. I remember sitting in the grass and thinking well this is boring and pointless. However, after reading about it in Psychology I learned that meditation helps to train attention and awareness. It actually heightens creativity, empathy, alertness and decreases anxiety and recurrences of depression. Although scientists are unsure why meditation has these positive effects, many people seem to benefit from it.
So now, rather than isolating myself or under-eating when I'm stressed out, I have the knowledge to seek out other stress coping activities... like meditation!
I also found it beneficial to learn about coping with stress. As the book mentioned, aerobic exercise can help reduce stress levels, and I have found it helpful to go for a run as a way of alleviating stress as finals approach.