One thing that I'll remember from this psychology course is how to better handle and acknowledge stress. Stress itself is hard to define, but it is typically used describes a negative concept that can have an impact on one's mental and physical well-being. As we all know college, and life in general, can create a great amount of stress that we need to properly manage in order to reach our full potential. This course taught me that stress can have lasting negative effects on both our physical and mental health.Some people turn to behaviors such as smoking, drinking too much, and over/under eating. These behaviors can obviously also be detrimental to health and put you at risks for diseases.Stress increases our risk for things such as cardiovascular disease, which still ranks as the number one killer in the United States.
I learned that much of our stress can be reduced through coping methods and with practice we can even learn to predict and prevent some stress. One method I use to deal with my stress is through exercise. Stress is always going to be around us, so the sooner we can learn to properly manage our stress levels the better. To learn more about healthy ways of coping with stress click here
When I read Chapter 12 on stress, I also found it very interesting and relevant to our lives as college students. I could relate to all the issues of becoming stressed and the methods suggested for relieving stress and maintaining health. For example, I can recognize a change in my personal stress levels with different levels of exercise and with the way I eat. Being busy and not taking time to exercise contributes even more to my stress load and I have found it important to relieve as much stress as possible. Good job on this blog post!