5 Stress Busters for Students

School is packed with potential stressors — everything from penning research papers to giving presentations to taking final exams. Plus, if you’re away at college, you have the added stress of being on your own and navigating a slew of unfamiliar places and situations. While stress is inevitable for students, it doesn’t have to bulldoze your life or affect your academic performance. Below, Kathryn Tristan, a research scientist on the faculty of the Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, shares five tips for helping students like you to have a lower-stress semester. 1. Think positive possibilities, not catastrophes. “The least helpful way we worry and stress out is by imagining the worst possible disaster might happen,” said Tristan, also author of the book Why Worry? Stop Coping and Start Living. She calls this “terribilizing.” One negative thought leads to another, and before you know it, you’re visualizing all the ways you’re going to fail the exam and fail at life. It might start with this kind of thought: “I have to ace this test or it will be awful.” Then “your mind responds to this perceived threat and constructs many dire outcomes such as if you don’t get an ‘A,’ you’ll never get into grad school and then you’ll have only jobs that pay minimum wage, and then you’ll never be able to pay back your student debt [and so on].” A better approach is to “possibilize,” she said. In other words, let your mind fe...
Source: World of Psychology - Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: Tags: Children and Teens College General Mental Health and Wellness Motivation and Inspiration Self-Help Stress Students anxiety Exercise healthy coping Negative Thoughts School Performance Stressor Study Habits Worry worry thoug Source Type: blogs