The Wake

Illustration by Elle Attinella

College is stressful. Nervous tension is a part of life that inevitably gets more complex with increasing maturity and responsibility. A knack for multitasking is practically perfected during these years of juggling activities outside of class, deciding what career path to take, paying bills, having a social life, maintaining strong family relations, staying in shape, and probably over a dozen other things in addition to academic work. With midterm exams to prepare for again, university students are reminded of just how stressful school can be.

Aerospace Engineering major, member of the NROTC (Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps), leader of a drill team, and campus jobholder Dan Efinger plainly says “I know all about stress!” He attributes most of it to the pressures of ROTC. “There’s always something to do and always something to anticipate doing,” he says. Academic pressure also plays a role in his daily stress; being expected to perform at the highest aptitude, along with other ROTC members, gets him desired higher rank in addition to the satisfaction of good grades.

Up to a certain point, stress is natural. Without it, life would be boring and not a lot would get done. Stress is a short-term physiological tension and added mental alertness that subsides when the challenge has been met, enabling you to relax and move on to something new. When a person isn’t able to return to a more relaxed state, then the stress becomes unconstructive. Glenn Hirsch, the University of Minnesota’s interim director of Counseling and Consulting Services and licensed psychologist said that between the eighth and ninth week of every semester there’s a drastic spike in students seeking counseling services. “This of course is due primarily to the often overwhelming exam period,” he says.

Results of negative stress can be both physical and psychological, they include irritable or anxious feelings, forgetfulness, difficulty concentrating, headaches, tooth grinding, and insomnia. Hirsch explains that everyone experiences stress differently. “It can be a facilitating factor for some and more interference for others,” he says.

For Efinger, stress is motivational. “I feel more accomplished when I’m stressed about things, if I don’t have a lot to do I start to get bored and look for things to do,” he explains. He goes on to say that when a task is completed he experiences a “sigh of relief and feeling of achievement.”

On the other hand, Sarah Meade, pharmacy major, explains that several four-hour-long labs, lectures, lack of free time is starting to get to her. She shows her bitten fingernails to prove it. “A nasty habit I have,” she says. Finding time to relax on the weekends, hanging out with her roommates and swimming during the week “keeps me sane,” she says.

The University of Minnesota’s Student Health Survey found that significant stressors for students on campus include: serious physical illness, death of someone close, ending of a long personal relationship, excessive credit card debt, and failing a class.

A recurring cause of stress seen on campus by Hirsch is work overload with students who hold outside jobs while being full-time students. “[Students] figure it’ll be fine if they pick up more hours at work until they realize how much time their schoolwork requires,” Hirsch says. Emily Widen, a family and social science major can relate to her job interfering with her academics. “I wake up twice a week at 5 a.m. and don’t get home again until after 7 p.m. I end up being tired all day and sometimes put homework aside so I can catch a nap …it’s probably not the most responsible strategy but I make it work,” she says. Hirsch emphasized that the work that is done outside the classroom for the average amount of credits is equal to the amount of time one puts into a full-time job. “If you have both, it’s literally like having two full-time jobs,” Hirsch says.

Hirsch explains that there are two kinds of stress to be aware of: combative and preventative. Combative stress is acknowledged once you’ve become stressed and take active steps to get back to “normal.” Preventative stress includes actions taken to prevent stress from becoming overwhelming. “It involves primarily time management,” Hirsch says. “Most people don’t function at their best for extensive lengths of time. After two hours or so their attention span lessens and continues to lessen more the longer they [work]; they get more and more easily distracted.” He recommends preventing this “diminishing hours” effect by anticipating the time it’ll take to work on something and allowing for short breaks.

The U of M’s Boynton web site lists numerous techniques for coping with stress. Strategies included: going for a walk, exercising, taking a short nap, taking time to be alone or with friends, eating healthy, or doing something you enjoy. Hirsch says that students should particularly avoid doing things that are bad for them even though they may be tempting. “Typically when a person is stressed they’ll be drawn to do things that will make them more stressed,” he said. Examples include using nicotine, consuming alcohol or drinking lots of coffee to stay up for late night cram sessions. Hangovers and sleeplessness are in no way helpful to eliminating stress.

No matter how bad you’re stressing out, try to find something relaxing. For ideas, visit the University Counseling and Consulting Services’ webpage at http://www.uccs.umn.edu.