TRANSCRIPT: Stress Management Techniques

Speaker: Jennifer Dupree

Stress Management Techniques For College Students

Hi, my name is Jennifer Dupree, and I’m a health educator.

I work with college students in helping them make healthy choices about a variety of decisions impacting their lifestyle.

One of those choices has to do with stress, making healthy stress management choices so that we can effectively manage all the pressures and tensions that we have affecting us on a daily basis.

But what is stress? Stress is tension.

Think of a headache, it builds and it builds. Your head is pounding and pounding.

If you don’t effectively treat the headache, it can become out of control and can incapacitate you.

We don’t want stress to do that.

So stress also has to do with the ways that we respond to stressors, which are these pressures that we feel.

A lot of these pressures can be responding to a new environment.

How do you balance classes, social life, athletics, working a part-time job?

What if you’re a commuter?

One of the biggest stressors can be getting to class on time; you’re hitting red light after red light after red light; you know class is about to start in ten minutes, but you’re running late.

Whenever you have a new or threatening situation, we consider that a stressor, so it’s really important to have a clear understanding of what your triggers are and how to address them.

Stress Response

Let’s talk about the stress response. What is the stress response?

Fight or flight?

Are you someone that is going to say and battle a situation, figure out what you need to do about it and address it, or are you someone that’s going to take off?

Are you going to head for the hills? You don’t want to deal with it.

That is the body’s response to stress, and it’s often how we respond to stress.

An alarm goes off. Something has gotten you nervous.

The hypothalamus, which is a part of your brain, sends a signal to the pancreas.

Atop the pancreas sits adrenal glands. The adrenal glands are very, very small. They are about the size of a grape.

When you become very stressed out these adrenal glands will release two important hormones in the stress response -- adrenaline and cortisol.

Stress Triggers

Let’s take a look at stress triggers. What is a trigger?

If someone is behind you poking you, poke, poke, poke, poke, you can only take so much of it.

That is similar to what a stressor is.

There are many stresses that affect college students; health stressors, and I had just briefly mentioned that when your body releases cortisol it suppresses your immune system.

No one likes to take exams when they’re not feeling well.

What about family stressors?

Not only may you be supporting yourself through college, maybe you’re supporting an entire family.

That can be very stressful in balancing all the needs you have throughout the day and the needs of family members.

What about environmental stressors; that nagging roommate who you just cannot control, that can be very stressful.

So when you take into account all of these pokings that you have going on, between health, maybe financial issues, figuring out how are you going to support yourself, the burden of financial stressors in college can really weigh heavily on someone.

When you take into account all of these stressors, what do they mean for you and how can you effectively identify them and then deal with them in a healthy manner?

Warning Signs

So we’ve talked about stressors, but what about the warning signs?

Think of a warning sign as a bell going on in your head telling you that something is not right.

A lot of these warnings signs can vary from person to person, and they are very individual.

They can be physical, such as headaches, muscle pain, or tension.

They can also be behavioral. Maybe you’re eating more or less than you normally would.

Are you consuming too many energy drinks?

Energy drinks are a big topic for college students, regardless of if you’re commuter or residential student, you consume many energy drinks to keep you going.

Have your sleep habits changed?

Be very aware of physical, emotional, and behavior characteristics that you know are unlike who you are as a person.

These can be warning signs and, again, that bell going off, telling you something is not right, let me take a step back

Activity

What you see in front of you now is a list of warning signs of stress.

Warning signs can come in all forms.

Please check off any of the following that pertain to you, and I will give you a minute to do so.

Impact On Health

How does stress affect your health?

We’ve talked about stress, what stress is, stressor, triggers warning signs.

One of the things that was discussed is when you become stressed your body releases cortisol.

Cortisol is that stress hormone that can have a major impact on our health.

Beyond just getting sick over and over again, one of the other impacts that cortisol and stress in general can have on our health is that it contributes to obesity, and much of that does have to do with the fact that when we release cortisol, our body normally stores fat as a natural reaction to stress.

Much of that goes back to evolution, and it’s our body’s response.

Again, remember fight or flight, and your body is getting ready to do battle.

And as a result of that, there sometimes may be extra storage of fat around the midsection.

So if you’re looking to get those six-pack abs, remember, it’s important to manage stress effectively.

When we get to ways to manage stress effectively you will see that one of the top ways is exercise.

Insomnia is also a way that stress does majorly impact your health, and it’s not just the body’s or your inability to fall asleep, it can also be the inability to stay asleep.

So sometimes I will have students keep a sleep journal to be aware of nights where they’re having more difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep.

And, again, if you do have a history of depression or anxiety, be aware that excessive stress can worsen that, so definitely be in tune to your body and pay attention to what it’s telling you.

Action Plan

How do you respond to stress?

I’m going to give you an example of a stressor, my reaction, and then an action plan; and following, I’m going to ask you to do the same.

So let’s take a look at a financial stressor. I have bills piling up, piling up, piling up.

What is my initial reaction?

I’m feeling incredibly overwhelmed.

Remember that headache I talked about, the pounding?

The trigger is the bills piling up.

So I feel pressure that’s building and building, and building.

What is going to be my reaction?

My first step is going to calm down, slow down my thinking, slow down my breathing.

I will work with creditors to find an easy way to pay off the debt that continues to accrue.

There is always an action for a situation that you have going on.

It’s a matter of, A, identifying the trigger, how are you reacting to it, and then what is a healthy way in which to come to a solution to the problem?

What I’m going to ask you to do are these same steps: identify a situation, record your initial reaction, and think of a way to change and a plan to counteract the stressor or the situation that you’re deal dealing with.

When you have a plan in place, it sets you as ease and knows that help is on the way.

Recap

So let’s recap.

When you are faced with a stressor, take a moment to stop and think.

Be mindful.

Be mindful of the situation around you, the environment around you, what is your body telling you?

Think before you act or react to a situation.

Most importantly, is this a stressor that you can control?

Many times in our lives stress is a result of us trying to take control of a situation which we have no control over.

Just that one thought of realizing this isn’t something I can control can make a huge difference in the way that you respond to a situation.

The third step that’s very important is to come up and realize that there is a positive way for you to deal with the situation and gain more control over whatever it is that is stressing you out.

So always be aware to first stay calm, be mindful of the stressor, ask yourself, is this something you can or cannot control, and then if it is something that you can change, what are the positive ways that you can make the stressor work for you?

Techniques

Let’s take a look at some stress management techniques.

Take a second and think of how do you respond to stress, what are your techniques?

Many times I get blank stares by students. They don’t know.

Here are some things to keep in mind. Keep a journal.

It can be electronic or it can be handwritten, something that’s going to allow you to get thoughts off of your mind.

Be sure to eat healthy well-balanced meals, breakfast in particular.

Many times when we are stressed out we skip breakfast.

Why, because we did not get quality sleep the night before.

It’s a cycle, folks.

You’re not getting to bed early enough because you’re staying up playing video games, talking on the phone, IMing, Facebooking, whatever it might be within your activity that night, and you’re not getting to bed on time, so you’re waking up late, you’re skipping breakfast, and you’re heading right to your class.

That can be a very stressful occurrence that takes place.

Stay positive.

Be sure that you’re eliminating and avoiding alcohol, tobacco, drugs, caffeine.

A lot of these substances can aggravate stress, and we’re looking to bring the stress levels down.

Be sure that you find an effective time and place to do your work.

Maybe you’re a schedule person. Be sure to keep a to-do list on hand.

That allows you to keep yourself organized.

And if all else fails, remember to take care of the basics.

Eat healthy meal, be sure to regularly physically exercise, make sure that you’re getting quality sleep, and be sure that you have a healthy outlet, whether that be talking to someone or if that’s writing your thoughts down on paper or typing them down on your computer.

Behavioral Changes

In addition to some of the health behavior techniques I first mentioned in terms of managing stress, there are a couple of behavioral changes that I do want you to be aware of and make special note of.

One of them is alcohol.

And while many of you have heard over and over again how unhealthy alcohol is for you, please keep in mind that when you are stressed out, alcohol does not necessarily make you feel better.

If you are depressed or anxious, consuming alcohol will only make the depression or the anxiety and the stressor that you’re dealing with that much more difficult to handle and manage.

And especially if you have a history of depression or anxiety that runs in your family and you may be on medication to treat these conditions, consuming alcohol make interrupt your body’s ability to effectively work with the medication that has been prescribed to you.

Another thing to keep in mind, and I’ve mentioned it before, those energy drinks, “Monster,” “Red Bull,” “Rock Star,” the list goes on and on, they are stimulants.

And, again, if you are on any kind of prescription medication, energy drinks can really throw your body’s system out of whack, in particular, your central nervous system.

I mentioned earlier it’s very important for you to get adequate sleep.

A lot of these energy drinks will interrupt the body’s ability to calm down and slow down to get ready for bed.

So if you are someone who tends to rely on energy drinks to keep going, and then maybe at the end of the day or sometime during the day, you feel you need to have an alcoholic beverage to take the edge off, you’re dealing with a lot of different chemical interactions in your body that will only make you feel more stressed out.

So definitely pay attention to the beverages that you are consuming and how they may interact with any kind of prescription med you’re taking.

Relaxation

What about relaxation techniques?

We’ve talked about ways for you to effectively deal with stress from a behavioral standpoint.

But we really want to be sure the body is relaxing. You may think of a Zen moment.

You may think of a yoga pose.

Keep in mind there are many different techniques.

One of the first ones involves progressive muscle relaxation.

What does that mean?

Well, for example, if you started at your feet and you tensed your foot, you scrunched up your foot in your shoe and then you relaxed it, and then moved on to your calf, the muscle located in the lower part of your leg in the back section, and you tensed you calf and then you released it, and then progressively worked your way up through your body with major muscle groups, tensing and relaxing, that allows you body to identify what it feels like to be stressed but then also why it’s important to be relaxed once you relax the muscle.

Visualization: Visualize your most favorite place to be?

Where do you find your most enjoyable moment? For me it’s the ocean.

I love being near the water.

So many times, if I am stressed out, I visualize myself by the ocean relaxing.

What about meditation?

For many people meditation, finding a word, a phrase to repeat over and over again while they are in a relaxed state, in a very calm and cool room, really helps with controlling their heart rate.

Progressive muscle relaxation, visualization, meditation, and the last is deep breathing, which we will be getting into an exercise for momentarily.

A Breather

We’re going to try an activity based on the last relaxation technique described.

So are you ready for a breather?

I’m going to ask you right now to sit back in your chair with your arms down by your side and both feet flat on the floor and your legs uncrossed.

Take a second right now to just check in with your body to be sure your shoulders are relaxed, your face is relaxed, and your jaw is not clenched.

Please place one hand on your stomach below your rib cage and close your eyes.

Slowly breathe through your nose for a count of four. Breathe from your stomach and not your chest.

Your stomach should feel like it’s rising.

Exhale slowly through your mouth for a count of six, emptying your lungs completely and letting your stomach fall.

If you have found that exhaling is more difficult that’s okay.

Because you’ve been asked to empty your lungs completely, it may be a little more challenging to exhale.

You want to repeat this several times until you feel calm and relaxed.

Practice daily.

I’m now going to ask you to open your eyes. Are you feeling more calm?

Simple Steps

So let’s recap.

Be aware of what stress is.

How does your body respond to stress? What are your triggers?

What are some healthy routines that you can develop so that you are aware of stress, your triggers, how your body responds to it, and these techniques that can help you calm down and effectively combat stress as it approaches your life.

It’s going to come daily.

It’s nothing that we can get rid of but it’s something we can be more aware of and be more mindful of in terms of how to approach it.

Resources

On the page in front of you are some helpful websites.

These websites don’t need to be just for you, but maybe there’s a friend or family member you’re concerned about.

Feel free to please pass along these websites.

For nutrition, EATRIGHT.ORG and MYPYRAMID.GOV really give you some helpful tools and information to be sure you’re getting the nutrients that you need to sustain your health and wellbeing.

We’ve talked about fitness.

The American College for Sports Medicine is a really great website to use, the ACSM.ORG.

Also, be aware of FITNESS.GOV.

If you are new to fitness, they give you some really good beginner and starter programs, and if you’ve been in the game for a little while and are revisiting it, it’s a great place to go back to.

Sleep, please be sure to visit SLEEPFOUNDATION.ORG. If you are struggling with getting quality sleep, this can be a great starting tool for you to use.

Please be sure to check it out.

If you are or your friend may be abusing drugs, alcohol, or any other kind of substance, there is a great website there for you.

Please be sure to research it.

And then as always, just stress management in general.

Please be sure to visit this website, because in addition to some of the keys that were brought to your attention and some fantastic techniques, there’s a lot more for you to learn and a lot more that you could probably utilize as you research this topic more on your own.

Final Words

Now that you have been given information on what stresses, how to identify stressors, some stress management techniques, along with relaxation techniques, for the next week, I’m going to ask you to be mindful of stress, stressors, and the way that you respond to stress.

I also challenge you to use some of the stress management techniques and relaxation techniques presented to you.

It could be as easy as having breakfast every day, making sure that you’re working out on a regular basis.

Maybe it’s talking to that friend.

You’ve been wanting to share some information with him or her but you haven’t felt quite ready.

Maybe now is the time to open up to that person.

Maybe you want to use some of the helpful websites that have been presented to you.

Maybe you’ve been finding that you’re sleeping less or too much.

Log onto to Sleep Foundation website and take a look at some of the information that is provided to you on how to get more quality sleep.

Whatever it might be, choose something that’s going to work for you and practice it.

Remember, no matter what, don’t let stress get the best of you.