Reagan Hicks
Published: January 25, 2006
With classes back in session, college students are more stressed and working harder with the demands of classes, jobs, and personal lives. However, with the help and resources that can be found on campus, this undue stress can be alleviated.
LaRita Carter, coordinator of L.I.F.E. Center, dance and cheer, athletics, and employee wellness program, says that the demands of student life, careers, and personal lives can cause students to get overstressed.
Lack of sleep and exercise, poor diet, and too much work can cause stress.
“Students turn to alternative methods such as overeating, drugs and alcohol,” Carter said, in order to deal with stress.
She says that too much partying and drinking excessively, however can cause stress to the body as well.
Maintaining a healthy diet and exercise routine can help reduce the effects that stress has physically and mentally on the students. Though some might believe that adding an exercise regime to their weekly routine might cause more stress, the opposite actually is true.
“Exercise and eating right should be first priority,” Carter said. She says this is because it helps people to live longer and eliminates stress.
Exercise can help to aid better sleep, which results in a “rested mind, which helps to clear the head, and helps students to be more decisive.”
Many exercise programs are offered at the L.I.F.E Fitness Center to students who are currently enrolled in or have completed concepts of life course, and are enrolled in at least three credits.
Continuing education courses are also offered that can help jump-start students’ work-outs. Courses offered include yoga, Pilates, dance, weight-lifting and Kung-Fu.
Carter suggests that if students are just starting an exercise program to find a “buddy,” someone who can get you motivated and whom you can motivate.
“It starts with the mind,” she said. “Say it and do it.”
Though many students might say that they don’t have time to work-out, Carter says it takes less time than most people think.
“You don’t have to work out for two hours,” she says.
Students can set aside as little as 20 to 30 minutes, three times a week, and see results in as little as four weeks. The most common reason most people don’t start or stay with an exercise program is because “a lot of people are just lazy,” Carter said.
Procrastination, rather than laziness, is what Anthony Harris, a counselor at PJC, believes causes most students stress. He believes that starting the enrollment process early and understanding the process will help students cut back on stress and workload.
“Students will master the process from the beginning, or the process will master the student,” Harris said.
Early planning, such as registering for classes early, buying books early, applying for financial aid as much as one month in advance are all excellent ways to get ahead and stay ahead.
Staying ahead is what Danielle Smyly, a sophomore at PJC, does to keep her stress under control. With a full time job and six classes, Smyly says “If anything, I keep up with my homework and I have to manage my time.”
Harris also encourages students “to develop their own process by recruiting your own team.” Finding a counselor, a member of staff in admissions and in financial aid, and continuing to revisit them often throughout the semesters will give students a more personal experience with their college and their advisors.
The “newness to the process” is what Harris finds to cause the greatest amount of stress to students. He finds that students are not prepared mentally and emotionally for the volumes of effort that is required, and for the responsibility that comes with college.
Harris also says students should expect the face of student affairs to be changing with student affairs and Career Connection joining together to relocate to the student center. He expects this conjunction to provide more opportunities to students to help manage stress.