5 WAYS TO DEAL WITH STRESS AS A COLLEGE STUDENT

By Akande Aanuoluwapo.

Stress is inevitable but as a college student, it's even more inevitable. No one hasn't experienced stress, people just experience it to varying degrees. Stress is just our body's way of responding to life experiences.

However, stress whose symptoms are irritability, social anxiety, mood swings and sleeping problems may sound simple and non-maligning but it's quite the opposite when not attended to.

Now, what are the ways to cope with stress as a student?

1)Eat and live Healthy Food: Here's one tip to live healthy. This may sound minute but it's a living reality of the quote "small but mighty." The tip is; to always go to class with a water bottle. You see, what you take into your body affects brainpower. So, you're more likely to feel stressed when you consistently eat less healthy foods like fries, and high-fat snacks so it's better to eat healthy food and fruits or you can take healthy snacks to class.

2)Sleep Well: The truth is that we can't cheat sleep. Sleep will always ask you to pay if you deny it it's right and the price may include feeling irritated, having mood swings or feeling stressed. So, the best thing is to sleep at least 8 hours at night so you wake up with a rejuvenated body.

3) Exercise: It may feel ironic that you are asked to exercise while stressed but exercise can provide stress relief for your body while imitating effects of stress, such as the flight or fight response, and helping your body and its systems practice working together through those effects. Exercise also initiates the production of endorphins which is a feel-good hormone.

4) Listen to music: it may seem inconsequential but research has found that music can help relieve stress or stimulate your mind. When we listen to our favouritemusic, our brain releases our feel-good hormone, dopamine, which activates our brain's pleasure and reward system. Fast music can energize you for the day while slow music can silence the mind and relax the muscles. You can pick one of your choice.

5) Do Progressive Muscle Relaxation: PMR is when you tense a group of muscles as you breathe in, and then you relax them as you breathe out. You can start from your toes and work your way up to your neck or head and you can do it vice versa. And, it's best to do it in a quiet place. This technique reduces muscle tension and general mental anxiety.

Lastly, prolonged stress or Stress that's not taken care of can lead to more deadly illnesses like hypertension, heart disease and kidney damage so to prevent the occurrence of these illnesses, it's better to treat stress as they come.