All college students experience occasional stress. For some, it happens before taking a test. For others, it might occur before going on a first date. In small doses, stress can be beneficial. It can give a little push, motivating students to do their best (or to be on their best behavior). Stress drives students to study for final exams when they would rather be checking their Facebook page or hanging out with friends.

Excessive and chronic stress kills brain cells and impairs memory. While small doses of stress can be beneficial, too much stress can have devastating effects on the brain. When stressed, the body releases cortisol which travels into the brain, binding to the receptors in the neurons. The neurons react by admitting calcium through channels in their membrane. Chronic and elevated stress overloads the neurons with calcium causing them to fire too frequently and die.

The over-secretion of cortisol in the brain impairs memory by preventing access to existing memories and hindering the ability to memorize new information. Additionally, the increase in cortisol suppresses the immune system, increasing the risk of infections and allergies. During exposure to chronic stress, the hippocampus shows shrinkage as individual nerve cells become shorter and less branched, hindering neural communication. By contrast, the amygdala, the part of the brain that regulates fear and emotion, becomes larger and more active resulting in increased anxieties and fears.

 

Learn to recognize the warning signs of stress

Physical Symptoms	Cognitive Symptoms	Emotional Symptoms	Behavioral Symptoms
Headaches or backaches	Memory problems	Anxious/agitated	Sleeping too much or too little
Muscle tension and stiffness	Inability to concentrate	Restlessness	Procrastinating, neglecting responsibilities
Indigestion	Anxious or racing thoughts	Feeling tense/inability to relax	Nervous habits (e.g. nail biting, pacing)
Insomnia	Constant worrying	Feeling overwhelmed	Overreacting to unexpected problems
Increased heart rate	Fearful anticipation	Irritability, impatience	Teeth grinding or jaw clenching
Nervous tics	Trouble thinking clearly	General unhappiness	Overdoing activities (e.g. shopping)
Skin breakouts	Seeing only negative	Sense of loneliness and isolation	Picking fights with others
Weight gain or loss	Indecisiveness	Short temper	Using alcohol or medication to relax
	Loss of objectivity		Acting impulsively

 

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Learn to manage your stress by setting limits with yourself and others • Keep your expectations realistic and choose your own goals • Be positive and develop a positive support system • Learn to anticipate potentially stressful situations so that you can prepare for them.

Here are some additional tips for reducing stress:

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	SEEING GOD THROUGH STRESS (Video) Professor Jud Lake, ThD, DMin of Southern Adventist University presents a remarkable message entitled, "Seeing God Through Stress".
"From Stress to Joy" Author: Gillian Bethel	Introduction BEYOND FIXES FOR STRESS How would you like a vacation on a palm-fringed tropical island right now? Would it remove your stress? Temporarily, no doubt, but the stress would be back. More practical for most of us would be an evening spent in a relaxed setting, doing something we enjoy. But for how long would that relieve our stress? When it comes to lasting stress management, we definitely need something beyond quick fixes. A wealth of websites, articles, and books already exist to help us conquer stress. But often they treat stress like a virus that can be isolated and remedied. This booklet is different in two ways: It looks at stress as part of a life story, and it shows how God intervenes in the life and not just in the stress. Each one of us is unique, and our personal stress levels depend on how we react to all the events of our lives. Because stressors—the triggers of stress—are interwoven with the fabric of our daily experience, true stress management requires a change in the way we relate to life as a whole. Christianity holds the key to managing this stress. But God is interested in doing more for us than just helping us handle stressors.... READ MORE
Amazing Facts: Online Library
Epstein Stress Management Inventory for Individuals (ESMI-i): View