Stress: What Does It Look Like?

Once stress rears its ugly head, managing study commitments can be overwhelming. As a student you don’t always have a stress free life, despite what they say.  You may have to work to eat, essays have to be done eventually, bills still need to be paid and relationships can take a lot of attention.  Stress is not always a negative thing.  In short bursts it can get you going and be really energising.  But when the stress that was once energising is now exhausting and overwhelming it can be a sign that things are not quite right. 

Lots of stressful things happens all the time in life, but you cope. Things like relationships not going well, family hassles, managing difficult or uninteresting subjects, difficult lecturers, financial problems, feeling overloaded, deadlines, job hassles and exams are potentially around all the time, but usually don’t happen all at the same time.  Sometimes, when things combine, the timing is bad or just one thing blows out of proportion, it is too much to cope with.  All of a sudden you find yourself stressed out and not coping.

Some of the signs of stress include:
• Feeling exhausted or fatigued all the time
• Headaches
• Struggling to concentrate
• Difficulty sleeping
• Feeling agitated or hyperactive
• Feeling depressed or tired, unable to get on top of things
• Procrastination and ambivalence, can’t make a decision
• Change in eating patterns

Some of the ways your behaviour can change include:
• Excessive coffee, alcohol or cigarette intake
• Use or increased use of drugs, prescription or otherwise
• Relationship problems and sexual issues
• Picking fights with people over little things

This may be a good time to reflect on yourself, where you are up to and where you are at.  What do you think the issues are?  Can you get a handle on it or do you think you may need to ask for help?