STRESS MANAGEMENT
Every year we see large numbers of students suffering due to the effects
of over-working and stress. Call it what you will; wound up, tired,
anxious, worried, nervous, agitated, sleepless, irritable, insomnia,
scared, panicky, poor memory, lethargic, panic attacks, jumpy, unable
to settle to anything. All these are things we could describe as
stress or stress-induced
Problems often arise and stress levels increase when exams and deadlines
loom. Study and revision dominate your
time and become your major goal. Other necessities get in the way,
including sleep and relaxation. As stress builds
up and your work suffers, you try to do without sleep and relaxation
and then, all too soon, you can't sleep and you
can't relax making you more stressed. You may have become inefficient
at studying and learning and your only
perceived way of improving is to do more work, making the problem even
worse!
If you recognise any of the above, you need to get fix your stress
problems. We know from psychological studies that we
all have limits to our attention span and capabilities to take on board
information. There is often little to be gained and
lots to be lost, struggling to try to study past these end points
Breaking the cycle of stress
It is vitally important to get off the vicious cycle and prevent stress
levels building up. This is not just during the run up
to exams, but also from day to day as well
Plan your day and have definite breaks for relaxation during your
studies. When we say relaxation, we mean
relaxation! Be it sport, yoga, meditation, watching TV, music or just
chatting with friends. The time you set aside must
be protected. You must not worry that you should be working. If you
do, you will not relax and you won't work better for
it afterwards. Ever stared at the same paragraph for ages and not taken
anything in? You might have spent your time
better relaxing and going back to it fresh
If you look at people's stress levels at the end of a day, those who
have relaxation periods have much lower levels and
therefore work better and sleep better. You can't expect your brain
to switch off from learning mode to sleep mode if
you have been working all day. It can be even more difficult if you
have used caffeine or nicotine to 'help'. Listen to
your body, have a relaxation break, especially at the end of the day
Will sleeping tablets help? Again it is better to treat the cause
rather than use medication to chemically induce sleep.
Virtually all sleeping tablets can cause sedation the next day and
impair work performance - not what you need at
exam and revision time!
Quick tips
- Plan your study. Don't leave it all to the last minute/hour/day/week/term
- Have relaxation breaks and keep these breaks protected.
- Don't sit thinking you should be doing some work whilst trying to relax
- By being more efficient, you might be able to do in six hours what you couldn't do in twelve!
- If you are under pressure with work and think 'I haven’t got time to relax' – think again!
Source: www.leedsstudentmedicalpractice.co.uk
NHS
Direct 0845 46 47 www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk
