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Managing stress

What is stress?

Stress is a natural response to pressure due to many different situations or life events. Being a university student comes with its own stress-invoking challenges. Not only do you have academic tasks to complete, but you may also have work commitments, family obligations, a social life, and health needs that all need to be balanced.  

While it can be unpleasant, stress can be normal, healthy, and helpful – depending on the situation. Stress is a result of the body's survival mechanism, the fight-or-flight response, and can help you to overcome a short-term challenge that you know you can handle. It’s only a problem when it’s constant or the situation is out of your control. At times like these, it’s important to know how to deal with stress. 

Stress symptoms can impact your quality of life: they may affect your academic performance, your relationships, and your capacity to meet expectations at work. The earlier you identify you are becoming stressed, the more effective the following strategies and tools. 

 

What are the signs you may be stressed?

Experiencing stress can be like being on a rollercoaster. Some days it may feel easy. Other days, you might feel like you are stuck on a never-ending ride full of twists, turns, and upside-down loops. Stress can build up unexpectedly (especially around assessment times and the end of session), therefore it is helpful to monitor for warning signs so that you can implement strategies to reduce the impact.

UOW Counselling Warning signs of stress

[Music]
tertiary studies can be stressful
keeping up with the workload balancing
work and family commitments and
maintaining a social life can be
challenging it's normal to have good and
bad days sometimes stress can build up
over the session and make it difficult
to cope it can be a good idea to pay
attention to any early warning signs of
stress you might notice changes in your
mood feeling sad or anxious losing
interest in things or spending more time
alone you might notice that it's harder
to fall asleep or get up in the morning
you might feel tired during the day or
lose your appetite stresses can pop and
you can return to feeling like yourself
again Jeff stress continues for more
than two weeks it may be beneficial to
seek out some professional health such
as a general practitioner psychologist
or counselor health is available and can
make a big difference the University of
wound on counseling service provides
free and confidential support check out
the website for contacts retail
[Music]

Common stress symptoms: 

Different emotions: 

  • Anxiety
  • Anger
  • Sadness
  • Irritability
  • Depression
  • Numbness 

 

 

 

Sensations in your body: 

  • Sweaty hands
  • Fast heartbeat
  • Headaches
  • Nausea
  • Digestion problems (constipation and/or diarrhea)  

 

Changes in your behaviour: 

  • Withdrawing from your family and friends
  • Avoidance and/or procrastination of tasks
  • Snapping at people
  • Feeling indecisive
  • Having trouble adjusting your plans or being flexible to others’ ideas
  • Crying more often
  • Sleep disturbances (trouble falling and/or staying sleep)
  • Changes in your appetite (eating more or less)
  • Increase in substance use, including smoking, vaping, alcohol, or other drugs. 

Where can I find support?

Dealing with stress can be difficult, but you don’t have to do it on your own! You can access one of UOW’s Support and Wellbeing Services, such as the free Counselling Service or the Student Support Coordinators.

Additionally, you can contact the free and confidential UOW 24-hour Student Wellbeing Support Line by phone (1300 036 149) and text (0488 884 164) if feeling stressed or if you are supporting a friend in stress.  

Please know you are not alone and there are a range of different supports available - all you have to do is contact us. The support services at UOW have a high level of privacy and confidentiality.  

What can I do to reduce my stress levels?

The following strategies and tools can help reduce some of the emotional intensity you are feeling. Not every tool will work for everyone, and it might take some trial and error to identify which ones best fit your needs.

Engaging in physical activity isn’t just about joining a gym or going for a run. Focus on moving your body more, and spending less time sitting. Moving your body or exercising for 20-30 minutes can help reduce your stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol), and increase your ‘feel-good’ transmitters (endorphins).  

Visit UniActive to see what classes, programs, and offers are available. 

Food acts as fuel for the body and brain. You can’t drive your car if it has no fuel, and your body is the same. If you don’t have enough fuel your body will find it harder to cope during the challenging times. Some tips include: 

  • Eating smaller, more regular meals
  • Increasing your daily intake of fruits and vegetables 
  • Eating fewer takeout meals
  • Drinking 2 litres of water a day, and reducing the amount of caffeine

If you find it hard to buy healthy foods due to financial challenges, please check out UOW Pulse Pantry, Ask Izzy, or the Illawarra Fair food Directory. 

Sleep is important for physical rest and recovery, and can assist in maintaining our mood, concentration, and memory.   

  • Aim to sleep seven to nine hours every night.
  • Stick to a similar sleep schedule: avoid pulling all-nighters, or sleeping in too late.
  • When changing your sleep routine, take it slow. Make small gradual changes rather than trying to test it all in one go.
  • Taking long naps can affect your sleep patterns at night, aim to keep your naps 30 minutes or less.
  • Train your brain that beds are for sleep. Avoid studying in bed whenever possible. 

If you are finding it challenging to get restful sleep, talk to a General Practitioner (GP) to explore possible reasons behind your disrupted sleep.  

Sometimes when we are feeling stressed it can be challenging to know where to start.  

Check out our resources on Goal setting (including setting ‘SMART’ goals), Time Management and Staying Organised for some strategies to keep you on track. 

Sometimes we get stuck in a cycle of avoidance or emotion and we need a circuit breaker to help us move on to something else; this is where regulation tools can be helpful.  

Breathing Exercises 
Research has shown that by taking deep breaths, individuals can experience improvements in their mood and stress levels. Most of the time we take short, shallow breaths, but by taking the time to breathe deeply you are giving your body and mind a chance to reset before moving on to something else. 

There are many different ways of taking deep breaths, you can find some ideas in the What is ‘breathwork’? And do I need to do it? article. Also, the smiling mind app and Insight Timer app both have free meditations, mindfulness, and breathing recordings. 

Mindfulness 
Mindfulness is focusing on being present in the moment. Being stuck in your thoughts can be very distressing, and this approach is used to help you get out of your head. It encourages you to become more aware of your surroundings and to live in the moment. Mindfulness requires extensive practice for it to become second nature. Once practiced however, it can reduce your stress levels and make you feel happier on a day-to-day basis. Here are some ideas you can consider trying:

Sensory Tools 
As children, most of us were taught that we have five senses – sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. However, there are actually seven main ways we gather sensory information. The additional two are vestibular (awareness of our body’s movements, balance and coordination), and proprioception (awareness of where our body is positioned in the space around us).  

By increasing, decreasing, or changing the sensory inputs our body is receiving, we can increase and decrease our energy and stress levels. Please keep your medical history in mind when you are selecting which strategies to try, and consult with a medical professional for further guidance if needed. 

The following is a list of sensory strategies based on a publication from Queensland Health. 

Sense  Sensory strategy 

Touch 

  • Light/deep touch, temperature 
 Hand cream, cool face washer, spending time with a pet, holding a warm drink, weighted blankets. 

Hearing 

  • Sound, rhythm, volume 
 Singing, listening to music, nature sounds (rainforest, ocean), white noise, silence.  

Taste 

  • Flavour, oral motor 
 Chewing gum, sucking a hard lolly, strong peppermints, crunching ice, eating something spicy. 

Smell 

  • Fragrances, intensities 
 Flowers, essential oils, citrus, lavender, oil diffuser, burning incense, candles, potpourri scented pillows. 

Sight 

  • Light, colour, moving visuals 
 Bright light, dimmed light, nature scenes (mountains), slow moving scenes (underwater), colours. 

Proprioception 

  • Awareness of body in space 
 Yoga, Tai chi, light stretching, weighted objects, weighted blankets. 

Vestibular/movement 

  • Sensation of moving 
 Walking, rocking chair, reclining / lying down, spinning on a chair, sitting on exercise ball. 

Additional support

There are many resources available both at UOW and in the community, here are some of the links: