STRESS is a very COMMON FACTOR in everyone’s lifestyle. Be it Working Professionals, House Wives, Retired persons. or a Student.
Stress is a natural feeling of not being able to cope with specific demands and events.
However, stress can become a chronic condition if a person does not take steps to manage it.
These demands can come from work, relationships, financial pressures, and other situations,
but anything that poses a real or perceived challenge or threat to a person’s well-being can cause stress.
Stress can be a motivator, and it can even be essential to survival. The body’s fight-or-flight mechanism tells a person when and how to respond to danger. However, when the body becomes triggered too easily, or there are too many stressors at one time, it can undermine a person’s mental and physical health and become harmful.
It impacts each one of us in its own ways, depending on :
1. LIFESTYLE,
2. CIRCUMSTANCES (Environmental Conditions),
3. PROFESSIONAL & PERSONAL LIFESTYLE,
4. EATING HABITS,
5. SLEEPING PATTERN,
6. MENTAL STRENGTH
7. COPING ABILITIES
8. SUPPORT SYSTEM – FAMILY, FRIENDS, SOCIETY
9. CURRENT MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH.
High Stress impacts the Sympathetic and Para Sympathetic Nervous system that may results into:
1. Mental disorders, DEPRESSION, ANXIETY
2. Low Self Esteem and
3. Lifestyle Medical Conditions – like GERD, Hypertension etc.
Students are also impacted by stress to a very large extent due to various reasons.
But there can be ways where a person can MANAGE STRESS and the FIRST STEP towards that is whether a person actually understands they are in stress zone or not, further accept that and start working towards stress management through the coping strategies.
Ways to monitor and ‘QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED’ to yourself if you are in STRESS ZONE or not :
1. Are you not resting well?
2. Are you feeling sleepy and fatigued during the day?
3. Do you wake up tired and irritated in morning?
4. Are you inclined to study more by peer pressure and parent’s ambitions?
5. Are you spending very high hours for your studies?
6. Are your eyes itching frequently with high screen time?
7. How many steps do you cover throughout the day?
8. Are you getting disturbed with some thoughts or some events or any person?
9. Do you have a habit to eat or eat more in extreme emotions?
10. Do you eat more simple carbs and less fiber / protein / fat in your meals?
BASED ON THE ABOVE POINTERS, THERE ARE VARIOUS TYPES OF STRESS ONE SHOULD UNDERSTAND, RECOGNIZE AND LEARN THE COPING STRATEGIES TOWARDS STRESS MANAGEMENT IN ORDER TO MANAGE EXAM STRESS :
TYPE - 1 : VERY HIGH STUDY HOURS & PARENT’S / PEER PRESSURE
STRESSFUL STUDY & MAKING MORE EFFORTS THAN YOUR CAPACITY.
Parents should understand that academic success is not the only deciding factor for a successful person.
Therefore there shouldn’t be unnecessary stress for students in order to achieve extraordinary results that are not their forte or not in their capacity.
COPING STRATEGY:
1. Parent’s should understand their child’s capacity and recognize their interest areas.
2. Just because their peers are very inclined towards academics and earning good marks, doesn’t mean they should pressurize their child towards unnecessary high stressful study pattern.
3. Talk to you child and interact with them, try to find out their areas of interest and understand their capacities.
ADVANTAGES:
1. Improved performance as now the student is working / studying within their capacity and not trying to achieve something that’s not in their reach.
2. Reduced Stress and increased state of happiness.
3. More connectivity with the study and patterns.
4. Positive interactions with parents as they don’t put extra pressure on them to achieve extraordinary.
5. Avoiding lifestyle medical conditions as hypertension, indigestion, insomnia due to less stress.
TYPE - 2 : SLEEP QUALITY | SOUND SLEEP | And Why is it important.
COPING STRATEGY: How to earn a Sound Sleep?
1. Regular workout - Morning (cardio and strength) | Evening (yoga or walk to relax)
2. Early and light dinner (latest by 8 PM ) (light on simple carbs : rice / roti and avoid any processed food like maida, fried, packaged food.)
3. Avoid Any Gadgets / Mobile / screen 30 min before bed time
4. Avoid heavy water intake post 9 PM
5. Before bed time : 15 min before : Warm shower / soak foot in warm water / hot milk with turmeric / meditation - any of these.
6. Avoid any conflicts or phone calls 1 hour before bed time
7. There should be a 2-3 hours gap between dinner and bed time (ideal time : Dinner - 7 PM | Bed time - 10 PM)
8. Read books before bed time
9. Work on the calmness and interiors of your bed room - less lit up, cosy bed, light fragrance.
10. Last but not the least - keep a POSITIVE FRAME OF MIND - train your mind and thoughts to be RESILIENT and manage any stress or conflicts in a positive way.
ADVANTAGES :
1. Healthy body metabolic rate
2. Mind detox with good sleep quality.
3. More efficiency in study due to relaxed mind
4. Reduce fatigue and tiredness
7. Hormonal balancing / progress sin GROWTH HORMONES.
TYPE - 3 : NUTRITION FOCUS : AVOID HIGH CARBS INTAKE
Understand the importance of Carbs and how to control the portion and timing of the intake.
A brief description about Carbs before we get into it.
Simple Carbs = Roti / rice/breads etc
Impact : quick digestion | immediate energy and immediate blood sugar hike | fat accumulation if portion and timing is wrong
Complex Carbs = Veggies / Fruits
Impact : Takes time to digest, release energy over the time | Doesn’t impact blood sugar | aids in fat and weight loss
COPING STRATEGY: How to manage and time Carbs intake ?
1. Portion Control : Simple Carbs should be 1/4th of your meal plate in order to eat a balance food.
2. Time Control : If meal is post 7 PM - There should be limited or NO Simple carbs to avoid blood sugar hike and fat accumulation.
3. Combination : Carbs are important to help other Macronutrient (Protein / Fat) get absorbed in system. So the Protein intake post workout should be supported with a portion of Carbs - both simple and complex.
4. When to say NO to Carbs : Avoid eating in extreme emotions - stress, anxiety, anger, happiness etc. As we eat more carbs in such situations and vice versa.
5. Regular Detox : Adopt weekly fruits and salad - fibre detox to flush out the toxins and free radicals as well as improve digestion with regular simple carbs intake. This will further reduce the curb to have more simple carbs.
6. Hydration : Many times we confuse the thirst with the hunger. Having 3-4L water / day / throughout will reduce the craving for simple carbs.
7. Workout : 30 min X 5 days a week. Include strength workouts and cardio to gain muscle mass and loose body fat. This will help eat a balanced food and reduce Carbs craving.
8. Sedentary Hours : Manage and reduce your sedentary time. Adopt 30:3 ratio method. Low sedentary time = less carbs intake.
ADVANTAGES :
1. Reduce fatigue / high energy / feeling lighter
2. Body fat loss / Weight loss
3. Improved digestion
4. Healthy body metabolic rate
5. Reverse medical symptoms like - high BP, High Cholesterol, fatty Liver, Diabetes, GERD etc.
6. Manage Extreme negative emotions : Stress, anxiety, anger, depression
7. Manage appetite. Reduces appetite and reduce unnecessary fat accumulation
TYPE - 4 : IMMUNITY & POSITIVE THINKING
Cut Off Stress caused by NEGATIVE Emotions that could be very harmful and reduce efficiency of a student.
Negative Emotions
= Poor immunity
= High Stress
= Poor Body Metabolic Rate
How to manage NEGATIVE EMOTIONS through POSITIVE THINKING and gain healthy IMMUNE SYSTEM.
How to reduce the NEGATIVITY BIAS?
HOW TO OVERCOME NEGATIVITY WITH POSITIVE EMOTIONS & in turn MANAGE STRESS?
COPING STRATEGY : LEARN TO BE RESILIENT
1. List the pointers of the actions / events / people / situations those fills you up with positivity and follow the list when you feel low of negative.
2. Train your mind to balance negative emotions and focus on the actions or events that gives you positive emotions.
3. Write a Journal about the events - about the negative events happened in the past - how will you manage the same events with positivity if happened in present.
4. Do not shy away from Negativity. Rather gain more positivity to overpower the Negatives.
5. Train your mind for empathy. Once you start thinking from other people’s perspective, you become Resilient and in turn become Positive.
ADVANTAGES :
1. Healthy cardiac Vagal tone resulting into boost up in study.
2. Healthy HR - Heart rate
3. Better interpretation of a situation resulting into positive emotions.
4. Improved Decision making skill developed with positive emotions.
5. Healthy Metabolic Rate with low stress levels.
6. Improved Immunity as positive thinking creates. Genetic expression on our Immunity.
TYPE - 5 : STRESS DUE TO INACTIVITY / SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE
SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE = LOW METABOLIC RATE = WEIGHT GAIN = FAT ACCUMULATION = HORMONAL IMBALANCE = HIGH METABOLIC STRESS
Reasons for sedentary lifestyle = lifestyle, fatigue, depression, poor eating habits, poor sleep quality, high screen time, very high study hours.
Ways to Avoid and manage stress due to sedentary lifestyle.
How do we get into Stress Zone when we spend SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE?
COPING STRATEGY: HOW TO REDUCE SEDENTARY PHRASE FROM OUR LIFESTYLE?
1. Do a good workout - 30 min - preferably morning – practice BREATHING Workouts and focus on Deep Breathing Practice before and during reading / writing Questions.
2. ACTIVITY : Activity is different than a workout. A good workout doesn’t mean you can stay sedentary and inactive during the day.
Walking while reading. talking or remember any subject works very well to reduce sedentary time.
3. Follow 30 : 3 ratio. 30 minutes sitting : 3 min standing or walking.
4. Get rid of any junk snacking. It leads to lethargy and in turn sedentary pattern.
5. Reduce Screen time. If its part of your study, take frequent breaks after every 30 min.
6. Do outdoor training or activity - breathe fresh air and work on your endurance. Releasing toxins in form of sweat reduces mental and physical fatigue and keeps you active.
ADVANTAGES :
1. Healthy metabolic rate, low body fat and healthy weight.
2. Reduce fatigue - mental and physical
3. Reverse depression
4. Healthy hormonal balance
5. Flush out toxins (in form of sweat when we workout or we are active)
6. Avoids Fat accumulation in body. Fat accumulation in joints is caused by inactivity.
7. Reduce appetite and avoids bing eating.
TYPE - 6 : STRESS DUE TO LACK OF TIME MANAGEMENT
Stress is caused when we are not able to balance work / Life and our health.
COPING STRATEGY: HOW TO BALANCE LIFE AND WORK WITH TIME MANAGEMENT.
1. Get DISCIPLINED. What is to be done, has to be done.
2. Start your day early. You will have 1-2 hours extra in your pocket before you start school.
3. Prepare your TO-DO-LIST (daily or weekly) – Do not miss out the tasks. – preparing to-do list is a smart trick where you allocate the time for each task to be done.
4. Train your mind where you PLAN / frame up your entire day. Define your long term goals. Make short term goals to achieve long term goals
5.. Study Schedule : Make a study schedule / time table – and keep frequent relaxation breaks with music / walking/ breathing practice / yoga in that time table too. Don’t make it very stringent and difficult.
6. Sleeping Pattern: Focus on a sound sleep . Do not delay your bed time and hit the bed maximum by 10 PM.
7. Most important – stay away from social gossips and negative people, negative events – as it will drain away your energy and efficiency.
ADVANTAGES :
1. Efficiency at study and personal life.
2. Manage Stress and Anxiety that is caused when do not balance our life.
3. Positive mind frame.
4. Improved performance in class and exams.
Latika Goel
Practising Psychologist & Lifestyle Trainer
Founder of Fitness World LetzBFIT with Latika
Author of a Book on Strength Fitness
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