Just like lack of sleep or too much sleep, stress affects the way a student learns and the way they perform in class.

Stress can be caused by family problems, complications from friends, financially or from school work. A lot of students begin to have anxiety in college because of the stress that they go through.

According to wedmd.com “stress is the body’s reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response. The body reacts to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional responses.”

There is change that happens in the lives of college students every day: more course work, harder course work or a change of environment. Students deal with multiple classes, different course work and we have to commit a lot of our time to school work.

Webmd.com says that stress becomes harmful when people use alcohol, tobacco, or drugs to try and relieve their stress. Instead of relieving the stress and returning the body to a relaxed state, substances such as tobacco, drugs and alcohol tend to keep the body in a stressed state and cause more problems.

According to Webmd.com Forty-three percent of all adults suffer adverse health effects from stress. Seventy-five percent to 90% of all doctor’s office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints. Stress can also play a part in problems such as headaches, high blood pressure, heart problems, diabetes, skin conditions, asthma, arthritis, depression, and anxiety.

Students who are stressed have problems when they are in class. From personal experience, when I am in class but I’m stressed I tend to not pay attention and give as much as I normally do. If I have something that is stressing me out such as other school work I don’t pay attention in class which makes me fall behind in that course work which gets me stressed.

The best thing to do is just relax, and try to take your mind off of everything that has to be done. Take it one step at a time and try not to over think everything. If you do one thing at a time instead of stressing over all the things that have to be done, the list of things you have to do will decrease quickly.

According to mayoclinic.com, the top ten stress relievers is to get active, meditate, laugh, have social connect, assert yourself, do yoga, sleep, write in a journal, get musical and seek counseling.

• Active: physical activity pumps up your feel-good endorphins and refocuses your mind on your body’s movements; improving your mood and helping the day’s irritations fade away, says mayoclinic.com.Think about walking, jogging, gardening, house cleaning, biking, swimming, weightlifting or anything else that gets your body active.
• Meditate: meditation gives you a sense of calm, peace and balance that helps both your emotional well-being and your overall health.
• Laugh: laughter fires up and then cools-down your stress response and it increases your heart rate and blood pressure; this gives you a happy feeling.
• Social connect: having social connect instead of wrapping yourself in a cocoon when you are stressed will help you make feel better.
• Assert Yourself: learn how to say no to some things because saying yes to every favor everyone asks you may lead you to have a very stressful life.
• Yoga: slow pace and easy movement yoga is a change of pace of the fast stressful life some may lead, so take your time and relax by doing yoga.
• Sleep: sleep is the time when your body and brain recharges and de- stresses so give your body a routine time to rest.
• Journal: writing out your thoughts is a great way to vent out without feeling like you are bothering other people. Don’t think about what you have to write — just let it happen.
• Get musical: listening or playing music is a good stress reliever because it offers a mental distraction, reduces muscle tension and decreases stress hormones. Raise the volume on your IPod and float away in the lyrics.
• Seek counsel: if stress leaves you feeling trapped then professional therapy or counseling would be the best way to go. Professionals will be able identify your stress source and help you learn new cooping tools.

Most importantly, TAKE A BREATHER AND RELAX.