Stress
management increases productivity
By
Amy O'Bryant
On-line Forty-Niner
Test
anxiety happens, especially around finals.
It's a fact of life for many students and
the last few days of a semester can add
even more stress to an already overwhelming
schedule. With the onslaught of final projects,
graduation concerns and a slew of holidays,
fall finals week can bring even the most
prepared student to the brink of mental
and physical exhaustion, and no amount of
Red Bull can help.
How
much stress is too much? The National Institute
for Mental Health affirms that more than
19 million American adults are affected
by anxiety disorders each year, making it
the most common mental health issue in the
country. The institute loosely defines anxiety
disorders as illnesses that fill people's
lives with overwhelming anxiety and fear.
They concede, however, that it is quite
common for most people to experience feelings
of anxiety before an important event such
as an exam, a presentation or a first date.
How
does one know when anxiety goes from being
normal stress to a problem requiring treatment?
"Normal
anxiety is supposed to help you function
better," said Jill Cavish, a psychiatric
nurse practitioner practicing in Orange
County. This suggests that anxiety is not
always bad and can be harnessed to help
get through tough situations. "A little
shot of adrenalin helps you to focus on
the task at hand," she added.
On
the other hand, anxiety disorders can be
disabling. Cavish said that anxiety becomes
a problem when it begins to interfere frequently
with the normal activities of everyday life.
"The inability to sleep, poor concentration,
appetite fluctuation, or disruption in family
relationships," she said, can signal
a problem. "Anything that keeps you
from functioning as you normally do."
This
doesn't mean that arguing with a sibling
or consuming a 2-liter Pepsi and a box of
Ding Dongs constitutes a mental breakdown.
People function differently under pressure.
But if done on a regular basis to deal with
recurrent anxiety, it could be considered
a disruption of normal activities.
What
can college students do to lessen normal
anxiety around exam time? Cavish said, "Eat
right, exercise, get enough sleep and don't
use drugs or alcohol." Those substances
might seem like they're helping in the moment,
she said, but the reality is they end up
contributing to the problem.
Pulling
an all-nighter is also a bad idea. Students
sometimes use caffeine and other substances
to help them stay up all night and study.
But Cavish suggested that it's better to
get a good night's sleep.
"You'll
retain more and perform better," she
said, adding that most people that don't
sleep much the night before a test do poorly
on exams.
Maxine
Whitfield, a psychology major at CSULB,
says she happened upon a creative approach
to help tackle the usual end-of-semester
anxiety. When she inquired as to how a fellow
student was coping during crunch time, his
surprising reply was, "I've never been
better. It's a great day for me."
Of
course, he probably had been better, but
he was using positive affirmations to keep
his stress at a minimum. Whitfield said
it seemed to be working for her friend so
she decided to give it a try. She said that
after saying, "I've never been better"
to everyone who asks, she's actually starting
to feel it. "It's like a self-fulfilling
prophecy," she said.
If
test anxiety or heightened stress does become
unmanageable, there are resources available
to students on campus. Counseling and Psychological
Services is located in Brotman Hall, Room
226. A stress management group meets there
once a week and there are video and audiotapes
available concerning test anxiety. Though
they do get busy this time of year, receptionist
Karen Vega said, "There's always somebody
available to talk to."
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