Tips and Tricks for Stress

It can be hard to cope with extreme stress or a mental health condition, especially during college. On particularly difficult days, it helps to have strategies in place that you know can help you get through a rough patch. It is important to be patient: sometimes it may take a few days or more to feel better, but perseverance, optimism and distracting yourself can definitely help. For some people, keeping busy and finding distractions may be a good solution; for others, taking time to focus on yourself, your talents and your goals can give you confidence and make you feel better.

A great way to stay upbeat is to exercise. Though it can be hard to drag yourself out of bed during the cold Vermont winter, exercising has been shown to boost mood and confidence.

It is also important to eat healthy. Feeling down can easily lead to eating only junk food, or around this time of year, leftover Halloween candy. Try replacing that with fruits, vegetables and healthy snacks, like nuts or sunflower and pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin seeds contain a lot of magnesium, which has been shown to be a mood-booster! Eating healthy and making sure you get enough vitamins and minerals each day can have a profound effect on how you feel and think about yourself; do not discount the power of food!

Even though you undoubtedly have mounds of homework, find time to do something fun or relaxing. It could be cooking, knitting, singing, watching a movie, going on a hike, finding a dog to pet — anything that cheers you up! Find a friend to go with you! Finding activities in which you can express yourself can be helpful as well — painting, journaling, dancing and drawing can help you recognize your thoughts and feelings and can provide a break from a dull reading or a long problem set. Try making a quote book with meaningful quotes you have encountered — once you make it, you can return to it for comfort and inspiration.

If you’re having trouble being productive with schoolwork, take a break and find something else on your to-do list to tackle. Try doing something completely different – write a letter you’ve been meaning to send, clean your room, do laundry. Productive procrastination is always better than just going on Facebook!

Do your best to get enough sleep. Sometimes listening to soothing music, reading a boring book, or drinking tea made for bedtime can help you fall asleep. Avoid computer screens, caffeine, exercise and bright lights as much as you can in the hours before you try to go to sleep.

Some find it helpful to establish a weekly routine in order to organize a schedule of classes, extracurricular activities, activities with friends, as well as self-care and wellness practices. Penciling time into your schedule just for you is often forgotten, but make sure you have that on your schedule at least a few days every week, if not every day!

Try going to yoga or participating in a new mindful activity on campus. Learning simple breathing exercises or doing guided meditation can facilitate relaxation and relieve stress. Focus on your body language and posture; having good posture and paying attention to your movements can often help with confidence and how others perceive you. If you are feeling angry, you can scream into a pillow, rip up paper, or crush empty cans (and then recycle them!). Invite your friends to have a pillow fight! Go into the woods and yell as loud as you can! But take a buddy so you don’t get lost.

Try to focus on others: when you aren’t feeling your best, try to make someone else feel better or improve someone else’s day. Seeing someone else cheered up by something you’ve done can help you as well as the other person!

Feeling down can ruin your week, but it can provide a wake-up call to spend a little more time taking care of yourself. If you’re prepared, you can avoid making yourself feel worse and be productive despite not feeling your best. Paying attention to the things that make you happy and confident and making note of those can come in handy when you feel down. Though you should take time for yourself, do your best to reach out to friends and family; don’t withdraw. Finding balance in your life and a good routine can help stabilize your mood and make stressful weeks just a little bit easier.