The Stress of College

Helping Students Manage Their Stress

One of my biggest worries, when my kids left for college, was would they be able to handle the stress of college life. There are a lot of things to juggle when they are away at school for the first time. Besides the adjustment of living away from home, they are now dealing with classes, homework, and exams that are all heading them down the path for their future. Being able to cope with new situations, parties, new friends, can be a lot for many new college students. I encourage you to talk to your child often, even if they don’t want to, just to make sure that they are adjusting well no matter what year they are in. Thankfully, UGA offers different ways to cope with the stress of college.

UGA has a program called Be Well UGA that is strictly focused on keeping students healthy in all aspects of life. They offer pop-up classes centered around helping students with physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual help. There are also free consultations with Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS) clinicians, where students can openly speak on concerns, get help problem-solving, and learn more about counseling services offered to them as a UGA student. They have fun activities such as Feel Good Fridays (where students learn about natural wellness remedies), STI Education Workshops, “Change Stress Into Success” Workshops, and Free Wellness Coaching. All of these have been put in place by the UGA Health Center to make sure that all Dawgs are healthy, in good spirits, and are calmly tackling college.

The UGA Health Center website also has tons and tons of resources to help any student in need. One of the most used is the Stress: Campus Resources page. This webpage is full of different helpful programs depending on the type of stress one might be under. There is help for money-related stress, roommate related stress, academic-related stress, relationship-related stress, and many more options available to better your student’s overall health. There is also another webpage regarding Stress and Wellness, which is tasked with teaching and helping students understand the overlap between the two. The Health Center offers so many more web pages like these to help with Stress and its impact on Exercise, Sleep, Time Management, Relationships, Attitude, and many more.

You can also remind your student of the basic rules of preventing stress like eating well, drinking fluids, getting rest – all areas that should be incorporated in a student’s life.  When my daughter complains that she is overwhelmed and stressed, I always make sure that she is eating and getting plenty of rest. Many times we overlook the importance of this. Remind your students of the basic rules of preventing stress like avoiding procrastination, and staying away from stimulants (drinking coffee and energy drinks to fuel late-night study binges can inevitably lead to a crash later on).  Of course, setting realistic expectations is also a wise way to decrease stress levels. It is obvious that UGA really cares about its students and realizes that their lives, like everyone else, can get stressful. The key is learning to work through it.

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