With the end of the semester rapidly approaching, many students become overwhelmed and stressed with class work and the thought of finals.
Dr. Jesus Aros, director of the Student Counseling Services and Disability Services for Students, states that it’s normal for students to feel stressed now due to papers, projects, and exams.
“I stress over different situations, for example, my kids. I want to make sure they are picked up while I’m working or attending class. On top of that I stress about my class and my grade,” stated Alejandra Puente, a Criminal Justice student.
However, stress can affect individuals not only mentally but physically as well.
“When I was stressed I would get chest pains that hurt really bad. I couldn’t sleep. They gave me medicine for my anxiety and sleeplessness,” stated Veronica Garcia, an Education major.
Aros explained that individuals often develop flu-like symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, sweating, rapid breathing, and bad dreams or night terrors due to the anxiety and stress. In addition, he stated some people experience depressive symptoms, such as cheerlessness or hopelessness, which are also brought on by stress.
According to the US National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Health, everyone experiences stress sometimes. Despite this only about 300 students voluntarily seek help from the counseling services readily available to them.
Aros explained that about 42 percent of those 300 students express concerns over their academics, as well as worries over family relationship problems, romantic problems, and depression. “It’s significant if 40 percent of the people express that they feel this way. Students can get washed out.”
On the other hand, not all students feel stressed over finals.
“I don’t get stressed, because it’s just another test to me,” said Andres Marin, majoring in Management Information Systems, “some people over study and then stress out even more. You need to be calm to do good on any exam.”
Roger Olvera, majoring in Biology, expressed the same sentiment, “I don’t see why people stress over it. If they really took the time to study, then they wouldn’t need to stress and cram everything in at the last second.”
However, not matter the case, Aros believes students need to confront the situation at hand. “This time of year people use their problems in their lives to avoid studying…first you must realize that you can’t truly relax till you finish. Finish the papers, study for the tests, and get it done.”
Aros suggests students to get tutored, seek advice from fellow students, form study groups, and avoid procrastination.
According to Aros stress can affect work performance, cause changes in appetite and sleep, create arguments, and cause an increase in drug/alcohol use. “Anxiety at this time of year is high and students try to avoid what’s distressing them.”
Student Counseling Services offers various ways to assist students, such as bio feed back, progressive relaxation, psychotherapy, counseling, and mnemonics (which improves memory) for any enrolled student.