Sara Brown is a typical college student. A double major in biochemistry and chemistry, she has to deal with school, finances and relationships — all of which stresses her out. In addition to classes Brown alsoworks 12 to 15 hours a week at an oil analysis company in Cary.
“If all I had to do was go to school, or all I had to do was work, my stress levelwould be reduced a lot,” Brown said. “Sometimes I really feel like it would be perfect if I could put more hours in the day … I would be able to get everything done and sleep on top of it.”
According to April Chester, a counselor at the Counseling Center, many students have high levels of stress because there is a lack of balancing downtime, time to de-stress and time to work.
“Many college students are coming straight out of high school, and being ontheir own causes a huge jump in stress levels,” Chester said. “Other students have jobsand perhaps families on top of everything else.”
Chester also said a lack of organization and sleep combined with a poor diet and little exercise contribute to higher levels of stress.
“I would recommend at least stretching or taking a walk every day. Aerobicactivity such as jogging, elliptical exercises and tennis are especiallygood for you,” Chester said.
Kitty Klein, an associate professor in psychology, teaches a class about stress and coping.
“Stress causes increases in a hormone called epinephrine. This hormone isleft over from when we were cavemen and we dealt with stress with thefight-or-flight response,” Klein said.
Klein pointed out this fight-or-flight response no longer worksfor most modern Americans.
“If your boss is a jerk you can’t simply knock him out or run away fromyour job,” Klein said.
According to Klein, self-control is key, and the more control a person takes over a situation the more that person can deal with it. However, too much is still too much, and students have to draw a line.
“There is always onething that breaks the camel’s back,” Klein said.
According to Chester, stress can lead to physical, bodily illness.A chemical reaction in the body causes a physical decrease in the immune system, and this reaction explains why people literally feel sick. Even after the factors causing the stress are eliminated, it still takes some time before people feel up to par.
But the body isn’t the only thing suffering. According to Klein, stress may actually cause permanent damage to the brain.
“Stress has negative effects on the memory ability of your brain. Itcauses dendrites to break off and even sometimes die. People begin todevelop poor problem-solving skills.” Klein said. “An FMRI can scan yourbrain, and it will actually be smaller after high levels of stress.”
Chester said students should make good use of the Counseling Center’s resources.
“It is important for students to know that they don’t have to be in acomplete emotional crisis to come into the Counseling Center,” Chestersaid.
