Academic stress: what it is and how to cope with it

The latest surveys reflect unprecedented levels of academic stress, anxiety, and depression in young people, and that should concern us all.

The uncertain present and demanding too much

The pressure to pass, to achieve excellence, causes millions of young people every day to strive for university averages that are often practically unattainable. This self-demand, added to the situation of uncertainty about the future, to endogenous factors of the individual, to the sensation of public exposure of social networks, and to other circumstances, causes many young people to be developing severe mental pathologies and that the rate of youth suicide soars.

The benefits of achieving excellence

It is undeniable that having an outstanding record is advantageous in many aspects. Among other things, it will give us access to the best scholarships, we will be the first to choose internships and tutors for our undergraduate, master's, or doctoral work. It will also open the doors for us to work in research teams within the university, to obtain paid internships in the companies we prefer, and maybe, if we really have a very brilliant record, we already have a guaranteed job even before having the eTítulo university. It is clear that being number one in our promotion has many advantages, but at what price?

Is it worth it?

It depends. It is worth it if we are fortunate enough to enjoy studying, are good at it, and find it easy to get the best grades with an acceptable effort. However, it is not worth it at all if we are sacrificing our mental health in the process. A little stress is normal and even healthy. Stress that makes our hair fall out or that makes us have palpitations when we are resting is not. In the face of a situation that causes us the slightest alarm, we must stop and rethink things. It is not about a difficult streak after which a life of success and happiness will come. If we do not take care of our mental health, there may be nothing later. It is not about making an effort now to live afterwards. Life is what is happening right now. We cannot postpone it. And yes, we have to strive for a future, but there is no future that is worth as much as to compensate for missing out on valuable youth experiences and developing a stress disorder, chronic anxiety, and depression. No money or work success can compensate for that.

What is academic stress and how do we recognize it?

This type of stress occurs in students when they demand too much of themselves and seek a record that requires too many sacrifices or when they feel unable to cope with the demands of student life, either due to lack of self-esteem or due to an overload of tasks (if they have to work, if they have to deal with family problems, etc.). The physical manifestations of academic stress include: fatigue, headaches, bruxism, stomach pain, irritable bowel syndrome, back pain, insomnia, loss or increase of appetite, tachycardia, and frequent colds or colds due to low defenses. The psychological manifestations are lack of interest, sadness, constant anxiety, irritability, concentration and memory problems, hyperactivity, frequent anguish and desire to cry, academic demotivation, blanking out and not being able to organize thoughts properly, fear of not being enough or fear of not meeting expectations (own or others). And what happens when someone feels like this for a long time? Well, in the best case, they drop out of their studies.

What to do to reduce our academic stress?

• The first thing we have to do is work with our preconceived ideas. Success and money will make our life (supposedly) easier, but that does not mean it will be good or better than others. If we pay close attention to what is happening around us, everything that works well is in balance and that is what we should seek: a balance between our effort, our leisure, our health, our present, and our future.

 

• Finding something we like and working on it passionately does not imply, in any way, developing chronic stress and, therefore, if we see that our mental health is being affected, we must lower our expectations and self-demand to a more humane level. Most people did not have honors degrees and they also found jobs and built a future.

 

• We cannot control everything. We can make a lot of effort and something can go wrong in an exam or a teacher can be unfair to us. Many things can happen, but the anger at not having obtained the results we expected cannot be stretched over time or become one of those internal dialogues in which we beat ourselves up for not having done better.

 

• It is necessary that we learn to take care of ourselves because no one else will. Eating well, not drinking too much coffee or other stimulants, exercising regularly, sleeping 8 hours a day, and having a fixed schedule are small things that will help us feel better.

 

• The sooner we develop a good tolerance for frustration, the better, because life is full of small hurdles that can make us more bitter than necessary if we are not able to overcome them.

 

• Knowing how to ask for help is essential. If we see that academic stress is getting out of hand, we must seek professional help. We would do the same if we broke a leg or had appendicitis. Underestimating emotional ailments can also be fatal.