This essay is a reflection on identifying, discussing and applying useful resources available to me as a returning adult student to help me perform and succeed in an online academic environment. There are three key areas of impact: stress, time management and wellness and throughout the essay I will reference two great articles on adult learning, my decision to join the gym and my results from the Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory.5 By looking at stress, time management and wellness along with having candid feedback from my professor, helpful guidelines and support I will reflect on having resources on hand as an adult online student. Stress comes from many areas of life especially as an adult student incorporating school at a time in life when family and work are paramount. “Adults just returning to school have substantially higher anxiety about school in general and writing in particular than younger students.”3 Stress, best described by its "synonyms: strain, pressure, (nervous) tension, worry, anxiety, trouble, difficultly"1 has a medical history "According to the American Psychological Association, the majority of office visits to the doctor involve stress-related complaints, and stress is linked to the six leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide."2 If managed, stress can be a way to inform me; learning how to recognize my level of stress capacity is important. The Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory 5 http://www.stress.org/holmes-rahe-stress-inventory/ is a list of stressful events that contribute to illness. My personal score on this life stress inventory is 236; I fall in the category of about a fifty percent chance of a major health breakdown in the next... ... middle of paper ... ...rning adult student these resources that I have incorporated into my routine will help me to get my degree and enjoy the process along the way. It is worth taking the time to know where my priorities are. Works Cited 6 Santovec, M. L. (2012, 08). Covey's 7 habits can guide working mothers. Women in Higher Education, 21, 18. 3 Cleary, M. N. (2012). Anxiety and the newly returned adult student. Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 39(4), 364-376. 4 Giancola, J.K., Grawitch, M.J., and Borchert, D. (2009). Dealing with the stress of college: A model for adult students. Adult Education Quarterly, 59(3), 246-263. 2 PBS.org "This Emotional Life." Available online at http://video.pbs.org/program/this-emotional-life/ 5 Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory http://www.stress.org/holmes-rahe-stress-inventory/ 1 Stress - taken from: http://www.merriam-webster.com/
Imagine a student whose life is swamped with so many college classes and work duties that he or she must schedule some time to spend with family and friends. That is the situation that nontraditional college students go through every day of a school semester and still try to maintain a healthy family relationship. According to Jennifer Kohler Giancola and her colleagues, in an article titled “Dealing With the Stress of College: A Model for Adult Students,” Adult Education Quarterly, May 2009, “With an increase in nontraditional students attending college, there is a need to understand how work/school/life stress affects adult students” (246). Giancola and her colleagues’ statement are valid because nontraditional college students that work know how chaotic life is when multiple duties extend their entire schedule.
Glenn Altschuler addresses the difficulties and conundrums associated with entering college in his article “Adapting to College Life in an Era of Heightened Stress” He presents the experience of Kate Wilkinson and her feeling of unpreparedness for college. Glenn brings together statistical evidence to show how students are more stressed today than any time in the past. Glenn presents many solutions to decrease stress and uses Henry David Thoreau’s short story “Walden” as a basis of how stressed students should come back to a state of relaxation by meditating on what really matters in life.
"Managing Stress: A Guide for College Students." University Health Center. University Health Center, 5 May 2014. Web. 13 May 2014.
According to the College Health website, “No one is immune from stress, but those entering the ivory towers of college are particularly vulnerable to it.” Attending college for the first time gave me a feeling of displacement, nonetheless, I maintained my sense of priority, I am here to learn, here to excel, and here to focus on my objective.
The degree of stress and the desire to make the changes will determine the level of change that will take place. If a student wants to change the amount of stress in their life, they have to be willing to work and manage their time properly, even if it means sacrificing hours from a job or a night out with friends to study for a test or write a paper. Many students feel an increase in stress and anxiety when writing a paper, meeting a deadline, or studying for an exam. This can cause twitching, trembling, muscle tension, headaches, sweating, irritability, fatigue, and even dry mouth (Anxiety, Stress, and Tension). When talking about stress, there are many things that can influence a student. The five main topics that influence a student’s well being are attitude, physical well being, physical activity, support systems, and relaxation (World Book on Health, 235). Attitude: The attitude of a student can influence whether a situation or emotion is stressful or not. A student with a negative attitude will ...
Stress is an important problem faced by many college students, especially first year students, and it can have a large impact on college freshmen. For example, according to Hirsch and Keniston (1970), about half of first year students do not graduate from college due to dropping out (p. 1-20). Also, David Leonhardt (2009) agrees that the United States excels at putting “teenagers in college, but only half of students who enroll end up with a bachelor’s degree” (p. 1). In addition, the level of stress seems to increase each year. For instance, the National Health Ministries (2006) claim that many college students have become “more overwhelmed and stressed” than the student generation of the last fifteen years (p. 2).
College students, especially freshmen, experiencing stress is normal, but it a concern that should not be taken lightly. It is easy for situations to spiral out of control, or for freshmen to feel like they cannot complete the next four years if things stay the same. It is important for students to keep in my mind that it is never too late to try one of these coping skills, and it is never too late to ask for
Miller, Robert H. “Managing Stress and Staying Healthy: Advice For College Students” (2010): n. page. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. < http://www.education.com/reference/article/stress-
Counseling Center for Human Development. Coping with Stress in College. U of South Florida. 3 Dec. 2000. http://usfweb.usf.edu/counsel/self-hlp/stress.htm
Stress is the pressure or strain from an external situation. Stress can affect a person’s life from eating habits to sleeping patterns (e.g. eating disorders, irregular sleep patterns) (Myers et al., 2012). Approximately 83% of adults believe stress is a contributor to health related issues (e.g. heart disease, depression) (The Impact of Stress). Research conducted by Myers et al. reported 70% of students were affected by one or more stressors (e.g. financial, academic, health, relationships). Females reported being more stressed than males (Lin, Spector, & Shi, 2008; Myers et al.). Most females in this study reported their biggest stre...
Studies have shown that many college students are not able to handle the stress while in school, which hinders the ability for the brain to act in a normal way (Shahrokh and Hales, 2003). If a person is unable to deal with the stress that one is being faced with, it will have negative consequences in terms of causing several psychological disorders (Canby et al., 2014). Entering post-secondary education is a completely new environment for students, as it can be tough for many to adjust to the new surroundings. There are many factors that cause stress when students enter college, as it can include having the ability to deal with lower marks (Struthers et al., 2000) and having to create a new social life. Once and if a social life is established, it can cause more stress among students because it can lead into peer pressure that results in risky behavior. In particular, peer pressure can cause alcoholism or drug abuse (Seiffge-Krenke, 1990) or it can also cause unprotected sex. Not only does stress revolve around peer-pressure, but it can also be caused by headaches and lack of energy. If a student is constantly staying up late to finish assignments or to study, it can cause headaches from the lack of sleep; thus causing stress. With all the given factors, it can be hard to overcome these external factors which can ultimately lead to stress among
Driscoll, Emily. “Stress in College: What Causes it and How to Combat it.” Online posting. 31
College students face strenuous workloads daily, causing them to feel more pressure about their schoolwork and academics and resulting in anxiousness. About 50% of college students today are suffering from depression, a larger number than most believe, but not all reveal that they have a depressive issue (Deroma, Leach, Leverett 325). Researchers suggest that academic stress plays a big role in a college student’s depression. Most people know that college is a lot harder than high school ...
Going to college can be an exciting new experience that can challenge a person more than he or she thought was possible. Attending college, especially for the first time, can be a very stressful time in a person’s life. Some of the stress that is associated with attending college are living in a new place, having to meet new people, having new responsibilities, and of course the homework that goes along with taking classes. If a person does not learn to cope with these stressors in a healthy way, that person may become very overwhelmed and possibly depressed (Hoeger & Hoeger, 2010) .To keep one’s body and mind safe from the overexposure of stress, they can practice the following techniques.
Stress is a familiar word in today’s world and everyone that has to earn a living or studying can get stress easily. There are differences between stress at school vs stress at work life even stress in daily life; students nowadays are going through many pressure, mostly the stress they are dealing with appears during exam period. Simply, stress is a mental illness that contains apprehension and anxiety and was caused by problems surrounding your life. Stress can affect health and emotions negatively and it causes an issue for the body if there is no solution to deal with it, bad stress appears in a long-term and happens when life’s problems have no way to handle. On the other hands, not all stress is bad for you, some are considered good stress