It all begins to pile up. Raising your grades, attending endless meetings, cleaning your room, doing the dishes — your planner fills faster with each passing day. Your list of “to-dos” begins to outweigh your “tasks completed” and suddenly you are cutting back on sleep and increasing your caffeine intake. There are simply too many things to do in the day for a measly 12 hours to contain it all — and that’s when stress takes over.
Typically, stress is a good reaction. It motivates you to get out of bed in the morning, prompts you to finish that homework assignment or do your laundry. Stress is a normal response to situations where you might need to “fight or flight,” heightening awareness and increasing your alertness. Stress is a crucial element to survival. Like all things in life, however, stress requires balance.
While stress is the body’s natural reaction to overwhelming situations, too much stress can be detrimental to every system in your body. It slows down the digestive system, leaving some people without appetites or others without the ability to digest food quickly. Ever noticed that whenever you are stressed, you tend to get sick more easily? That’s because your immune system is put on the back burner when your body is in fight or flight mode. Many people complain of catching colds while they are stressed. Stress also increases your heart rate and blood pressure, which can lead to long-term damage if you are constantly living under stress.
Chronic stress can also reduce the amount of oxygen your heart receives by interfering with your breathing patterns, causing you to take more shallow breaths than deep, long breaths. Another symptom of stress is the ease with which you can become more irritable, self-conscious, lonely and unable to concentrate.
But there are ways to overcome these overwhelming feelings, and the first step begins with taking big breaths, opening your lungs and allowing your diaphragm to relax. The second step is catching up on sleep: take a weekend (if you can) or just one night to let your body rest without any kind of alarm set for the morning. A good night’s sleep is crucial for many reasons, but maintaining stress levels is a big one. Another good way to combat high stress levels is through consistent exercise. By working out your body, you can lower cortisol levels (a hormone that signals stress) and increase the release of endorphins.
Stress can come in a variety of situations, creeping up slowly and silently into our daily lives, especially for the over-committed Pepperdine student. If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, start to fix the problem by taking deep breaths and focusing your mind on the big picture and what brings you joy — being home for Christmas with your family or simply snuggling with your dog. Don’t let stress bring you down this finals season.
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As published in the Nov. 14 issue of the Pepperdine Graphic.
