Month: October 2016

Stress can have many negative effects of your overall wellness. Luckily, there are many effective ways to reduce stress:

• Deep Breathing 
  • How it works: stress is a physical reaction in your body. Taking a few deep breaths can calm your body and deal with the stressful situation more effectively.
• Exercise
  • How it works: exercise can help you burn off some energy generated by your stress response and produce endorphins to improve your mood.
• Establish a sleep routine
  • How it works: as students, many of us are not getting enough sleep. Sleep deprivation itself can be a source of stress. Getting to bed at the same time each week can help your body maintain its internal clock, making falling asleep easier.
• Make a schedule
  • How it works: setting priorities and scheduling in tasks can help you feel a greater sense of control and manage your time effectively.
• Socialize
  • How it works: research shows that spending time with increases levels of a hormone called oxytocin. Oxytocin activates the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps us relax. And, its fun!

Everyone is different, so try some of these techniques out to find what works for you. It can seem overwhelming to add another thing to your already busy schedule, especially as we approach midterms. However, trying even one of these strategies may actually help you reduce your stress and improve your wellness!

As students, we experience stress from many different sources:

• New independence
• Classes and exams
• Social obligations
• Roommate negotiations
• Financial commitments
• Family turmoil

Not all stress is bad; in fact, some stress can keep you out of the way of danger or even help you express your talents and perform well. Chronic stress, or stress that is experienced repeatedly over time, can actually change how your brain functions and lead to physical and emotional problems. Simply put, high levels of stress can have a seriously negative impact on your overall wellness.

One of the first things to do to decrease your stress is to become aware that you are experiencing it. This can be difficult to do because most of us tend to focus on work for classes, plans for the weekend, or even the weather. Our bodies and emotions can help us increase awareness of our stress level and can signal to us that we are feeling stressed. How do you experience stress?

Next week, we will talk about simple and effective ways to help you reduce stress!

The idea of the connection between the mind and the body is far from new. This idea goes all the way back to Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine, and is also still prominent in Eastern medicine traditions. The mind-body connection refers to how your mind affects your body and how your body affects your mind. Your mind doesn’t just refer to your brain; your mind includes all of your mental states including thoughts, emotions, beliefs, attitudes, and images.

The mind affects the body through a chain reaction of processes in the body. Mental states can trigger changes in blood chemistry, heart rate, and the activity of cells and organs in the body, including the stomach, digestive tract, and immune system. This can range from feelings of anxiety causing your heart to race or even lead to ulcers, to the feeling of falling in love leading to the sensation of butterflies in your stomach.

Similarly, the body can impact your mental states. When you get sick or injured, your mind can interpret the situation in many different ways. Some people may tend to become depressed, anxious, or stressed in response to an illness. These reactions could, in turn, impact how you manage or cope with your illness. Other people may tend to have a more positive attitude and be better able to handle the stress that accompanies illness. At times, our body can even show us how we are feeling. Noticing tension in your shoulders or having frequent headaches can be signals that you are feeling stressed.

Research shows that becoming more aware of the connection between your mind and body can lead to better outcomes, like managing stress better, improving immune function, and having overall better health and wellness. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, practices like meditation, prayer, tai chi, massage therapy, relaxation techniques, and yoga can be used to improve awareness of the connection between your mind and body. Read more here.