Managing Stress

What is stress?

• The Royal College of Psychiatrists refers to stress as situations or events that leave you feeling under pressure, worried, upset, sad, angry or with a mixture of similar feelings.

Students may complain of stress when, for example:

– work 'piles up' – preparing for examinations – being teased or bullied – there is a problem with a teacher – they argue with parents, family or close friends.

Is stress bad for you?

• When examining stress levels it is a little like the situation in the fairy tale 'Goldilocks and the three bears': Goldilocks found that

only one chair,

one breakfast and

one bed was just right for her.

Is stress bad for you? continued

In the case of stress levels:

• TOO LITTLE. Too little stress is not good for you. This might mean that you are not really getting involved with life, avoiding all pressure (called under-stress).

• TOO MUCH. Too much stress is not good for you. It will stop you performing well and might make you ill (called over-stress).

• JUST RIGHT. Some stress can be good for you. Sometimes we need a little bit of pressure to motivate us to do things that we have been avoiding, or to increase our performance (called healthy stress)

Monitoring your stress levels

SYMPTOMS OF OVERSTRESSPHSYICAL

• palpitations• breathlessness• headaches• skin trouble• feeling too hot• loss of appetite• over-sensitivity to noise or

smell• fatigue & sleeping difficulties• sweating too much• indigestion• many colds• raised blood pressure• muscle cramps

EMOTIONAL

• fear of silence• tears and mood swings• appearance obsessions• obsessive working• loss of concentration and

memory• impatience and restlessness• loneliness, isolation,

insecurity

The more of these symptoms you display, the more likely it is that you are suffering from overstress.

STRATEGIES FOR COPING WITH STRESS

Advice by the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 'Coping with Stress', Factsheet no. 18.

• Identify the events / experiences that are stressful

• List what you can do to make things easier. This might include asking yourself, “Can I handle this situation or do I need support?”

• Imagine yourself trying to deal with the events in different ways – does this make you feel that you might have more control than before?

STRATEGIES FOR COPING WITH STRESS continued

• Picture how others might react to your way of dealing with the situation.

• Rehearse different ways of responding when others react to your strategy for dealing with the situation.

• Do not expect your strategy to work first time – try again or try out a different strategy

WHERE MIGHT YOU GO FOR FIRST-HAND SUPPORT?

• This is up to you. But do not try to cope alone if the problem is still causing you too much stress.

• Talking to someone will not necessarily make the problem disappear, but at least you will feel others care and are there to help you - surely a very good start.

• If you do not feel that the first person you chose was very helpful then remember to talk to others as well - do not expect everyone to react in the same way or give you the same advice.

Some people you might wish to talk to include:

A close friend

Parents

School nurse

Teacher

You might wish to talk to people at:

Childline Free helpline Tel 0800 1111 www.childline.org.uk

The Samaritans National number Tel : 08457 90 90 90 www.samaritans.org

The Samaritans

Doctor

School counsellor

Someone in your place of worship