National Stress Awareness Day, annually on Nov. 3, seeks to remind people to identify stress in their lives so they can better manage it, something most college students could benefit from learning.
According to the American College Health Association, 45% of college students feel they experience above average levels of stress. And another report found that four out of five college students were still stressed more than a year after the coronavirus pandemic started.
“Learning to recognize what stresses us out and recognize the signals within us that we are getting stressed out, is really important because we don’t function as well,” said Sophia Dembling, a blogger at Psychology Today.
Established in 1988 by the International Stress Management Association, Dembling hopes National Stress Awareness Day will help initiate open discussions of mental strain and its severity on individual health if not dealt with properly.
“It’s not just a psychological problem, a lot of stress can cause physical problems or exacerbate existing physical problems,” Dembling said. “So, it is really important that we understand it and try to learn how to manage it.”
Hsu Sint, an international student and business administration major, took a gap semester during her first year at USC. The pandemic forced her to take classes from her home in Myanmar, where her class schedule ranged from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. “It was taking a toll on my body,” she said.
Her grades were negatively affected, and she said she wished USC provided more accommodations for international students at the time.
“Taking a gap semester was the most helpful thing in my life,” Sint said. “I thought through a lot of things, got my priorities straight and I was able to relax.”
Aliya Formeloza, a freshman architecture major, had a very different experience during the pandemic.
“Online classes were easier for me, and I had more time for myself,” she said. “The stress is trying to get back to that rhythm again.”
With less time, Formeloza said she is often forced to choose between rest and her social life; for her, the two are jumbled together. She finds solace, however, in working through difficult situations with fellow architecture majors. “It’s very important to know when to stop,” she said. “I choose to take breaks when my body tells me to stop.”
In doing so, Formeloza has figured out what works best for her in understanding her mental distress and managing it.
Dembling emphasized the importance of taking breaks while studying, and also allowing yourself to rest after tense periods.
“Sometimes we can’t avoid stressful situations but we can learn to manage them,” she said. “If you’re trying different things and you’re not able to manage your own stress, if you’re not sleeping, if you’re slipping into depression, it means you need a different perspective to help you and there’s no shame in that.”
Shaneen Upal, a sophomore cognitive science major, said she has struggled in the past to manage her anxiety and sometimes still does.
“Thinking about the future is something that causes me a lot of stress,” Upal said. “Sometimes I feel like I’m behind other people in knowing what I’m going to do after undergrad.”
By taking advantage of USC’s mental health resources, Upal was able to better equip herself to handle her stressors. Through group and individual counseling sessions, she says she felt better and hopes other students take advantage of the university’s services. “USC has resources to help students, but not everybody knows how to access them,” she said.
USC has recently indicated the resources available to students, but the earliest appointment available for first time mental health counseling at the time of publication was Nov. 23. The university is tapping into other ways to ease the burden for students, including the pass/fail option and class withdrawal extension.
USC students can access mental health resources here.