Anxiety on campus: What students need to know about anxiety and how to manage it
Anxiety is on the rise amongst university students, so what do students need to know about anxiety on campus and how to manage it?
Anxiety on Campus: What students need to know about managing anxiety
by Sylvie Seguin and Joyce Chong
The start of a new academic year at university is a time of fresh starts, hope, and optimism for a good year ahead. Unfortunately, students also face a range of potential stressors –pressure to perform, adjusting to a new environment and new social networks, relationship difficulties, financial strain…it’s no wonder that anxiety and other mental health difficulties are on the rise. Indeed, research out of the US suggests that 1 in 5 college students face anxiety, and closer to home a study of tertiary students indicated that around 80% of students felt their anxiety and/or stress affected their studies.
What is anxiety and how does it affect students?
Anxiety is an evolutionary response that your brain sets off so as to protect you from danger – it’s a Fight or Flight response that helps you get to safety as it quickens your heart rate and breathing rate so that the muscles that you need to get to safety or to protect yourself are working at their peak. At its extreme, anxiety can result in a heightened state of panic.
Question is – what is your brain trying to protect you from on campus? Well, contrary to what some may think, being a student really is a challenging job, with these just being a few pressures students face:
Threats to academic performance (Study threats)
Pressure to perform, potentially to get into highly competitive postgraduate courses.
Identifying a career path and finding employment in your desired field in a competitive market.
2. interpersonal threats (social threats)
Social anxieties ranging from meeting new people, talking to lecturers and tutors, having to contribute in tutorials, group projects, public speaking, and navigating social media.
Juggling relationships (friendships, family, partners) including dealing with conflict.
Dating and building friendships, coping with rejection.
3. Threats to your way of life (STUDENt life threats)
Becoming more responsible as you ‘unlock’ the next stage of life…or, adulting!
Financial strain from finding money to make rent, pay for necessities, and also having enough for social engagements and self-care.
Looking after yourself (self-care).
Balancing all of the above
4. Threats to your sense of self (Identity threats)
Knowing who you are.
Feeling comfortable in your identity.
When faced with these challenges, it’s easy to see how anxiety can set in. As part of this reaction, anxiety triggers Fight or Flight responses that negatively impact on your studies. For example:
Feeling anxious about speaking up in class may lead you to either over-prepare a highly rehearsed speech (Fight), or avoid speaking up altogether (Flight)
Feeling anxious about money so spend an excessive amount of time in paid work (Fight), potentially to the detriment of your studies, or to avoid looking at your bank balance and go shopping instead (Flight)
Feeling anxious about your employment prospects and so focus overly on working (Fight) to the detriment of studying, or to hope for the best and tell yourself that grades alone will get you there (Flight).
Tips for managing anxiety on campus – what students need to know
Even if you recognise signs of your own Fight/Flight response, all is not lost – the fact you’re aware is the first step! Here are some more tips to help you manage your anxiety better.
1. Set yourself realistic and sustainable goals
Whether your concern is your studies, social situations, your finances…whatever they may be…making progress involves setting realistic goals that move you in the right direction. For example, having a routine where you study for 2 hours each day during the working week may be more convincing that trying to study for 8 hours each day for every single day of your degree.
2. Prioritise self-care and balance
Too often, self-care is the first thing to go when stress increases because “there’s not enough time”. However, it is one of the most important things you can do for your wellbeing – time and time again, sleep, nutrition, and exercise have all been shown to be helpful. So set limits around your work, and protect some time for play (and rest!).
3. Check your thoughts
Thoughts can fuel anxiety, or dampen it down – which direction do your thoughts drive you towards? Self-talk such as “I must pass…my entire future depends on it!” only serves to increase your anxiety, so choose alternative self-talk that decreases your anxiety (e.g. “I can pass this, and I’ll do my utmost to, but I also know plenty of people who have failed one unit and it hasn’t significantly affected their futures – this ONE unit is not the be all and end all.”
4. Talk it out with someone – seek help, and do it sooner rather than later
Anxiety is very common amongst university students, so it’s unlikely that you’re all alone in how you feel. The problem is that stigma can get in the way of getting you back on track early on, and what may end up happening is that anxiety builds to a peak when the pressure is really on – that is, during exams.
So:
Speak to a trained health professional to learn practical skills to help manage anxiety. We love working with tertiary students and have extensive practical knowledge of working with them using science-backed ways that bring real change to students’ lives when it comes to living with anxiety.
Practice your skills regularly… no matter what skills you learn, it’s critical to practice them regularly. Time and time again we see students fall down in spite of knowing what to do…they don’t actually use what they’ve already learnt! When faced with a high stress situation, then, they’re out of practice and too overwhelmed to pick it up quickly.
In short, take action on your anxiety on campus sooner rather than later, and be sure to keep up with practice!
References
[1] Headspace (2017). National tertiary student wellbeing survey 2016. https://headspace.org.au/assets/Uploads/headspace-NUS-Publication-Digital.pdf
[2] Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health (2017). Under the radar: The mental health of Australian university students. Melbourne: Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health. https://www.orygen.org.au/Policy-Advocacy/Policy-Reports/Under-the-radar/Orygen-Under_the_radar_report.aspx?ext=.
Spring Clean Your Fitness
We all know that we *should* exercise, but how can we make it a habit?
Spring Clean Your Fitness
If you’ve been following our blog for some time you’ll know that each September we hold our Spring Clean Your Life series.
Well this year we’re doing our own Spring Clean on our website, hence we’ve been a bit quiet on the blogging front. Of course, can still check out last year’s Spring Clean series (starting here with How to Declutter and Find Focus), and if spring cleaning your psychological wellbeing is your target this year why not try our FREE 14-day Wellbeing Challenge?
This spring we're also taking on the challenge to make changes to our physical health, specifically our fitness. After a winter of rainy weather, dark mornings and evenings, is it any wonder that our enthusiasm for exercising may have waned a tiny bit?
Why focus on fitness?
Well, there’s no shortage of research on the importance of exercise for our physical health, but increasingly the link between exercise and our psychological wellbeing is mounting up.
Consider the impact of feeling sluggish and low on energy on your ability to think, react rationally to stress, and on your interactions. In fact, exercise plays a role in managing stress and mood.
For a quick recap, head to this article on Why Exercise Matters for your Mental Health and Wellbeing.
Exercise: How to do a Spring Clean that works?
First up, let’s put some thought into those exercise programs that we've started but didn't sustain, and about those obstacles that stood in the way of us sticking to our plans.
The main thing to aim for is an exercise program that you can stick to in the longer term, and fits in with your routine and existing commitments. When you set these types of goals it increases the likelihood of your new exercise program lasting the distance.
Understand what obstacles stand in the way of sticking to your goals (e.g. a lack of time, lack of accountability) - whatever these obstacles are it’s helpful to anticipate them and plan accordingly.
Keen to find out more? Check out our blog post on How to Set Goals to Maintain Motivation and Stay on Track.
3 quick tips to help you with setting Spring Clean goals for fitness include:
1. Be clear about your motivation to exercise
Why are you exercising?
Is it to keep fit? To help manage stress levels or boost your mood?
Keep focused on your reason for exercising, and use it to shift your self-talk when motivation is low (e.g. “I really don’t feel like exercising now but I know it helps me feel less stressed; in the past when I’ve dragged myself to exercise I’ve felt so much better afterwards.”)
2. Set up a realistic exercise routine and commit to it
Why choose a realistic exercise routine that fits in with your lifestyle and interests?
Because something is more likely to succeed in the longer term when it holds your interest, seems within reach, and motivates you to keep going. By sticking with something over time, you're more likely to form an exercise habit.
So there's no point channeling your efforts into boot camp if you'd much rather be paddle boarding. Or, committing to hour-long jogs if it really is unlikely that you'll find the time to fit it into your routine on a regular basis, and a high intensity workout of a shorter duration may fit your lifestyle better.
Make it simple, make it fit.
3. Be accountable
Whether it’s answering to one friend with whom you exercise, being part of a structured group-based exercise plan, or setting up a team-based challenge at work to take a certain number of steps each day, being accountable can really help get you over the line when it comes to maintaining exercise.
So who will you be accountable to?
But it's all too hard...
Right, so if those 3 small steps aren’t simple enough to help you Spring Clean your Fitness, and you’re after a step-by-step approach, then we need to talk about two things:
1. If running or pilates are what you're in to then check out Front Runner Sports' courses. Their Fresh courses are female-focused and cater to all skill levels, and be sure to also head to their course calendar if you're training for specific running events (Darlington Half Marathon, HBF Run for a Reason, City to Surf).
2. Or, if just getting moving is more your focus then check out this FREE Exercise Jumpstart course by Dr Kevin Yong, GP and blogger over at Eat Move Chill. Dr Kev's Exercise Jumpstart course is a 12-part email course designed to get you moving, and over at his website he blogs about the importance of building up physical health to focus on the challenges of modern life.
So, what are you waiting for? Get moving!
Living with social anxiety as a student can be challenging - speaking up in class, group assignments, public speaking, gaining work experience, making friends … the list of social situations is endless. But there’s no need to suffer further…read on to find how to go from surviving to thriving in your studies.