Stress Management

 Defining Stress:  What you feel when you have to handle more than you are used to. Feeling overwhelmed.

 

• Some stress is normal and even useful.  Stress can help if you need to work hard or reach quickly. Ex. winning a race or finishing an important job on time.

 

•  Everyone feels and responds to stress differently. An upcoming test may stress out one student and not another.

 

Common Feelings Associated With Stress

 

• Faster heart rate
• Decrease in concentration or focus
• Headaches
• Stiff neck and/or tight shoulders
• Back pain
• Sweating and sweaty palms
• Upset stomach
• Feeling cranky or angry
• Feeling jumpy or tired all the time
• Worrying about small or little things
• Missing out on things because you can’t act quickly
• Imagining that bad things are about to happen – I’m going to fail this test
• Skin problems or acne
• Withdrawing from friends or friends not wanting to be around you (cranky)

 

 It’s important to:

• Find out what causes stress in your life
• Identify healthy ways to reduce the amount of stress in your life

  

Reducing Stress: 

• Accept that there are events that you cannot control.
• Learn from mistakes.
• Keep a stress journal
• Practice good study skills
• Learn better ways to manage your time (making a schedule); maintaining a balance between home responsibilities (chores), school, and extracurricular activities
• Taking good care of yourself
• New ways of thinking:
• Negative:  I’m basically lazy.; I can’t do puzzles; I hate school
• Positive:  I’m good at that.; I always do well in science.; They life me because I’m fun.
• Speak up  for  yourself; be assertive
• Ask for help/ Have a support system – talk to school counselor, teacher, parents, family members, friends, etc.
• Set goals and stay focused
• Learn to say no
• Get enough sleep; adopt healthy eating habits, exercise
• Make time to relax – picking up a new hobby or sport
• Playing with pets
• Listen to music
• Take a walk
• Deep breathing
• Guided Imagery

 

 

Information obtained from:  http://www.webmd.com/balance/stress-management-topic-overview. August 18, 2010.

Palomares, S. & Schilling, D. (2010). Less student stress, more school success: Strategies and activities for creating optimal learning environments grades k-12. Pro-ed, Inc.: TX.

 Handout:

Stress Management.doc