Cal State University Long Beach students are less than a month away from finals, which could increase levels of stress felt on campus.
Stress management workshops are held for students on Mondays, from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m., and on Wednesdays, from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m., in the Health Resources Center at CSULB.
“In small doses, stress has many advantages,” Christina Goldpaint, an educator at the Human Health Resource Center, said. “Stress can help meet daily challenges and motivates people to help reach their goals.”
Eustress, a positive form of stress, provides mental alertness, motivation and efficiency and increase self-esteem according to justaskhope.com
Distress, negative stress, is when a person faces continuous challenges without relief or relaxation between challenges. It can lead to physical symptoms including headaches, elevated blood pressure, chest pain and problems sleeping according to WebMD.com.
“A lot times when people are stressed – unless it’s a fight or flight response – it can cause long term health problems,” Goldpaint said. “One of those problems is high blood pressure, which can lead to stroke and heart attacks.”
There is more work required for students during their time in college than just studying, Goldpaint said.
“You can’t just go to school, graduate and get a job,” Goldpaint, said. “There is a need to be a part of extracurricular stuff. Some of the extracurricular work includes work experience, internships and student clubs.”
Brandon Young, an English major is taking 12 units and working full time, said it’s a struggle to balance school and work.
“I work full time, plus I have to get [to campus] and do my homework, which is the stressful part,” Young said.
Goldpaint advised physical activity for students to help relieve stress.
“Working out is something people can do,” Goldpaint said. “Exercise creates endorphins, which make people feel happier.”
Rich Cherngchaosil is a computer science major who is taking 17 units and is involved with two campus organizations and works on Sundays. Cherngchaosil said that during midterms, he gained weight due to stress.
“During midterm week, I was pretty stressed out,” Cherngchaosil said. “In the past few weeks, I got fat. I would eat, study and then go to sleep.”
At the University of Michigan, 40 percent of all students surveyed said they had increased their eating since getting to college, according to the Huffington Post.
“I would try to manage it (weight) by going to the gym,” Cherngchaosil said.
Time management is important because computer science is a challenging major, Cherngchaosil said.
“In engineering life, we have a lot of school work,” Cherngchaosil said. “So adding more work consumes my time. They’re many people working hard to compete in this industry. If I fall behind, it will be hard for me to catch up.”
Dr. Gail Farmer, Ph.D. in epidemiology, councils students who deal with stress at CSULB.
“I council them on not taking too many classes,” Farmer said. “I try to find out what their course load is and how to manage it so they are not taking a lot of tough classes.”
Some of the tough classes in the Health Science Department are statistics, measurement and curriculum development in health, Farmer said.
“What makes the classes more difficult is they require a greater investment of time on part of the student,” Farmer said.
Goldpaint said that some of the topics discussed at the workshops are positive and negative stress, time management, nutrition, fitness and sleep relaxation.
“Many college students face time management challenges,” Goldpaint said. “Our stress workshop can assist them in developing time management skills.”