Three sources of stress all college freshmen should know about

This archived article was written by: Jasmine Petit

Stress in college for some is not bad, for others it might be unbearable. Stress is something you do not know how to define because there are so many things that stress you in college. Classes, members of the opposite sex, tests, members of the opposite sex, papers you have due and, of course, members of the opposite sex.
An article called The Many Causes of Stress in College, talked about the three main categories of stress in college: academic stress, social stress and other stresses.
Academic stress is the stress of the classes themselves; homework and the papers, tests, reports and presentations. Even trying to coordinate your schedule so that you can take the classes you need and the classes you would like to take can be stressful.
Social stress is the stress of being away from home for the first time for most, then having to share a room with someone that you just met. You have to create a new network of friends because not everyone from your high school goes to the same college as you. Then, of course, school events like basketball games and dances can give anyone a bad case of heartburn. You want to make sure that you are seen and can talk and hang out with people, without putting yourself too far out there. College is like high school except you do not know most of the people and you are supposed to be more mature.
The other stresses are things like worrying about studying for a test or doing laundry because it really stinks, but you do not have money for a card or for detergent. Some students might stress about finding a part-time job to take care of some of their expenses like food, cell phone bills, car insurance or gas.
Students dealing with a lot of stress allow themselves to become overwhelmed and dropout or fail college. Others gain the “freshman 15.” Studies show that some students in their freshman year gain 10 – 20 pounds, others lose weight at a rapid rate and a small number of students develop eating disorders.
Something you can do to manage stress is play sports. When there are intramural games, get involved and get on a team, it will be fun and will help relieve stress. If you do not feel that you would be good on a team then go to the gym and workout. Your body will release endorphins that will make you feel better. Writing can also be a great stress reliever, writing about how angry or sad something made you. Crying is also proven to be a good reliever of stress and it feels good to cry when you are really having a tough day.
You can choose to let stress run your life or you can run off stress.