Stress Management and Self-Care
Experiencing “good” stress is motivating and is an essential part of life. Feeling an appropriate amount of stress gives you the drive you need to study for a test, do well on a job interview, and achieve other goals that make your life fulfilling. When stress is chronic, or is not managed well, it becomes “bad” stress. The following resources will help you determine if the stress you feel is “good” or “bad” and will provide tools to help you make healthy stress management choices.
Here you will find great tools and resources for college students.
On This Page:What is Stress?
Stress is the body’s way of responding to any type of demand, such as school deadlines or an illness. Some stress is helpful because it keeps us safe and motivates us to get things done. Unmanaged stress leads to burnout and anxiety disorders.
The Symptoms of Stress
Stress symptoms are similar to anxiety and include: irritability, insomnia, difficulty concentrating, fatigue, and tension. The main difference is that stress has an identifiable trigger that we can control or improve upon. Anxiety includes worries that have unclear origins or worries that won’t go away when the trigger is gone. The stress curve graphic in the previous section demonstrates how stress impacts performance and can lead to anxiety and burnout. It is important to pay attention to your body’s signals to prevent crossing into the exhaustion and overloaded stress range.
"Test Your Stress" Screening Tool
This screening tool can help measure the stress in your life and determine if it may be time to seek help.
Ways to Manage Stress
Self-Love/Self-Compassion
Relaxation & Mindfulness Techniques
- Dialectal Behavior Therapy (DBT) Mindfulness Resources: Exercises M1 through M10 are often interconnected. While they can be done separately, it may be beneficial to try various exercises outside of the ones explicitly recommended here:
- Mindfulness
- Calm mind: M2: Mental Body Scan and M7: Mindful Breathing
- Thoughts aren't in control: M5: Mental Noting and M6: Though Defusion
- Mindfulness
Additional Self-Help Resources
- Aloe Bud (Calendar app that helps with removing stress)
- Dare (Practice emotional responses to stressful stories)
- eMoods (Allows users to create data reports for tracking success)
- Fabulous app (Helps user find the daily routine that works best for them)
- Happify (Allows user to practice dispelling negative thinking & stress)
- 7 Cups of Tea (Provides real, anonymous listeners at any time, day or night)
- HeadSpace
- Self-Care for College Students
by Julia Dellitt
As a student in college - you’re dealing with a lot. At times this can be physically, mentally, and emotionally draining between classes, homework, activities, and building a new social life for yourself. But the secret to making sure these are the best years of your life is making time for self-care. In this book, find realistic and practical self-care activities that you can try right away to maximize your college experience. Each activity is designed to help you refuel, such as making sure you get enough sleep to developing an exercise routine. Start making time for you and make your college years the best of your life - all while building lifelong habits for success and happiness for years to come. - Tapped Out for College Students
by Kelley Pryor Amrein and Becki Stevens
In this book, you’ll learn how to use the BESD system to breakdown issues, find solutions, and get on with your day. - A Student’s Guide to Stress Management
by Richard Parsons and Karen Dickinson
A Student’s Guide to Stress Management provides you with strategies to not only manage stress, but transform stress into an asset that will help you succeed in your academic career. This guide will help you develop a deeper understanding of what stress is, it’s positive and negative effects on physical and emotional health, and how it’s a natural, and at times, helpful, part of the college experience. - The 5 Ingredient College Cookbook
by Pamela Ellgen
This college cookbook makes it easy for students to prepare fresh, tasty, healthy meals for themselves on a budget, with more than 100 recipes that only take 30 minutes to throw together, and only require five main ingredients. - The College Wellness Guide
by Casey Rowley Barneson
The Princeton Review is proud to introduce The Campus Wellness Guide, an innovative new book that provides a mix of information, resources, and self-assessment activities to help students reach and maintain their overall health.