3. Animal Love

For all you students who are dealing with stress and have an animal living with you, you're in luck! Whether you have a cat, dog, bird or fish, studies have shown that owning a pet helps to reduce stress and provides many therapeutic and health benefits (Robinson, 2015). Although owning a pet is time consuming and a big responsibility, the outcomes are unimaginable and worth the effort. Pets can help in changing your daily lifestyle by: increasing your exercise, providing companionship, reducing anxiety, helping to meet new people, adding a routine to your day, and being there for you as a stress reliever. Owning a pet is suited for all ages and studies have proven that petting animals can lower your blood pressure, calm and relax you (by increasing levels of serotonin and dopamine), and encourage and motivate you to maintain a healthy lifestyle (Robinson, 2015).

 Pets are also known for helping children with disabilities and aiding in the growth development and learning processes of young kids. Animal therapy has also been introduced as an exceedingly beneficial practice/action for people to take when experiencing or dealing with stress, anxiety or depression. In animal therapy or pet assisted-activities, people are invited to interact with the animals by petting, grooming or playing with them. For students who wish to reduce their levels of stress though, you don't have to pay for trained pets to come to you, or go someplace professional, you can easily relieve yourself by finding your beloved animal and petting him/her. Take the time to cherish the companionship that you've established with your pet(s) and enjoy the sensation of feeling calmer, relaxed and less stressed.

 

What kind of pet do you have and how many? Post a photo of your one-of-a-kind animal and share with us a special moment that you've had with him/her. Feel free to add in how they helped you in a stressful situation and managed to reduce or calm your levels of stress.

 

For more detailed information about animals and their abilities to reduce stress and provide many therapeutic and health benefits, check out the link:

http://www.helpguide.org/articles/emotional-health/the-health-benefits-of-pets.htm.

 



 

 

4. Family & Friends

Stress is predominately perceived as a negative as is caused by internal or external stressors. Although stress is a person's reaction to a situation and is an unwanted feeling, it can also be helpful at times. As stated by the Canadian Mental Health Association, "some stress can be a good thing. It can motivate us to focus on a task or take action and solve a problem. In this situation, stress is manageable and even helpful" (Stress, 2014). As students though, sometimes stress is the inevitable and it's complicated or difficult to establish/maintain healthy, positive stress relievers or coping strategies. Students are occupied with school, work, friends and other responsibilities that can get in the way of making sure that you are properly taking care of yourself. By not handling your stress in its initial upbringings, it will only grow and deepen and make things more difficult to deal with later on. Stress needs to be dealt with whenever possible and students needs to find the correct, right way of reducing their levels of stress. Stress can never truly be eliminated from your life, but there are ways to prevent, or at least reduce it. With being a student it may seem impossible at times to help yourself reduce and relieve yourself of stress, but in fact, it is possible. An excellent, straightforward approach to conquering stress is talking about it and connecting with others.

Family and friends may not realize that you are struggling with stress, but by talking with them it'll not only help you, but it'll help them as well. Talking about your problems and simply expressing yourself helps to ease out the stress. Talking is easy to do and is inexpensive. By connecting with others and sharing your thoughts and feelings, it can help your family and friends better understand your situation and they can try to recommend ideas for solving your problem(s). Since students are mainly at school or work, your friends and peers are all around you to talk with and sometimes it's easier to communicate with non-family related persons, as it can be awkward or intimidating expressing yourself to family members.

 Other than family and friends though, there are other outside options available for students who are dealing with stress. School councilors, therapists or doctors are good, reliable people to trust and confide in and will always be there for you.  If you are not the type of person who is comfortable talking to others about your life or sensitive topics, another method of relieving stress is writing down your thoughts and feelings. Having a private diary is good to have as you can write down anything at anytime and it's for your eyes only. Whether you verbally talk with someone or write it out, either method will surely help to reduce your levels of stress.

5. Creative Thinking

There are a wide variety of strategies to overcoming stress. Each and every person experiences and handles stress in their own way and learn to develop personal coping strategies. Stress is a killer but the impossible becomes possible. Sometimes, when stress is at its peak, students tend to stay within their comfort zone and only think inside of the box. From personal experience, thinking outside of the box is sometimes a better strategy than most. Common stress relievers, such as music, exercise and talking, are good ways of reducing levels of stress and work for majority of individuals, but, sometimes you just need something different. From a student’s perspective, when I do not have the extra time to exercise or thoroughly talk to one of my peers or family members and I’m not in the mood to listening to music, I like to relieve my stress by doing the traditional Japanese paper folding art called origami. Origami is a fun and unique activity to do and since it can be time consuming at times it distracts the mind which essentially calms and reduces your levels of stress. I’ve been doing origami for at least 5 years and it has become one of my many, top rated coping strategies to overcoming stress. Origami has hundreds, probably thousands of different items that can made from the colourful papers that are used. Origami also has several different model-making methods which adds creativity and uniqueness to the activity (paper folding, cutting, or using multiple sheets). Examples of some of my favourite origami to make are: the crane, heart, fox, kusudama flower, and bookmarks.

Origami has become one of my passions, and as a student I find that it helps me to separate school from my personal life. Origami allows me to go into my own world and enjoy the talent that I have. It lets me relieve myself and helps to calm my mind as I make each and every perfect fold. At times, yes, origami can be stressful as the instructions can be quite complex and difficult, but I’ve learned patience and I manage to stay calm and just keep trying. Origami is just one of the many creative ways that students can utilize to relieve their levels of stress. Students can also paint, draw, sing, read or do whatever their passion is or what suits them best for helping themselves with stressful situations. Students need to realize the importance of properly taking care of yourself and for developing your own coping strategies for reducing/relieving stress. Try something new and think outside of the box, let your mind express itself and see and feel the wonders that can happen.

Want to know how to make a simple origami? Check out the video links below on "how to make an origami crane" and "how to make an origami bookmark". Release your inner creativity!

Origami: Crane [Tutorial] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ux1ECrNDZl4
DIY Easy Origami Corner Bookmark https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nh0e0WrG3Ns

References

About Health. (2014). Retrieved from Stress.About.com: http//:stress.about.com

Collingwood, J. (2007). Power of Music to Reduce Stress. Retrieved from Psych Central: http://psychcentral.com/lib/the-power-of-music-to-reduce-stress/000930

Definition of Stress. (2015). Retrieved from MedicineNet.com: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=20104

Exercise and Depression. (2015). Retrieved from Web MD: http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/exercise-depression

Robinson, J. S. (2015, February). The Health Benefits of Pets. Retrieved from HelpGuide.org: http://www.helpguide.org/articles/emotional-health/the-health-benefits-of-pets.html

Stress. (2014). Retrieved from Canadian Mental Health Association: http://www.cmha.ca/mental_health/stress/