Be a Stress and Health Expert!

Being ill during exam time can change your life. Simple as that. And being stressed means that it's very difficult to concentrate on your study.

Most people are not very healthy and often complain of a lack of energy. This really does affect learning ability, as well as being a pain. You can do something about this! On this page I give just a few tips about health and then some greater detail about stress.

1. Top 10 health tips

1. Cut down on sugars. That means fizzy drinks, sweets, sweet cakes, and so on. Why? Firstly, the body lurches from having too much to having too little sugar in the blood. That's bad for your health as it puts strain on the pancreas. You could end up with diabetes. Secondly, you go from feeling hyper to feeling tired. Either way it's not good. Don't put the body under so much stress!

2. Drink more water. Most people don't drink enough and suffer from headaches and lack of energy. Drinking more can help. Last think at night, pour out a pint of water and store it in the fridge. By the morning, all the chlorine will have evaporated. Sip the water throughout the day and make it a goal to finish the pint.

3. Exercise regularly. And I don't mean serious stuff, like working out in the gym. Just getting up now and then and having a stretch will help you maintain your energy levels. Aim to do some exercise each day, even if it's walking to and from school.

4. Get enough sleep. Your sleep patterns may be different from many other people's. You may need more or less than the average eight hours. And you may feel better going to bed late and getting up late, or sleeping early and getting up early. The key thing is to get to understand your sleep patterns and stick to them. Do what feel good.

5. Become a food expert! What I mean is, get into eating a really wide variety of foods, even if some of them don't taste brilliant. Experiment. Eat a little of many different things and don't overdo it on any one type of food. See www.bdaweightwise.com for some good information.

6. Cut down on stimulants and poisons. Caffeine, cigarette smoke, drugs, and so on. The worst of course is smoking; few people actually know what harm it can do to general health - and that's not including lung cancer.

7. Have fun! Life is short! Go out with your friends (in moderation of course!) and release all that tension.

8. Zap stress. Understand what stress is and how to control it (see the next section)

9. Keep your mind ticking over. If you don't have a hobby, get one. Learning to play a musical instrument is one of the best ways to keep healthy, believe it or not! Relaxing is important, but your brain can cope with a lot more than you might think.

10. Set personal goals. This might seem a strange one to have as a health tip, but there's no doubt that people who are clear about where they are heading and more likely to be motivated, healthy and full of energy. Why are you studying? What do you want to do after your studies - and why? What kind of life do you want to lead? Believe it, set goals and go for it!

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2. Stress - what is it?

Most people feel stressed to a certain extent at least some of the time. For many, being stressed is a way of life - they may not even realise they are stressed.

Although some stress is not a bad thing, too much will cause ill health and affect your learning performance. Being able to cope with stress is a skill that will help you throughout life, so read the following notes and see how they relate to you. If you think your situation is different and what I say doesn't help, tell me about it. Send me an e-mail.

Stress - anxiety - tension; the words mean pretty much the same. Biologically, the stress response (known sometimes as the 'fight or flight' response) evolved to help us deal with life-threatening situation, like being eaten by a lion. Anything that threatens us in any way leads to a stress response. The biological symptoms include a rush of adrenaline which stimulates the heart and diverts blood to the muscles and away from the skin, an increase in the activity of the immune system, a rush of sugar into the blood stream to give energy for the muscles and a generally increased readiness for extreme physical action. This is quite a dramatic change which, if repeated too often, will exhaust the bodies systems.

Nowadays we are stuck with this response and use it in situations like exams which, although unpleasant, are not going to kill us. Although the response isn't as great as if a lion jumped on us, the stressing situation happen more frequently and the body gets hammered - again and again. Tension builds up and you end up with knots in your muscles, stomach or head.

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3. What causes stress?

Like adults, you may experience stress everyday for a number of reasons. Usually, you'll experience more stress when you feel that a situation is dangerous, difficult, or painful and you feel that you can't cope properly.

Some sources of stress for students might include:

- school demands and frustrations
- negative thoughts and feelings about themselves
- changes in their bodies
- problems with friends
- unsafe living environment/neighborhood
- separation or divorce of parents
- chronic illness or severe problems in the family
- death of a loved one
- moving to a new community
- changing schools
- taking on too many activities or having too high expectations
- family financial problems

Some people become overloaded with stress. When it happens, inadequately managed stress can lead to anxiety, withdrawal, aggression, physical illness, or poor coping skills such as drug and/or alcohol use.

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4. Signs of stress

5. What is NOT stress?

Almost all of the symptoms of stress could be caused by a genuine illness. If they persist, make careful diary notes on what you are doing each day and how you feel. Then take them to a doctor.

6. What doesn't work

Distractions such as T.V.
Alcohol
Nicotine
Prescription drugs
Recreational drugs
Caffeine
Junk food
Sleeping pills

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7. What works:

You are different; everyone is different. Not everyone reacts to problems the same way. Not everyone feels stress in the same way or has the same set of symptoms. So these tips are general. They're pretty much common sense when you think about it.

Attitude: Clarify your personal values goals. Know what is important and what is not (see health tip 10 above).

Get organised. Being disorganised with their school work is said to be the biggest cause of stress in teenagers.

Eat well and take exercise. Obvious, really!

Communicate: - develop rewarding relationships with friends and family. If your parents hassle you about homework, show them you homework diary and tell them what marks you got. Most parents feel bad about not knowing what you're doing at school - that means they feel they can't help. You may not want them to - so try to reassure them that you're doing fine. But give them the evidence!

If you've got loads of friends, that's great. If not, try getting together one or two classmates to help each other with homework. Find any excuse to spend time with others away from school, as long as your work doesn't suffer.

Relax: be able to relax at will, anywhere, any time.

Personally, I find that being aware of my breathing is really important. When I'm aware of being a bit stressed, my breathing is always short and shallow. When I consciously breathe more deeply and slowly, the stress leaks away. So, be aware of how you breathe.

Stress causes tension in the muscles. But which muscles? Note what part of your body feels tense right now - jaws? feet? neck? eyes? forehead? shoulders? tongue? back? stomach? hips? legs? Move that part slowly, stretch it out gently. Then just let it relax and let that tension go. Keep it relaxed while taking several deep breaths in and out, slowly.

It takes a tense muscle quite a while - perhaps fifteen to twenty minutes - to fully relax after it's really tensed up. If this happens many times during the day, you'll end up very sore. Go through the relaxation procedure regularly - whenever you've got a minute during the day and evening.

[-> next, go to the first section on getting organised - Where you learn ]

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