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Stress Among Students

The document discusses the prevalence and effects of stress among students, highlighting various signs and symptoms that can manifest emotionally, behaviorally, cognitively, and physically. It emphasizes the adverse impacts of stress on academic performance, social relationships, and overall health, while also providing recommendations for stress management in educational settings. The conclusion stresses the importance of addressing stress to improve students' academic success and well-being.

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2 views2 pages

Stress Among Students

The document discusses the prevalence and effects of stress among students, highlighting various signs and symptoms that can manifest emotionally, behaviorally, cognitively, and physically. It emphasizes the adverse impacts of stress on academic performance, social relationships, and overall health, while also providing recommendations for stress management in educational settings. The conclusion stresses the importance of addressing stress to improve students' academic success and well-being.

Uploaded by

unimourya
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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In today's competitive world every student will feel the effect of stress at some point of time in their life.

Some students feel more stressed out in comparison to the others, some students handle the stress more
efficiently than others but no one can completely roll out stress from their lives. Thus, stress is an
unavoidable phenomenon in all aspects of human life.
SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF STRESSFUL BEHAVIOUR OF STUDENTS
Individual responses to stress differ depending upon their personality, early upbringing and life
experiences. Everybody has their own pattern of the stress response. Some of us know their stress response
pattern and can find the cause of the problem by taking a look at the severity of their own symptoms or
changes in behaviour. Few common signs and symptoms of stress are listed below;
 Students may be experiencing irritability because of lack of proper sleep at night.
 They may be unable to concentrate on academics and sports.
 Students may be having unexplained fears or increased anxiety.
 Students separate themselves from family activities or peer relationships.
 Students may be experimenting with drugs and alcohol.
 Students may complain about headaches or stomach aches.
 Students may have a poor appetite and low immunity.
According to Vlisides et al (1994), Symptoms of Stress can be categorized as emotional, behavioral,
cognitive, and physical.
Physical symptoms of stress include fatigue, nausea, muscle tremors, twitches, and headaches. It also
includes visual difficulties, grinding or clenching of one's teeth, and weakness. Physiological or
psychological responses to stress, if chronic or frequently occurring, can result in illness or disease
(Greenberg, 1992). Many students complain of headaches and exhaustion (Greenberg, 1996). Other
students experience negative cognitions which affect how rational they may act and feel (Saunders &
Balinsky, 1993).
Cognitive symptoms of stress appear as placing the blame of errors on others, confusion, poor attention,
and poor decision-making abilities. Heightened or lowered alertness, poor concentration, memory
problems, poor problem-solving ability, poor abstract thinking, and nightmares are included as well.
Behavioral symptoms of stress manifest as changes in activity, withdrawal, emotional outbursts,
suspiciousness, change in usual communication abilities, and loss or increase of appetite. In addition, the
beginning of an increase of alcohol consumption or other harmful substances, the inability to rest,
nonspecific body complaints, pacing, and being hyper-alert to the environment.
Emotional symptoms of stress include anxiety, guilt, grief, denial, fear, a sense of uncertainty, a loss of
emotional control, Depression, apprehension, a feeling of being overwhelmed, intense anger, irritability,
and aggravation.

ADVERSE EFFECTS OF STRESS ON STUDENTS


Students are experiencing high levels of stress in many areas of their life. The combination of a busy life
with education is causing stress and depression. Minimal stress is beneficial and may result in excellent
performance. However, uncontrolled stress can lead to exhaustion, depression and several other sicknesses.
The stress that students experience can test their ability to cope and their ability to adapt. The impact of
stress on students can be looked at from various angles. According to Centre (2010); Stress affects students
academically, socially, physically and emotionally.
Impact of stress academically
Students are facing various academic problems in today's highly competitive world, which includes exam
stress, lack of interest in attending classes, and inability to understand the topic. Academic stress is the
major cause of stress among adolescents and may result in low self-esteem. Most of the psychological
problems such as depression and suicide occur as a result of low self-esteem (Nikitha et al., 2014). Hussain
et al., (2008) observed that the magnitude of academic stress among the public school students was
significantly higher while the level of adjustment of government school students was significantly better.
However, reverse but significant relationships between academic stress and adjustment have been found for
both the student group and each school type whereas Singh and Upadhyay (2008) observed that students in
the first year experienced higher degree of academic stress in comparison to the students in the third year
and female students perceived more academic stress in comparison of the male students.
Impact of stress socially
Students are social beings by nature, as they have an essential need and wish to uphold helpful social
relations. Social relationships can offer nurturance, foster feelings of social inclusion, and lead to
reproductive success. Anything that disrupts or threatens to disrupt their relationships with others can result
in social stress (centre,2010). Arun and Chavan (2009) found a significant correlation between student’s
perception of life as a burden and the class they were studying. Munni and Malhi (2006) reported poorer
school performance and adjustment scores among adolescents exposed to violence. In the long run, all
social effects give bad names and status to students displaying these behaviours that will adversely affect
their academic life.
Impact of stress physically
Stress that goes on without a break can lead to a condition called distress, a negative stress reaction.
Distress can lead to physical problems. The Physical impact of stress basically reflects on the health of the
student (centre, 2010). Stress can also lead to a change in people's behaviours, such as nail biting, heavy
breathing, teeth clenching and hand wringing. When individuals are stressed out, they may experience cold
hands and feet, butterflies in the stomach, and sometimes-increased heart rate, all of which are considered
as common physiological effects of stress, that can be associated with anxiety (Auerbach & Gramling,
1998). Physical and psychological response to stress mostly occurs together, especially when stressors
become more intense. For example, mild chest pain can lead to the psychological stress response of
worrying about getting a heart attack. The psychological responses to stress can emerge out as changes in
emotions, thoughts (cognition), and behaviours (Bernstein et al., 2008).
Impact of stress emotionally
Stress causes irritability and bad temper in students. Students who stressed easily get annoyed with the
Little-little things. Stress in its own way kills the tolerance of student making them vulnerable to temper
issues. Student tries to be calm but because they are worried and disturbed they lose their control easily
(centre, 2010). Psychiatrists have expressed concern at the emergence of education as a serious source of
stress for school-going children, leading to an incidence of suicide deaths (D’Mello, 1997). Many
adolescents in India are referred to a psychiatrist for school-related distress, depression, high anxiety,
frequently missing out school, phobia, physical complaints, irritability, weeping spells, and decreased
interest in school work (Chawla, 1997; Rangaswamy, 1982).
RECOMMENDATION:
1. Management of the school should make room for stress management courses in the school curriculum
and also organising stress management forum and campaign to help address stress among students.
2. The student union in collaboration with the sport council and management should organised games and
social programmes for students.
3. There should be frequent interaction between academic staffs and students on how best to schedule
intensive courses in the cause of the semester work
4. Guidance and counselling unit should be part of the school management system so that students can
come there to discuss issues affecting them.
5. Good eating habit should be priority of students in relation to stress management
6. Enough sleep and exercise is an important remedy to stress management.
7. Creative games should be organised during lectures that have longer hours from 3-6 hours in order to
some extent relief stress from students and refresh their mind and make them active.
8. There should be a good balance between working hours and study hours so as to avoid stress.
CONCLUSION
Due to the negative impact of stress on student’s life, such as ineffective studies, poor academic
performance and the general health status, putting effective measures in place is pertinent to their academic
success and general life. This is done by identifying the main causes of stress which includes changes in
lifestyle, increased workload, new responsibilities, and interpersonal relationships and finding the
appropriate remedy. A lot of research have been done on stress and it management and pragmatic solutions
given and we hope that, based on the analysis made, this thesis will be of great help in helping students to
have an excellent academic life.

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