Stress

Life as a student is positive, fun and exciting, but it may also be stressful.

How you experience your study situation may be different depending on where in your studies you are and how you feel in general. For beginners, the new environment, different and higher demands on your studies, in combination with a greater responsibility for yourself and your studies, may sometimes be experienced as trying. In addition you are supposed to make new friends, while at the same time maintaining the contact with your “old” friends.

To feel a bit lost as a new student is nothing unusual. It takes time to adjust to student life and it is perfectly normal not to have full control over everything. As an “established” student, you may have stress factors such as exams, money matters, and homesickness that affect your situation. To students who are about to finish their studies, the worries of finding a job may be stressful.

In whatever situation you are, it may be important to every now and then think about how your own and other’s demands affect your ability to cope. Do you have any influence over your situation at all? Can you change your situation? That it is tough sometimes is nothing to worry about as long as you have time for relaxation and recovery. You need to have a balance between studies, spare time, and free unplanned time, because if you do, you will feel good. A good piece of advice is to plan a certain time, maybe an hour a week, on which you do nothing.

Symptoms of stress are, among other things: headaches, stomach problems, sleeplessness, forgetfulness and irritation, high blood pressure and weakened immune defence, which makes you more vulnerable to colds. The causes to stress may be a number of different things.

At the Student Health Center you can find someone to talk to, who has the time to listen to you and your thoughts about stress.