Stress affects every person individually. It alters how they react and feel. Although stress affects people separately, everything comes together to affect the world of society. Peoples' reactions to stress become a snowball effect onto others and can sometimes take others down the stressful path with them. In college, you will realize that you have become more stressed out than you ever thought could be possible. This is a normal feeling to experience. All kids go through a transition in the beginning of their freshman year and realize how much work college really is. It may be a big jump from the work you had in high school to this. Students in college should realize that it is normal to be stressed out and there are some methods to help relieve all of these strenuous feelings.

When feeling stressed out, think of what could be the issue. Variables that trigger stress, that are found in daily activity, are one's health, relationships, emotions, life changing events and money. You have to be aware that everyone deals with stress on their own. It is common. The key is to stop stress before it stops you. You need to find a method to soothe yourself enough to take the stress away. Also, everyones' methods will be different.

People always ask: is stress a bad thing? In the long term, yes. Stress can lead to some major health problems later in life, but it is not necessarily a “bad” thing unless it is ongoing. Preventing and managing chronic stress can help lower your risk for severe conditions. The symptoms of stress usually are fast heart rate, back/neck/shoulder pain, fast breathing, sweating, upset stomach, changes in weight, grinding teeth, trouble sleeping, depression, etc. A few things you can do to cut down the stress are write, be physically active, talk positively, do yoga, learn to say “No,” count to 10 and stay organized. As my years in college go on, I feel more and more stress being put on my shoulders and now I finally realize what older kids meant when they said college is a lot of work. I wanted to write my first article about stress because I personally wanted to know what exactly is stressing me out, and wanted to research more. I wanted to know what I could do to help myself feel less stressed. And finally, I wanted other students to know the methods they could use to eliminate some stress.