How do you cope with academic anxiety ?

[MAJOR METAL]

To the many fine students here in the community how do you cope with academic anxiety ? I sadly picked the smokes back up and now I am hacking myself to death . Man the anxiety of undertaking academic work can really make you pull your hair out. HELP !!!!!!!!!!

[tplyons]

Drugs, sex, and rock and roll. Minus the drugs here.

Honestly, an hour a night playing basketball or something physical is enough to get the stress down to reasonable levels again.

[Armueller2001]

Originally Posted by MAJOR METAL

To the many fine students here in the community how do you cope with academic anxiety ? I sadly picked the smokes back up and now I am hacking myself to death . Man the anxiety of undertaking academic work can really make you pull your hair out. HELP !!!!!!!!!!

I go get belligerent and blacked out drunk.

[StanFan]

Man I just wrote a vector analysis midterm (odd calling it a midterm considering the finals are in 2 weeks), and I ran out of time, leaving one of the six questions mostly blank due to poor timing. I'm lucky to be living with some friends who are all taking Electrical Engineering (including my twin brother), so it always helps to just talk things out. I don't smoke and I rarely ever drink, and I don't want to pick up either habit.

[Fassa Albrecht]

I usually do something like going swimming, or taking a walk inbetween work.

[BartmanPDX]

Go for a long run. LONG.

When you're really sucking wind, it's hard to get stressed. It got me through my Honors exams at Swarthmore, which were more stressful than my Ph.D. orals at Stanford.

If that fails, just think how much better it is to be in school than it would be to be stuck in a dead-end job that you hate because you didn't go to school. Perspective can help a little, too.

Best of luck. And put the smokes down if you can. They won't help much long term.

[B.C.]

Originally Posted by BartmanPDX

Go for a long run. LONG.

When you're really sucking wind, it's hard to get stressed. It got me through my Honors exams at Swarthmore, which were more stressful than my Ph.D. orals at Stanford.

If that fails, just think how much better it is to be in school than it would be to be stuck in a dead-end job that you hate because you didn't go to school. Perspective can help a little, too.

Best of luck. And put the smokes down if you can. They won't help much long term.

+1, exercise helps. I don't smoke or drink at all, just a probable chemical addition to Dr. Pepper. Given I have no other addiction, I'll take this one gladly

[aurian4parker]

I think bass is my way to cope.


More like, bass is what keeps me from worrying about school stuff...because I don't do it.

[David1234]

Only do caffiene in the mornings. Run on sleep, not chemicals! You'll do less hours of study this way, but you'll remember the work you do.

And take breaks; force yourself to, so that you don't go more than an hour and never actually let yourself get tired.

[IconBasser]

Question: How do you cope with academic anxiety ?

Answer:

by freaking out, over-reacting, and not getting anything accomplished.


I don't deal with stress very well. I very rarely feel any stress, but when I do, I simply can't handle it.

[blueskid]

klonipin
cigarettes
no good advice here

[McHaven]

I have terrible persistent anxiety for the last month, so I've entered counseling as well. I think it is more than academic anxiety, since I'm not worried about school.

But yeah, I'm smoking more than usual, so I can't give you any helpful advice.

[lemur821]

I just put it out of my mind. Keeps the stress down. Problem is, it never comes back in. I should be doing something academic right now, but I can hardly bring myself to think about what it is.

[machine gewehr]

*Smoke+caffeine at the campus.

*Swear a lot,let it out.

*Music.

*Drinking 2 nights a week.

*Playing (mostly violent) video games.

[Mark Latimour]

Realise its just college, probably not that important in the grand scheme of things and then just get on with doing what you gotta do.

[StanFan]

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

Realise its just college, probably not that important in the grand scheme of things and then just get on with doing what you gotta do.

That's the way I try to see it. If I screw up on a test or something, I just realize that by the end of the semester I will probably forget all about it.

[Tsal]

This is a good topic. Just recently, one of my fellow students got so burned out because of his workload, his doctor ordered him to take a month off and get back slowly. I'm not sure how he'll cope with it, since he potentially loses a major amount of credits because he'll be missing exams.

Personally, I like to do some sports, especially go to the gym, as it's not usually bound on certain schedule. It's nice to do some physical exercise, and going to the gym gives you positive vibes since you're doing something healthy.

I also like to chat with fellow students about school stuff on free time. Some people say that you shouldn't mix your free time and your work, but it really helps to chat about the difficult questions. There are often some insights, even if you wouldn't be on the same courses. In addition to that, relaxing by having a few beers with friends often helps.

IMO, though, one of the major ways to cope with stress is to start early with your assignments. If you get some stuff done way before you're due, you don't have to stress about the work so much. Unfortunately, this is often easier said than done, as seems to be my case

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Pop over to the gym, or get some other physical activity if the missus is about. Drink alot of coffee.

The worst part is I know when I get stressed because my hair starts to fall out, hair gets greasy and flakey and i break out in spots.

Worst thing I ever had was during one of my 3rd year uni exam resits. Sat down, started the paper, broke into a sweat, got pretty mad heart palputations and basically just phased out, then it was about half an hour later I popped out of it :s , thankfully never had a panic attack like that since.

[Mark Wilson]

Originally Posted by tplyons

Drugs, sex, and rock and roll. Minus the drugs here.

Should I assume you mean minus the sex as well?




Anyway, I'm lucky! i'm at school specifically for playing bass. and playing bass is my retreat from every day life.
But, when I don't feel like playing (rare case!) I sit down, listen to music, or watch the Simpson's, which I do every night anyway.

[BruisedOoze]

Ditto on all the posts talking about physical activity. Exercising releases tension and the exertion helps you relax. Furthermore, it can curb other problems related to stress. Myself, along with many other people often lose their appetites substantially when really stressed. By doing exercise it keeps the appetite up. I also have a couple eczema conditions, which stress can really aggravate, and one of the keys to me keeping the stuff away is exercise.

Exercise is also good for you mentally, and helps keep your mind keen.