Stress Management

​Are you feeling stress or anxiety and you do not know how to manage it? Do not worry, Amy L. Marshall, our licensed clinical social worker and Director of Counseling Services at Toccoa Falls College, gave us six different tips of how to manage stress that we want to share with you.

1. Have a good night rest

To have a good night rest, “you need to think about how much rest you need to function,” the minimum and maximum of hours. Then you “need to consider if you fall asleep as soon your head touch the pillow or if you need more time to fall asleep.” If the second one sounds familiar, then maybe you will need to “dim the lights, read, shut your devices down. Do not be distracted and be able to calm your mind.” Then “you need to think about how much time you need to get ready in the mornings” so you can calculate when you need to go to sleep to have the maximum amount of sleep. If you take care of your sleep, “your blood will be oxygenated, your heart and mind will be rested, and you will see your day differently.”

2. Drink water

It is important for the body to be hydrated. You should drink “at least haft of your weight in fluid ounces of water.” That means that if you weight fifty pounds, you need to drink at least twenty-five ounces of water a day. If you do this, “you will feel better because you are washing out the toxins and hydrating your body.” The body does not get hydrated drinking soda, coke, coffee or tea. These drinks have “caffeine and caffeine leashes calcium from your bones and makes you feel weak and tired.” So even though that caffeine gives you a spike, afterwards “you go down lower than you were before.” Additionally, caffeine affects your sleep, so “you shouldn’t drink caffeine after noon if you want to fall asleep around nine or ten o’clock.”

3. Choose healthy food to eat

It is important to have a good nutrition. On your plate, you should have lean protein, a whole grain and fresh vegetables with different colors. You should eat as many colorful healthy things that are not processed as possible. Food in boxes, bags, or the shelves in the middle of the store are often cheaper but full of salt, sugar, and fat. This kind of food tends to “weight us down and make us feel tired, groggy, and cloudy. Then we are not able to see clearly.” So, if you feel like you need a snack, eating a banana is better, because bananas are about equal to a snickers bar, but they are healthy and natural.

4. Exercise

Exercise helps our body eliminate toxins. It also helps our brain to function and allows our blood to flow better. It is necessary to have “15 to 30 minutes of sweat exercise for five times a week, so your body can rid itself of toxins with water.”

5. Get vitamin D

Vitamin D can be obtained through the sun. If you spend at least “15 minutes a day outside in the sunshine, the levels of vitamin D fill up, and it puts down depression, anxiety, and stress.” Being in a room with fluorescent lights downs your vitamin D levels. “Women are more prompted to stress, depression, and anxiety because their levels of vitamin D drop during raining season or winter, because the sun comes out later and goes down earlier.” So, spending a few minutes in the sun helps you to reduce all those feelings of depression and anxiety totally.

6. Have quality time

As a college student it is important to spend time in things you really like to do. You can learn or try new things that you want to do like hiking, baking, painting, drawing, etc. Instead of putting all your attention in your school work and your grades, you should find a balance and enjoy your journey at college.

Note:

If you know people that are going through depression or anxiety, you can approach them and ask them if there is anything you can do to help or if they want to talk about it. You can ask them if they will feel more comfortable speaking with someone else or persuade them, and go with them to find the help they need. If you believe they need professional help or you do not know how to help them, you can also refer them to one of our professionals confidentially, and they will approach to them and help them in the best possible way.

If you need help you can visit the Student Wellness Center to receive counseling services. You can also call the national suicide prevention lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, or text "START" to 741-741 or call 1-800-273-TALK (8255) and speak with them confidentially