ii. Managing Your Mental Health

Photo by Emily Bauman on Unsplash

Knowing how to take care of your mental health when you’re in college is just as important as maintaining your physical health. In fact, there’s a strong link between the two: doctors are finding that positive mental health can actually improve your physical health. Mental health can be defined as “a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to his or her community” (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2013). Having good mental health doesn’t necessarily mean being happy or successful all the time. Most people feel depressed, lonely, or anxious now and then. When such feelings or moods persist and interfere with a person’s ability to function normally, though, it may be a sign of a more serious mental health problem, and time to seek help.

Mental Health Indicators

There are several mental health indicators. Three categories that are useful to frame our mental health include:

• Emotional well-being: life satisfaction, happiness, cheerfulness, peacefulness.
• Psychological well-being: self-acceptance, personal growth including openness to new experiences, optimism, hopefulness, purpose in life, control of one’s environment, spirituality, self-direction, and positive relationships.
• Social well-being: social acceptance, belief in the potential of people and society as a whole, personal self-worth and usefulness to society, and a sense of community.

There are also some common-sense strategies that you can adopt to support and improve your emotional, psychological, and social health:

• Eat a balanced diet (see supplemental material)
• Get enough sleep (see supplemental material)
• Get regular physical activity (see supplemental material)
• Stay socially connected with friends and family
• Make healthy choices about alcohol and drugs
• Get help with persistent feelings of depression, loneliness, or anxiety.

Identifying and Managing Stress

As a student, you’re probably familiar with the experience of stress—a condition characterized by symptoms of physical or emotional tension. It may even feel like stress is a persistent fact of life. What you may not know is that it’s a natural response of the mind and body to a situation in which a person feels challenged, threatened, or anxious. Stress can be positive (the anticipation of preparing for a wedding) or negative (dealing with a natural disaster). While everyone experiences stress at times, a prolonged bout of it can affect your health and ability to cope with life. Your ability to manage stress, maintain healthy relationships, and rise to the demands of school and work all impact your health.

Good Stress? Bad Stress?

Although stress carries a negative connotation, at times it may be of benefit. Stress can motivate us to do things in our best interests, such as study for exams, visit the doctor regularly, exercise, and perform to the best of our ability at work. Indeed, Hans Selye (1974) pointed out that not all stress is harmful. He argued that stress can sometimes be a positive, motivating force that can improve the quality of our lives. This kind of stress, which Selye called eustress (from the Greek eu = “good”), is a good kind of stress associated with positive feelings, optimal health, and performance. A moderate amount of stress can be beneficial in challenging situations. For example, athletes may be motivated and energized by pregame stress, and students may experience similar beneficial stress before a major exam. Indeed, research shows that moderate stress can enhance both immediate and delayed recall of educational material (Hupbach & Fieman, 2012).

Increasing one’s level of stress will cause performance to change predictably. As shown in the Figure below, as stress increases, so do performance and general well-being (eustress); when stress levels reach an optimal level (the highest point of the curve), performance reaches its peak. A person at this stress level is colloquially at the top of their game, meaning they feel fully energized, focused, and can work with minimal effort and maximum efficiency. But when stress exceeds this optimal level, it is no longer a positive force – it becomes excessive and debilitating, or what Selye termed distress (from the Latin dis = “bad”). People who reach this level of stress feel burned out; they are fatigued, exhausted, and their performance begins to decline. If the stress remains excessive, health may begin to erode as well (Everly & Lating, 2002).

Figure: As the stress level increases from low to moderate, so does performance (eustress). At the optimal level (the peak of the curve), performance has reached its peak. If stress exceeds the optimal level, it will reach the distress region, where it will become excessive and debilitating, and performance will decline (Everly & Lating, 2002).

Good stress is stress in amounts small enough to help you meet daily challenges. It’s also a warning system that produces the fight-or-flight response, which increases blood pressure and heart rate so you can avoid a potentially life-threatening situation. Feeling stressed can be perfectly normal, especially during busy times. It can motivate you to focus on your work, but it can also become so overwhelming you can’t concentrate. It’s when stress is chronic (meaning you always feel stressed) that it starts to damage your body.

Managing Stress

There are many ways to manage stress. Take a look at some of the ideas in the Stress Toolkit figure below. Which ones have you tried? Which ones do you want to try? It’s helpful to have different tools for different situations. For example, a calming yoga pose in your bedroom and deep breathing in the classroom.

The most effective strategies for managing stress include taking care of yourself in the following ways:

• Maintain perspective. How do you view stressful situations and events (challenge or threat?) and what do you see as your options for coping (effective or ineffective?) impact your stress levels?
• Practice mindfulness, deep breathing, meditation, and gratitude. These are some of the most effective ways to manage stress and take care of your emotional health.
• Connect socially. When you feel stressed, it’s easy to isolate yourself. Try to resist this impulse and stay connected with others.
• Manage social media. Take a break from your phone, email, and social media.
• Find support. Seek help from a friend, family member, partner, counselor, doctor, or clergyperson. Having a sympathetic listening ear and talking about your problems and stress really can lighten the burden.
• Manage your time. Work on prioritizing and scheduling your commitments. This will help you feel in better control of your life which, in turn, will mean less stress. See Chapter 4 for more on time management.
• Take care of your health. Eat well, exercise regularly, and get plenty of sleep. See the Supplemental Material: Managing Your Physical Health section of this chapter for more information on this.
• Avoid drugs and alcohol. They may seem to be a temporary fix to feel better, but in the long run, they can create more problems and add to your stress instead of taking it away.

Mental Health Support

Not surprisingly, many of the stress management approaches above are also recommended for supporting good mental health. If the approaches listed above are not enough and stress or other challenges are interfering with your mental health, reach out to UNO Counseling Services, therapists in the community, or national resources that are available 24/7.

According to a 2018 report from the American College Health Association, in a 12-month period, 63 percent of college students reported feeling overwhelming anxiety and 42 percent reported that they felt so depressed it was difficult to function.

Anxiety

People with anxiety disorders respond to certain objects or situations with fear and dread. They have physical reactions to those objects, such as rapid heartbeat and sweating. An anxiety disorder is diagnosed if a person has an inappropriate response to a situation, cannot control the response, and/or has an altered way of life due to anxiety.

Depression

Depression is a common but serious mood disorder that’s more than just a feeling of “being down in the dumps” or “blue” for a few days. It causes severe symptoms that affect how you feel, think, and handle daily activities, such as sleeping, eating, or working. Here are some potential signs of depression:

• Persistent sad, anxious, or “empty” mood
• Feelings of hopelessness, or pessimism
• Irritability
• Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness
• Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities
• Decreased energy or fatigue
• Difficulty sleeping, early-morning awakening, or oversleeping
• Appetite and/or weight changes