College can be a part of the most stressful years of your life. There is so much going on whether it be course load, overlapping tests, trying to maintain a social life, connecting with family, dealing with homesickness, losing sleep, and/or having a tight schedule that is hard to maintain. No matter the situation, you can’t push through your day or be productive feeling stressed, so consider some coping mechanisms below:

1.) Treat yourself

• You may feel distressed by doing something that makes you happy. This can be long or short, just something to make you smile.
  • Go get coffee, tea, ice cream, eat out
  • Go get some fresh air and talk a walk, run, or bike ride
  • Watch some TV or a movie
  • Do a face mask and listen to some music

2.) Take a break

• This kind of goes with point number one, but you can’t be productive with a stressed mind, so clear it by taking a break. Do something relaxing or something that doesn’t take up energy.
  • Take a nap or just close your eyes for a bit
  • Take a walk
  • Watch TV or a movie

3.) Make a to-do list

• This one seems stressful at first because you are probably putting all the things on your mind into one place, but as you push through it gets better and you can easily see your progress of making some stressors go away.
  • Break up big tasks into small ones
    • Studying for a test? Break up your to-do list into sections of the units you are studying for.
    • This allows you to make progress in a bigger task but allows you to do smaller tasks in-between these progress marks as a break from the larger activity.
  • Make your to-do list chronological
    • This takes some additional planning, but it can also force you to take breaks if you put them on your list.

4.) Talk to someone

• College is so stressful that everyone knows students are stressed in one way or another. Reaching out to someone during your most stressful times could give you someone to vent to, take breaks with you, or even just check in on you.
• University of Iowa Counseling Services can talk with you one on one, but they also have great workshops that can help you target on your problem areas. They include:
  • Stress and/or anxiety management
  • Identity exploration or working across differences
  • Helping students in distress
  • Imposture syndrome
  • Disordered eating or body dissatisfaction
  • Depression management and/or suicide prevention
  • Team building

5.) Reach out to professors

• As daunting as they may seem, many professors are accommodating if you let them know what is going on (if you are stressed/why). They can’t read your mind though, so it is up to you to reach out to them and let your professors know if there is anything they can do to help, like make an extension of the due date for you.