Stress Relievers
From dancing to shopping, many methods can reduce tension
By Shawna Dunkel
Skiff Staff

Stress is no stranger to the average college student. But there are a variety of creative ways to handle it, whether it be physical exercise or jamming to music.

When Angela Sanson is stressed out she bounces around the room on her tiptoes to calm her nerves.

“It clears my head so I can concentrate later,” said Sanson, a senior theater production major. “When I come back to (homework) I’m ready to do it.”

Like Sanson, many students find their own different ways to relieve stress.

Stephanie Faulk, a sophomore pre-major, drives around in her car singing loudly to blasting music because “the screaming lets out frustrations.”

“It makes me think straighter,” she said. “I don’t feel like I have any worries except staying on the road.”

Anthony Oppermann, a sophomore radio-TV-film major, and Michael Maloney, a junior entrepreneurial management and Spanish major, like to shop to relieve their stress by shopping.

“Walking around the mall makes me feel refreshed and refocused,” Oppermann said. “I just walk around and look at stuff, and it makes me realize that (problem) is not that big of a deal.”

Instead of going to the mall, Maloney shops online at eBay or Amazon.com.

“Having new things puts me in a good mood and the stress doesn’t matter so much,” Maloney said.

Stress among college students is at the highest level many counselors have seen in their professional careers, said Gregory Snodgrass, head of the Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors, as quoted in a Fort Worth Star-Telegram article Oct. 29.

Workload, deadlines and tests are what cause most of these students to feel stressed out, but how they deal with it distinguishes them.

“A planned and implemented program of physical exercise constitutes one of the most effective means for managing tension and coping with stress,” Jack Scott, retired director of the TCU Counseling Center, said in a handout “Strategies for Coping with Stress.”

Sanson, Oppermann and Maloney said that they also do physical activities to relieve their stress.

“I run at night because it helps me not to think about everything that is going on,” Sanson said.

Monica Kintigh, a professional counselor at the TCU Counseling Center, said the best way to relieve stress is by doing healthy things.

“Eating well and getting enough sleep is important,” Kintigh said. “(So is) exercise, but that doesn’t have to be running, it can be dancing or walking.”

Students need to do what helps them and learn to laugh at themselves, Kintigh said, and find the humor in things instead of looking for the negative.

Even with these different ways to deal with stress, students still find themselves stressed out.

“I clean my room sometimes because it helps me to procrastinate, but I eventually stress out anyway so it’s a never-ending cycle,” Faulk said.

s.t.dunkel@tcu.edu