OH NO!!!
"OH NO. I have three midterms, two papers, and an oral pre
sentation next week!"
Sound familiar? If you are a full time college student, it proba
bly does. At least once in a person's college career, no doubt, if
you haven't already, you will find yourself facing a week such as
this. And if you happen to be reklv lucky, maybe even two or
three in a single term.
This scenario may sound fairly common to many at the uni
versity who have been through plenty of these, but for a new
student it can be incredibly overwhelming in addition to the ini
tial adjustment to school. This not only includes freshmen, but
also the many "nontraditional" students that we are so fortunate
to have here, such as those who are oorna back to school after
quite a tew years, and the foreign students coming to a new country for the first
time. For each of these groups, simply being at college itself is difficult, much
less having to deal with a week like this, and believe me. if you don't already
know, they really do happen!
Since nothing can probably be done to change it, except for the freak snow
storm you've been wishing for suddenly to come up, there are a few things you
can do that can head you in the right direction towards getting everything done
and surviving!
1. PLAN AHEAD — I know, everyone says, "Budget your time," but even
just simply realizing that it is coming up is a start.
2. TAKE THE RESPONSIBILITY ON YOURSELF - You can lose a lot of
valuable time blaming others for your own misfortune Accepting the responsi
bilities to begin with heads you in the right direction for coming out on top
3. TAKE TIME OUT — If you force yourself to stay home and power study
while there may be something else you want to do, don't leel guilty if you take
time to go out for awhile. You'll get nothing done if you are worrying about what
everyone else is doing.
4. EAT HEALTHY — Don't take in a lot of sugar and caffeine. Believe it or
not, they will actually make you more tired in the long run because they cause
the blood sugar to quickly hse and fall, leaving you feeling tired and lethargic.
Instead, have some fruit and whole grain products, they will keep your energy
up longer.
5. REMEMBER TO BREATHE — This may sound fairly obvious, but a few
minutes of deep breathing can do wonders for clearing your mind and easing
the tension in your body.
by Lynn Hedrick
GETTING RID OF SOME
OF THAT DISTRESS...
It you need to talk something out. here
are a tew good resources on campus
University Counseling Center
13th Street at Agate
3463227
Crisis Hotline
346 4468
24 hours a day.
Conflict Resolution
U of 0 Mediation Program
346 4240
How about physical ailments
Student Health Center
13th Street at Agate
346 4441
The Student Health Center has an array
ol services available toyou at minimal
cost it you are a U ol O student
Lifestyle Planning Program
Student Health Center
346 4456
This is an outreach program and inlor
mation clearing house The Peer Health
Advisors can adviss you on proto lams In
lha araas ol nutrition, tltnass, strass
management. sexuality and substanca
abusa.
Money Problems???
Offlca ot Studant Financial Aid
260 Oregon Hall
346 3221
Job Location and Development
1511 Agata Straat
346 3214
Academic Concerns???
Oltica ol Academic Advising and Stu
dent Services
164 Oregon Hall
346 3211
Career Planning and Placement
244 Hendricks Hall
346 3235
Center lor Academic Learning Services
108 Library
346 3226
GOING PIBLOKTOQ?! I
Shrieking hystencally, the victim
would tear off his/her clothes, run off
into the frozen tundra or if water was
around they'd jump into it even though
the temperature was minus forty de
grees. The victim might also try to walk
on ceilings, imitate animals and hoard
strange objects The Eskimos called
this strange behavior Pibloktoq. What
would cause a person to do such
bizzare acts? In a sense, the cause of
this culture specific disorder limited to
the people of the polar regions is also
cause of many of our ills today-stress.
The stressors of the Eskimos that
caused this strange behavior ranged
from a mixture of calcium deficiencies,
a harsh arctic climate to the absolute
social interdependence of the tradition
al Eskimo people Add all their
stressors up, expose them to a prone
individual and ta da the outcome might
be Pibloktoq. Don't worry, most likely
your stressors won't make you go
Pibloktoq but your stressors can drive
you to do things you wouldn't usually
do!
What exactly is stress? As Hans
Selye put it stress is the "non-specific
response of the body to any demand
made upon it." This means the demand
for readjustment to a stressor (eg a
bear chasing you) is the non-specific re
sponse like running Running entails a
response increase in the heart rate,
blood pressure, adrenalin, respiration,
blood sugar, muscle function and so
on.
These responses are part of Can
non's fight or flight theory When an in
dividual encounters something he/she
perceives as threatening-say a snake or
a lion that individual will either fight or
runaway. This response has kept us hu
mans going for the last 3 to 4 million
years. But now, most of the time, this
fight or flight response is no longer rel
evant for the times. For example, a stu
dent gets his/her corrected test back
(the one the student forgot to study for)
the student's blood pressure, heart rate,
level of sugar in the blood and adrena
lin all rise ready to fight or flight. But
fight or flight is not the appropriate so
cietal reaction to getting a test back
(usually). Instead we calmly and
collectedly take our test and look it
over like no big deal (us humans are
such good actors). Meanwhile we have
all this energy built up but no where to
go since running away is not really ap
propriate.
If this stress goes on unresolved for
long periods of time it can result in cor
onary heart disease, lowered immunity
to sickness, arthritis, peptic ulcer, mi
graine headaches, suicide, depression
and more. If you live in the harsh arctic
as a hunter where there's climatic, nu
tritional and cultural stressors
Pibloktoq may be a possibility too al
though it is quite remote! Here are
some common signs of stress:
— forgetfulness — pounding heart
— nervousness — cold, sweaty hands
— worry — headaches
— sleep problems — shortness of breath
— shaky hands — upset stomach
— back pain — constipation
So why is it that some students
seem to have a lot of strees (i.e. taking
a test) and others don't? According to
Hans Selye it’s not the stressor that's
important but "how you k-. ; it". In oth
er words your perception of taking that
test could either be one of fear or one
of opportunity to learn something new.
Looking at taking a test as a way of
personal growth is what Hans Selye
would call eustress or good stress. Bad
stress or distress is when we perceive
taking that test as scary or negative in
some way. Of course all things can’t be
viewed as a challenge that would be
stress inducing itself.
Distress gets us numans in trouble
when we accumulate too many
stressors that affect our ability to cope
over a long period of time. For a stu
dent this is about the time finals week
comes around and we have caught the
flu Sound familiar?
How can stress be managed? There
are a lot of ways to deal with stress but
this article will focus on two tech
niques by Suzanne Kobasa The first is
called focusing. Here the student
learns to recognize signals from the
body that something is wrong. Being
sensitive to those tight shoulders or
pounding headaches or whatever your
body’s pain my be is the first step in fo
cusing. Then the student can review or
ask themselves What's keeping me
from feeling good?" Focusing puts you
in a better position to change.
Reconstructing stressful situations
and then thinking about three ways the
situation could have been both worse
and better. This will teach you not to
catastrophize your situations. This exer
cise will also help youto realize better
ways of coping.
We tend to view stress in a really
negative way but stress really is the
spice of life; all we need to do is learn
how to get the right mixture!_
by Melanie Steed
( TAKING IN SOMf FCJSTRFSS...
II you re looking tor classes mat would help handle your stress load you migtl
try the Department ot Physical Education and Human Movement Studies This dq
partmenl has a variety ot Yoga classes ottered It Yoga is nol your thing then tn
some ot the other sports classes ottered like aquatics aerobics, outdoor pursuit]
and martial arls The Department ot School and Community Health also otterl
classes in Stress Management and Personal Health courses .
The Outdoors Program is actively involved in encursions ott the U ot O campu!
to go backpacking, canoeing, ratting, bike louring, winter camping, ocean ka
yaking, skiing, hiking and more They are located in room 23 ot the EMU behml
the arcade |
The RIM ottice located in Gerlinger otters non-credit classes in aerobics, wata
aerobics, karate, and women s weight lilting They also otter sports such as coel
football track, volleyball, tennis, badminton and basketball This is lust a begin
i out tbar^* _ I