Summer Wellness Spotlight: Improving Wellness By Managing Stress

Our summer focus on wellness now turns to stress management for the month of August. The topic of how to manage stress is always popular in college settings. Students are not only focused on class work but also have to juggle family, jobs, finances, health, and other responsibilities. It can be difficult to find time to manage all the necessary tasks, let alone to do them all well. With a global pandemic and national attention on racial injustice adding to typical responsibilities, it can feel pretty overwhelming.

This month’s resources provide a few key strategies about managing the stress in our lives. These strategies include reframing how we think about stress, as well as building our resilience and distress tolerance through stress management. When you feel your stress level start to rise, first focus on resetting the big five: eating, sleeping, exercise, connection, and routine.

Live Programming

Yoga, hosted by University Park Health Promotion and Wellness: August 5 and 12, 5:15–6:15 p.m. (ET)

Leadership Workshop: Time Management and Setting Priorities: August 19, 5:30–6:30 p.m. (ET)

On-demand Resources

• Reframe how we think about stress
  • Making stress your friend TED Talk
  • Not all stress is bad: Eustress vs. Distress
  • Adopting a growth vs. a fixed mindset
• Focus on the big five: Eating, Sleeping, Exercise, Connection, and Routine
  • Sleep better with these bedtime rituals
  • Drug and alcohol use during COVID-19
  • How to Transform Stress into Courage and Connection
• Develop strategies to manage stress
  • Build Resilience
  • Tips for Overwhelmed Parents
  • Juggling Family, Work, and Online Classes
  • Racial Trauma is Real: Wellness Toolbox
  • Apps for Veterans
  • Self-guided Stress Management module on Canvas

Action Challenges

• Create a plan for the semester: write down important dates for assignments, tests, and projects in a planner before the semester starts.
• Create a list of 10 go-to stress busters that you can use throughout the semester when you start to feel overwhelmed. Put the list in a place where you can easily remember to look at it.
• Take one of the Reality Check assessments on You@PSU and then make a goal on the platform that will set you up to thrive this semester. (Tip: make a goal related to the big five: eat, sleep, exercise, connection, and routine!)

Check out other Summer Wellness Spotlight posts if you’re interested in learning about the mind-body connection to wellness or how our wellness is impacted by our connections to ourselves and others.