2008 Woodie Awards
SRU counseling services provide 'Calming Effect'
By Sarah Poulton
Rocket Assistant Ad Manager
Issue date: 2/10/06 Section: News
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The Office of Health Promotions offers a program titled "The Calming Effect," which is presented by trained peer educators who go to different campus groups to present this program.
Susan Davis, graduate assistant for health promotions, said stress can occur for many different reasons at many different times.
"Stress occurs during midterms and finals a lot, but stress also occurs anytime people are in a situation where their body reacts, whether it's real or imagined," Davis said.
The program focuses on the "Big Five" reasons college students get stressed out, and how different people use different methods of coping with stress. The "Big Five" include separation from family, freedom and independence for the first time, competition among peers, peer pressure and choosing a career.
Davis said the program also shows students the signs of stress, and the difference between positive and negative reactions to stress. She said signs of stress are dry mouth, sweaty palms, quickened pulse, butterflies in your stomach, eating, not eating, sleeping and not sleeping.
She also said the positive ways your body can handle stress are feelings of accomplishment, exhilaration, achievement, interest, motivation and feeling productive. She said the negative stress outcomes include helplessness, frustration and disappointment.
Davis said positive or negative stress depends on the individual's perception of the event. Chronic negative stress can occur when an individual does not deal with negative stress, which can lead to physical and psychological problems.
"The Calming Effect" also shows students how they deal with stress in positive or negative ways. Positive ways of dealing with stress promote physical and mental health.
Davis said students could deal with stress in a positive way through exercise, activity, keeping a positive attitude, maintaining their sense of humor and using relaxation techniques. She said negative ways of dealing with stress are using alcohol or other drugs, which can be dangerous because one can become dependent on those substances to relax.
Davis said students can learn to deal with stress in a positive way through communication, time management and relaxation techniques. She added that by removing their own hidden expectations, learning to make their needs known to others and by being assertive, students can use communication to reach a positive outcome. Through the development of time management, students can learn to develop an effective daily schedule and avoid procrastination and perfectionism. Davis said deep breathing exercises and yoga can be effective relaxation techniques.
She said stress doesn't just occur during times of high academic activity; it is a day-by-day, case-by-case basis.
The Office of Health Promotion offers a wide variety of programs to educate students, ranging from "The Calming Effect" to "Sex, Drugs and Rock n' Roll,"
UPB focuses less on actual stress relief and more on fun, alcohol-free entertainment for the student body to get students' minds off of stress-causing events. The first week back to school, UPB sponsored an event titled "Lei Back and Relax," which offered students a variety of activities to calm their first-week-of-school jitters.
