Coping With Exam Stress
By Heddy
Smith, counsellor and psychotherapist.
Principal Instructor
for Standing Tall UK.
After the
holidays many students go back to school knowing that exams, tests or a heavy
academic workload are ahead of them in the spring term. Managing stress levels is a challenge for
most adults but wisdom, self-awareness and experience can help keep it at bay.
So how well do students know themselves in the ever-changing decade of teenage
years and how do they learn to manage their nervous responses in this
pressurised term?
Heightened
levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) are released when one perceives a
difficult challenge ahead. Its use in the short term can be of benefit to
motivate and sharpen the mind to deal with the exam, but all too often cortisol
is present for weeks beforehand. Sadly our nervous system cannot identify the
difference between a mortal physical threat and exams, plus if it is present
for too long it can create a negative effect on the body and mind.
Students
trying to study can find that they are now hampered by stress. Symptoms
include: difficulty sleeping, constant tiredness, forgetfulness, lack of
concentration, a feeling of anxiety and irritability, excessive worry, increased
heart rate, poor appetite, muscular aches and pains, waves of panic,
listlessness, loss of interest in activities, low self- esteem, heightened
general fear, feeling isolated, high reactions to emotions, despair and
tearfulness.
Groups of
students often project or transfer stress within the group, nature’s way of
using body language to warn the group of a threat or danger. This can be
difficult for any one student who cannot understand why they are feeling
stress, as they know they are prepared for the exams. The group around them has
now inadvertently triggered their nervous system to respond, causing the above
negative effects.
Understanding
how their body reacts to stress and how in a group students can begin to lower the cortisol levels is an essential part of the management
of stress. Learning healthy coping strategies, accepting the pattern of our
stress hormones and having the confidence to know that they can gain back
control is key to harnessing the ability to manage stress before it can manifest
into young people finding ways of coping that are not healthy and sometimes
addictive.
Learning to
manage and understand stress is a life long learning experience, so now is the
best time to start. Knowing that stress
is natural and that you can learn to manage it is a relief to many. With
understanding, practise and awareness it can become our friend and ally in the
face of a challenge and when the challenge has passed, self esteem and pride
can be found in its wake.
