Time Management &
Stress Reduction

What is stress?
Stress is your body’s reaction to the things which you perceive as pressures. Stress occurs when you feel that you cannot cope with those pressures. Our bodies are designed to react in 2 ways to stress: to fight against the pressure, or to run from it.
This is called the fight or flight response and it is controlled by the release of a hormone called cortisol.
Cortisol makes your body react in ways that allow you to fight harder or run faster and it focuses your attention on the thing causing you stress. This response enables you to deal with stress effectively by either battling to get through the problem, or by removing yourself from a situation which is causing you to feel stressed.
Sometimes we see so many pressures around us that stress can become a long term problem. Although being stressed for short periods of times can be good for us, long term stress can have negative consequences and lead to problem such as high blood pressure, anxiety and depression.

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Stressors
Stressors are the things around us which can cause a stress response. There are different types of stressors, some of them are environmental (e.g. too much noise), daily pressures (e.g. being late), life changing events (e.g. divorce), social stressors (e.g. family commitments), chemical stressors (e.g. alcohol) and workplace stressors.
The stressors you experience in college could be called workplace stressors, and the main thing likely to cause you stress at college is your assignments. Different types of assignments will cause stress for different reasons:
 You might worry about your mind going blank during an exam
 You may experience nerves when standing up in front of a group for a presentation
 Organising yourself to meet a deadline may feel stressful
Whatever the reason for your stress, there are