THE new academic year has, without doubt, heralded stress for a lot of students, and if it hasn’t yet, then it will.

This is to be expected, according to psychologist Dr Sydney McGill, who said that stress is an innate part of the process of securing an education.

“Returning to school generally is a challenge for many on all fronts. For some it is economic. It is a question of how will they be able to pay school fees. For others, it might be a change of institution and adjusting to the new environment, finding new friends, etc,” he told Career & Education. “For some, it is the baggage of unresolved family problems and their own disappointments, whether personal

or relational. These are some of

the challenges.”

Psychologist Dr Pearnel Bell, meanwhile, noted the range of ways stress presents itself in students, whether it is the mature student with a family, work and school to contend with; the working student; the college-bound/first-time university student; and the younger student (typically those between six and 12 years old).

“Stress is really the body’s response to demands placed upon it. It is our reaction, which can be physiological, or chemical and it may present itself with a person feeling fatigued and/or overwhelmed. Some people have cognitive problems like memory and concentration challenges,” she said.

“It may also be behavioural, where the person is irritated and so on. There is also seemingly low productivity and the person is disorganised, unable to complete tasks that they have started. There may also be insomnia or hyper insomnia. All of those are signs that this person might be reacting to those demands.”

Bell noted that among the range of stress factors that face students are:

. balancing family life with work life and school in the case of the mature student;

. adjusting to a new social environment in the case of the college-bound student, for whom going away to college is perhaps the first time they will leave home; and

. growing accustomed to new teachers and classmates for the younger students.

“For them (younger students), too, they can become overwhelmed because they have the morning rush. Little pickney have to wake up out of bed early. And then there is homework and just a quicker pace of life. There are the new classmates and taking part in extra-curricular activities,” added Bell.

All categories of students, she said, have also to contend with keeping abreast of lessons taught, study, and meeting assignment deadlines, while trying to fit in recreation and relaxation.

The challenge, McGill said, is how one chooses to deal with the encounter with stress. Key to making a success of it, the psychologist said, is planning.

“One has to decide if they are going to go with the flow of their situation and feel that they have little control or power to change the direction of that flow or to take charge of the situation and to begin to plan how to proceed,” he said. “Once you are planning, whether it be how you are going to come up with more funds, or what, you will have to set realistic goals as to how this will be achieved.”

Where it is a challenge of finances, he said that one needed to identify potential funding sources and then to begin to get whatever paperwork may be required done.

“If it is money, you have to begin to think ‘What can I do differently?’ and ‘What are the opportunities out there?’

(Those opportunities could mean) students’ loan or finding some creative ways of meeting needs, and getting some kind of financial compensation for it,” McGill said. “Or it could mean, when it comes to the personal or relational, that you have to begin to think of how you can make a change to improve rather than blaming other persons or the environment or the situation.”

He also noted the need to strike

a balance.

In the case of the mature student, he said their relationships often suffered the effects of their securing an education.

“Balance. It is all about balance and back to planning. A lot of the times I find that it is the relationship that suffers when you are studying and working,” he said. “It is very important to invest in that relationship. So you have to make time for your family. It may mean having to sacrifice a few hours of study time.”