as a pre-med or medical student I'm sure
you're more than familiar with stress
whether it's finances academic strain or
pressure from family friends and peers
you're not alone
here's how to deal with stress as a
student dr. jabal medical insiders calm
as described by the yerkes-dodson law
mild amounts of physiological or mental
stress actually improve performance but
only up to a point further increases in
stress prove detrimental not only in
immediate short-term performance but
chronic stress can lead to a variety of
physical and mental health issues as
well ever since getting diagnosed with
inflammatory bowel disease as a freshman
in college I began taking stress
mitigation measures much more seriously
many autoimmune conditions including
Crohn's disease are exacerbated by
unmanaged stress these are the lessons
I've learned over the years while stress
can be varied including physical
stressors like intense training or an
illness we'll be focusing on mental
stressors that students face in
day-to-day life academic stress is
likely what you're most familiar with
this includes needing to learn and
memorize large quantities of information
meet deadlines with projects or
assignments and of course the stress of
upcoming exams and maintaining good
grades social stress includes peer
pressure the stress of new relationships
whether platonic or romantic balancing
your academics with social life and
adjusting to your new environment after
all you may not yet be fully adjusted to
living on your own without your family
stress of daily life includes other
factors like financial burdens your
daily commute or balancing a part-time
job I don't believe there's a single
best way to manage stress in all
situations there are a few foundations
to focus on and then a few targeted
techniques depending on the specifics of
the stressor let's start with the
foundations on a foundational level you
want to begin by focusing on
organization if you're enrolled in four
classes each of which has various
assignments and test dates it can
quickly become overwhelming by simply
taking the time to get organized such as
putting class times in your calendar
including exam times and assignment due
dates you'll greatly reduce the sense of
dread chaos and uncertainty you feel
when approaching your academics
organization extends to other aspects of
your life - like time management rather
than approaching each day as a blank
slate and
and doing what you feel like when you
feel like try time blocking during those
hours when you know you'll be more
focused and more productive plan on
setting aside a few hours for more
intense and focused work or studying
during the hours when you know focusing
will be difficult block out time to get
a workout in or do laundry or grab
groceries staying organized in this way
will also warn off procrastination one
of the most common and insidious
stressors amongst students and it
mitigates the issues of balancing social
stressors with academic stressors if you
know when to study and when to hang out
with friends you won't have to make the
decision each time a social opportunity
presents itself in college I was
definitely more of a night owl for that
reason I would roll out of bed around
8:00 or 9:00 a.m. go to lecture and
after classes my brain would feel cooked
so I'd workout in the afternoon then go
home and eat after cleaning up my dishes
this was the time I felt I could most
effectively focus and get work done in
medical school I became more of an early
riser and my schedule flipped my best
and focused work was in the mornings and
I stopped studying in the evenings don't
be afraid to experiment and try a new
schedule out for a few days to see how
it feels
transitioning from night owl to early
bird is common as one ages on a
foundational level you should also know
that exercise is a phenomenal way to let
off steam
rather than bottling it up inside you
loneliness is also an insidious factor
that can exacerbate stress maintaining
healthy social support and connections
with friends is beneficial so long as
you don't overdo it and neglect other
academic and personal responsibilities
as for the targeted strategies my
recommendations depend on the magnitude
of the stressor and whether or not you
feel the situation is manageable when
feeling overwhelmed or out of control
two things have proven most useful to me
first
slow deep breathing and second mindful
observation the deep breathing helps to
activate the parasympathetic nervous
system which is responsible for rest and
digest functions this counteracts the
overactive sympathetic nervous system
responsible for the fight-or-flight
response that gets activated in
stressful situations I've learned the
power of mindfulness when I was battling
my first acute flare of inflammatory
bowel disease at 18 the pain was intense
and excruciating and I didn't know how
to manage it
I tried distracting myself by playing
Tetris thinking that would occupy my
mind but it didn't do much I was
constantly fearful of the next bout of
pain but a subtle mental shift made it
completely manageable rather than
rejecting the pain and wanting to run
away and avoid it I just watched it I
noticed where it occurred how it felt
and what made it better or worse rather
than approaching it with fear I
approached it with curiosity by
accepting that the pain was here and
simply watching it the emotional hold
had had on me vanished it still wasn't
pleasant but my stress during the pain
decreased and the stress between bouts
of pain had disappeared you can use this
same technique of mindful observation
any other time you feel overwhelmed the
next time you feel stressed observe the
bodily response do you feel tightness in
your abdomen is your heart racing by
watching with curiosity you may also
find it easier to separate yourself from
the emotional hold of the stressful
situation and my experience the
situation becomes instantly more
manageable whenever I sat down for a
test
I always did better than what my
practice questions would indicate how it
all comes down to self-talk when
approached by a stressful situation what
dialogue occurs in your head when it
came to taking a test I could feel that
the pressure was on silence across the
room other than the shuffle of papers no
eye contact or interaction between
students the environment just felt
higher intensity and my body responded
accordingly that mild physiologic
sympathetic response I felt was one of
two things either fear or excitement and
I could decide how to give it
significance I would approach each test
with almost an adversarial relationship
it was me versus the test and with the
elevated stakes my focus was improved I
was excited about it in my head the
dialogue was bring it each time I worked
through a difficult problem and I felt
confident about my answer it further
bolstered my confidence that I was going
to dominate this test and when I
inevitably came across a more difficult
question I acknowledged it was a good
try to stop me but I'd come back before
the end of the test and get it right I
understand the sounds of ridiculous and
way out there but this worked for me in
fact I'll admit I even enjoyed taking
tests
sure studying had its moments of
drudgery and boredom and I had to push
through but taking the test was like
playing the sports game it was show time
in more extreme situations where I felt
out of control or overwhelmed I found
deep breathing and mindful observation
to be the most effective with grounding
me adjusting my self-talk was most
effective only when I was at a more
moderate or mild stress level deep
breathing and mindfulness made chaos
feel manageable and self-talk made the
situation become fun whether it was a
test or another stressor my self-talk
focused on the opportunity to be
challenged to do my best work and to
prove to myself that I could do more
than I expected
the last targeted strategy is to break
down a seemingly large or overwhelming
situation into more manageable steps
rather than focusing on the idea of
having to cycle 100 miles for my first
century which was incredibly
intimidating at the beginning of the
ride I just focused on writing one more
mile and then another mile after that or
let's say you're taking on a big new
project at school or you want to start
your first side hustle don't look at the
final goal then see where you're at and
feel defeated instead ask yourself what
is one step I can take today that will
bring me closer to that goal and what
about the day after that as they say we
often overestimate what we can
accomplish in a day but underestimate
what we can accomplish in a year some of
the stuff may seem out there but I hope
you find something useful since
procrastination is such a common problem
we all face and a huge cause of stress
you may enjoy watching my video on seven
steps to cure procrastination and if
you're dealing with feeling like a
failure or letting yourself down I have
a video on that too thanks for watching
much love and I'll see you guys in that
next one
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