College can be a very stressful time. Learning to recognize stress and dealing with college related stress positively will have a profound impact on your college experience. Some students wait until it is too late. Their grades begin to fall by performing poor on test, turning assignments in late, not attending or being able to wake- up for class. Furthermore, relationships with friends suffer, students begin to distant themselves from family for various reasons, their health deteriorates, some wind up on academic probation or even get kick out of the university for good. This sounds like a nightmare but all this can be avoided by positive dealing with stress.

College Stress Statistics

1. Stress often makes a college student sick because it has a negative impact on the immune system (Source: Dr. Drew.com).

2. College stress can cause fatigue, hair loss, acid reflux, and many other conditions (Source: The Princeton Review).

3. 75 to 90 percent of college students who saw a doctor regarding college stress (Source: American Institute of Stress).

4. The five biggest causes of college stress related disorders are: peer pressure, competition, separation from family, freedom, and choosing a major/career (Source: The University of Wisconsin-Plainville).

Every one to include college students knows college is stressful. The stress of college begins in the admissions process where you have to fill out the perfect application and flawless application essay.

Attending college defiantly introduces new stressors. A student might work or be involved with extracurricular activities. This forces a student to balance activities and homework. The student might even have problems with roommates and living arrangement on top of other stressors. Identify and Beat the Source of Stress

A student must first identify the source of stress. Identifying what is bothering a student combats in solving the problem with effective solutions.

Once you have identified the source of stress in your life a student should developed a plan to resolve the stress. Talking with a counselor or friend will help a lot. Here are some other ways a student might find helpful in combating stress:

1. Make a list the night before on what needs to be done the next day. This will help reduce stress, help you to get a good night’s rest, and it will keep you organized.

2. Put only things on the list that can be accomplished. If the list is unreasonable it will end up making you feel unproductive.

3. Try spacing out assignments over a period of time. Don’t try to doing everything at once.

4. Get help on stressful assignments. Speak to a professor, other students, or a tutor. This will boost your confidence.

5. Make sure you have some alone time and time with friends. This will recharge you.

6. Try deep breathing exercises or yoga.

7. Make sure the student stays in close contact with their family.

Other Helpful Tips for Dealing with Stress

If the stress continues you should consider speaking to a health professional to give you some much need advice on how to deal with college stress. Many colleges have health clinics on campus dealing with this very issue. The clinic might have group or individual counseling. The most important things is that students get help.

Men and women experience baldness or thinning hair in very different ways. Men tend to lose hair in certain areas of the scalp and in many instances men will have “male pattern balding” on top of the head, while hair still grows on the sides and back of the head. Women tend to lose hair more evenly across the scalp causing a thinning appearance.

Male pattern baldness is easiest to explain, it’s hereditary and a natural part of aging. If your father or grandfather is bald, then there’s probably not much you can do to prevent baldness. Some women experience hair loss after childbirth and sometimes when using some birth control pills. Most people will loose their hair with chemotherapy treatments. Causes of baldness or hair loss can include diet, drug abuse, hormonal imbalances (usually in women), illness, poor hygiene practices, and stress.

Stress can also be a factor that’s not often connected with hair loss. Stress can contribute to hair loss. It’s rarely the major cause but it ranks near the top of the few known causes. Stress related hair loss usually occurs after a stressful period is over and the original stress may not be easy to connect to a hair loss occurrence. If you’re experience sudden hair loss, think back and consider if an event may have happened that stressed you enough to have an affect on your hair. A wise course of action is to consult with your doctor about any unusual medical condition.

Stress related baldness even has a scientific name, (Telogen Effluvium). This can cause large numbers of hair follicles to enter a stage of rest at the same time. Usually the hair follicles will be ejected out of the follicle by the growth of a new hair. This results in a condition of hair shedding that usually corrects itself, but if the stress is ongoing, this type of hair loss can become chronic and may lead to permanent balding.

There are many treatments offered for baldness and thinning hair conditions but, there is very little information on preventing or reversing hair loss caused by stress. If you’re experiencing baldness or thinning hair and it seems to be abnormal, it’s a good idea to see your doctor to determine the cause. If it is stress related, one of the first things to do is reduce the stress. If you continue to deal with your stress related hair loss the same way you’ve always been doing, you’re going to get the same results.

Here are few things you can do to reduce your level of stress:

1. Eat good meals. A diet rich in proteins, vitamins and minerals is necessary to reduce stress. Eat balanced meals with whole grain breads, dairy and poultry products as well as fish and meat. Increase your fiber intake with leafy green vegetables and fruits in your diet. Avoid added sugars and excessive caffeine.

2. Do something to replace the stress. Physical exercise such as weight training, running or power walking on a regular basis will reduce the level of adrenaline in your body caused by the stress and relax your mind. Your body and mind will be more relaxed, you’ll sleep better and your health will improve as a result of physical exercise. Once, when I had a particularly stressful job, I reduced the stress by getting a part-time job sweeping the floor and emptying the trash in a department store. This had the effect of reducing my stress level, gave me a light physical workout and put some extra money in my pocket.

2. Find ways to relax. There are no special techniques needed to relax, but you do need a quiet place where you can keep your body straight, breath deeply and slowly and focus you thoughts on less stressful activities. Exercises such as those taught in a yoga class will help focus your mind and reduce stress levels.

3. Get enough sleep. Adequate and restful sleep is very important in easing stress.

4. Don’t give up…Keep at it and you’ll notice a welcome change in your lifestyle after you start reducing your stress level. Doing the three things listed above will help you stay in good shape and reduce your stress. If your hair loss is caused by stress, this will solve your sudden hair loss problems.

Stress comes in many forms and at one time or another, we all experience it. One common stressor that seems to be prevalent in a lot of conversations is the stress we feel at work because of work demands, unfair expectations, or less than stellar bosses.

Many people think that the way to relieve stress is to radically change their life to something totally different. There is nothing wrong with changing your life, but you have to know what it is first that is causing your greatest stress. If you find that there is too much stress associated with your current working environment, maybe you should initially examine the stress factors that are foremost. Maybe your stress is caused from what you perceive as ridiculous demands from your boss; are they totally unreasonable, are there too many tasks that need your attention almost all at once?

Some stress factors at work can be relieved by learning new skills or looking for more efficient ways to complete your assignments. Other stress factors at work may need to be alleviated by negotiating with your superior in what you are expected to do by assigning priorities where all tasks are not seen as equal.

Not all stress issues, however, are caused by what others want. You also need to be honest and accept responsibility for stress that you create yourself. Are you seeking absolute perfection in everything you do to the point where your own expectations far exceed what is required; are you limiting your ability to meet your obligations by spending too much time on non essential tasks thereby wasting valuable time; are you relinquishing control of your own tasks by spending time needlessly helping others do their job when they need to find their own solutions; are you involved in office gossip thus robbing you of focusing your energy on what really matters, and what you can control yourself?

Not all stress is bad either. We need some stress to motivate us to action. Take an athlete, for example. If there is no stress to be the best, to win the competition, then there is no motivation for pushing more, or exerting that extra effort, or engaging in constant training. If there is no stress, or, reword stress to mean the expectation to do your best, what would ever be accomplished? The same applies to your own motivation to change, to learn, to acquire a new skill, to be better at whatever you do.

The causes of stress are complex, but don’t fall into the trap of blaming everyone else, circumstances, or work requirements as the root cause. Look a little deeper inside yourself to see if you are partially responsible.