According to Education Week,” a typical U.S. student spends 8,884 hours in school from kindergarten through 8th grade.” Along with the countless hours spent in school, students also have to spend their free time doing homework, studying, and stressing about school and their grades.
The body’s natural emotional, mental, and physical reaction to any change, demand, or challenge that causes a trigger of hormones that increase alertness to help you cope, is otherwise known as stress. With exams coming up, the effect of stress is something on everyone’s mind. Many people know that stress is bad for you and have heard all the tricks to deal with it. What many people look past is the difference between eustress and distress. Distress, otherwise known as “bad stress,” is the kind that is chronic and can have long term negative effects. Eustress, or “good stress,” is the kind that pushes you to get things done on time, come up with creative solutions, and motivates you to do things.
“When faced with stressful situations, your brain goes into overdrive, searching for solutions and creative ways to overcome obstacles. This heightened state of alertness allows you to think outside the box and come up with innovative solutions to problems,” states All Health Matters. When you are faced with a stressful situation, your brain releases hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol. These hormones make you “lock in” and get things done, which can cause people to procrastinate because it doesn’t fully kick in until the last minute. Eustress can also help create strong bonds with people. When under stress many people rely on others for support, which can strengthen bonds. Along with connecting to other people, eustress also forces you out of your comfort zone. By doing this, we can explore who we are as a person and better identify our strengths and weaknesses.
When stress is prolonged, it can often be categorized as “distress.” This is the bad scary kind of stress everyone tells you to avoid. “Chronic stress can lead to many long-term health issues,” states Cleveland Clinic. This may be caused by traumatic events, financial instability, or any big life event. Distress can have both physical, and mental/emotional effects including headaches, exhaustion, digestive problems, depression, anxiety, and panic attacks. Some tools to relieve this stress are exercise, spending time with friends and family, journaling, practicing healthy eating habits, and therapy.
“Grades don’t define you” is the first thing most people say when trying to comfort you when you’re stressing about school. The reality is that your grades set the course for the rest of your life. The best thing you can do is try your best and work as hard as you can to be as successful as possible. Stress is the key to this, eustress is the best thing to help you work hard and get things done. Your body has a system specifically put in place to deal with situations like exams, use it. Use that motivation to ace your exams.
