CMST & 230 Small Group Communication, Green River College
Group: Legal
Group Members: Zoee Mangahas, Inder Ghag, Shawn Nguru, Kyra Goodwin, Anita Tan
Not only does stress affect mental health but physical too. According to Harvard research, they said some students already had stressful events or are having stressful events. Usually it can range from families, relationships, money, etc. Mental health was analyzed and students either previously had mental disorders or were being treated. That’s every one out of four students or nearly twenty-five percent of a school/college/university population. The rate of this has been increasing greatly. A person that needs help that is stressed, mentally, or physically should try, and find a counselor to talk to. Anxiety makes you feel embarrassed to talk to someone about it, but you shouldn’t be, it is a normal thing and everyone else has gone through it too. Being too stress or anxiety can lead to suicide which a person may want to harm themselves, so they don’t have to deal with anything in life.
Stress related problems need solving because they often affect a person’s mental and physical health drastically. Stress plays a major factor in determining the quality of someone’s life, but only in a negative way .For instance, when someone is under any amount of stress, they are more likely to be tempted into drinking alcohol and doing drugs. This is because they have most likely fallen into the belief that abusing these substances will help them manage with their stress, though in turn, doing so will only make things worse for their overall well-being. High amounts of stress are typically seen in college students as mentioned in the research article, College Stress, when it states, “…but a new study brings to light that the college years are also a time of increased risk of stressful events and a wide range of accompanying mental health challenges, including risk of suicide” (Younghans, 2018). Our group chose this problem because we all agreed that stress is a relevant problem that we all deal with and would all like to learn how to manage and cope with stress in a better, more efficient way.
The solution criteria for the Small Wins group project is that it must be the achievement of a goal or task consistent with the definition of a group from our text. That is, the project includes three or more persons interacting who both influence and are influenced by one another. (Rothwell, 2019, p. 24). The Small Wins project must include a community service component, with our group determining what is both our “community” and who is being “served.” However, the project must have an actionable activity that is conducted by all the members. Further, the project must be accomplished within the provided timeline of four weeks, along with required documentation and support as described in the assignment.
Because we all have different ways of dealing with stress, we brainstormed different solutions for the problem. One of the many examples would be: Exercise would be a healthy way to relieve stress. Playing video games for a short period would also be an efficient stress reliever. Taking a short break and watching funny videos is an efficient way to lighten up most peoples’ moods. Listening to music either during or after doing the things that cause you stress takes away anxiety, especially for school. Connecting with others that are going through the same things helps us relate to the person and it helps to know we are not going through it alone. Getting a night of good sleep can make a big difference throughout the day. This could be either taking a short nap or getting a good amount of sleep throughout the night. Finally, the last solution is talking to someone, this is important regardless of whatever you are doing. It is especially crucial when you are stressing over something.
There are multiple solutions that we suggested to help people deal with their stress. Some of the solutions can be summed up to just taking a break from working by doing something enjoyable for a little while. Others relate to changing up your lifestyle to improve your overall health as well as your mental health. Taking a break from stressful activities is a good option in most situations but improving your overall health along with your mental health is a better long term solution. Ways to improve mental health in the long term include correcting your sleep schedule, exercising, and partaking in stress free activities. Another valid solution is listening to music because it can be relaxing and comforting.
While we came up with multiple solutions that would help us cope with stress, we have decided to each choose a solution that will best fit with our schedule and our fitting to help us with stress, for example one may choose to exercise and another to listen to music. Each person will keep a record of their activity and their progress throughout a course of a few days. After the few days are over, we will meet and discuss our results.
Stress is a big factor that plays into everyone’s lives, especially college students. It is important to identify stress and find ways to destress or it can really affect one’s health and energy to do everyday activities. With the many ways to destress, we can all find our own solutions to calm our stress and enhance brain power.
Younghans, Johanna. “College Stress.” College Stress | Harvard Medical School, 10 Sept. 2018, hms.harvard.edu/news/college-stress.
Hanna, Heidi. “Anxiety in College Students: Causes, Statistics & How Universities Can HelpLinks to an external site..” The American Institute of Stress, 21 Oct. 2019.