Managing stress
Stress is a common state of defence in which the body reacts to threats to its well-being, using all its energy to protect itself and producing different responses: increased heart rate and breathing, muscle tension. But also an increase in the number of errors when performing a task, a drop in work performance, a deterioration in interpersonal relationships or memory lapses during exams.
There are individual differences in the intensity of and responses to stress. While people often perform similarly to physiological measures in a given situation (exam, test, etc.), their thoughts, motions and behaviours can vary from adaptation to maladaptation.
It is important to note that the stress response can be very different for each individual.
Managing stress involves identifying the factors behind it and taking steps to deal with them. These measures relate to several areas of life: lifestyle, work organisation, and thoughts and motions.
The key to managing stress is to identify the factors that cause it and take steps to deal with them.
Healthy living (sleep, food, leisure)
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Use relaxation methods by practising activities that engage both physically and mentally, such as relaxation or meditation.
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Take care of yourself and take breaks when necessary. Treat yourself to a gift or a meal with friends or a weekend away.
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Take care with your diet and eat fresh fruit and vegetables every day.
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Reduce your intake of sweets and cut down on alcohol, coffee, tobacco and other stimulants.
- Change your environment, clean up your bedroom, choose a larger room or one closer to your place of study.
Organisation of work
- Manage your time and activities by drawing up a weekly schedule and an annual plan.
- Get to grips with the problem. Analyse, réchissez à solutions, define priorities and objectives. Don't hesitate to ask others for advice.
Thinks and motions
- Manage your thoughts and motions.Confide à someone, stop the négative thoughts, deéguilt.
- Be careful with little words like « always », « never » or « you have to ».
- Change your attitude by using the method of rational strategy-motivation.
Change your attitude
Things aren't set in stone. If things don't work out, change your attitude!
Faced with exam anxiety, there are two simple attitudes:
Students suffering from exam anxiety have been practising and training these irrational thoughts for many years. They are reinforced with each exam, when concentration and attention, which are intended for preparatory and review tasks, are parasitized by these kinds of ruminations.
Removing yourself from exam anxiety means realising that you desperately want to achieve top results. Admittedly, a poor performance can sometimes have serious consequences. But this fact leads some people to fixate on apocalyptic visions, continually jeopardising reality with performances that owe a great deal to disaster scenarios. It's useful to learn to differentiate between fears, needs and desires for recreation on the one hand, and fear, feelings of guilt and self-prejudice on the other.
How can I change my attitude?
You can change these behaviours that sometimes lead to failure. But changing them requires determination and sustained effort. Getting rid of them requires a positive decision and taking matters into your own hands, because the hoped-for change will come from conscious, targeted work.
Actively analyse your belief system using the ABC model of rational-motivational strategy (RMS). It will enable you to change your belief system in order to reduce exam anxiety. According to A. Ellis, it is not the event that causes the undesirable motional or behavioural consequences, but rather our perception of these events.
The ABC model of rational-motivational strategy involves three phases:
A. Identify the event that is causing the undesirable motion.
B. Identify the irrational belief system. To help you, retrace your inner dialogue at the time of the event in question.
C. Debeat irrational ideas and replace them with rational beliefs, accompanied by positive, self-esteem-boosting messages. You'll then see the changes you bring about in terms of your emotions and behaviour.
Example of putting the SRE into practice
The aim of ERS is to modify the belief system in such a way as to replace undesirable motions and behaviours with appropriate ones. It tackles irrational thinking and seeks to put in place a more nuanced perception of reality in order to enrich it with more positive messages.
To do this, we proceed in two stages:
- Identify irrational beliefs of which we are rarely aware. We need to take the time to track them down in our inner dialogues.
- The purpose of the débat is à to undermine the irrational belief system. The examination must reveal that the beliefs are unfounded, the result of exaggeration, inconsistent reasoning or chequered behaviour. This is a difficult phase, because you have to shake off long-entrenched prejudices, values or conceptions. Your tools are perspective and common sense.
Example
Identifying irrational beliefs:
- It's terrible, it's unbearable.
- I must be the first, the first.
- It should not exist.
Asking questions:
- Why is this unfair or terrible…?
- Is it necessarily true that…?
- Why should I always regret, êulate;be loved·e…?
- Why should…?
- What would be the worst thing that could happen if…?
- Are there any positive spin-offs from a chec…?
Substituting the rational mode of thinking:
- I would have prefer that…
- It is disappointing that…
- I'd like to retire, but it's not the end of the world if…
- I've failed at 3 exas out of 8, but it happens à each of us not to réussir the first time.
- Instead of getting hurt, I can use my energy to improve myself or to look for possible solutions to the problem.
- An incident can be a source of new ideas, and creative.
The ERS won't turn you into a robot. But when you use it, it will reduce anxiety symptoms and their impact on you; you will feel worry rather than anxiety, disappointment rather than disappointment. As a result, your behaviour will be generally more appropriate to the circumstances. Taking control of your life can help you increase your confidence in your own resources.
To find out more
Take the test
To assess your stress management, take our questionnaire on Moodle and receive feedback.
Success workshops
What are the practical tools for better time management? How can you organise yourself during periods of lessons, reviews or exams?
Participate in the workshops to understand the mechanisms of stress and learn how to manage it better.
Student associations
Don't hesitate to contact your faculty's association, which can guide you through your studies. Some associations also offer support courses or tutoring programmes.
Individual consultation
It can be difficult to cope with stress without outside help.
Individual counselling
Don't hesitate to contact the careers guidance service (+41 21 692 21 30) to make an appointment with an adviser who will help you deal with this type of difficulty.
Useful links
Check out our selection of links for more stress management tips.