By Bret Smith
The finals of spring 2018 ended just a week ago, and students can leave behind all the stresses and anxieties, for now. While the finals are over, health issues are not.
Surveys done by Trinity University have shown that physical health issues involving tobacco and alcohol use, as well as mental problems like sleep deficit, anxiety, stress, and depression, are among the health issues facing Trinity University students.
Sleep difficulties and stress in particular have become major mental health problems on campus and they tend to go hand in hand. Trinity students have to juggle a heavy study load from professors, high expectations from their parents, their self-imposed expectations to succeed, and their social life.
Some students are so stressed out that they are “unable to socialize, unable to get to the dining hall, unable to get to class. I mean that's affecting your daily life and your functioning,” said Katherine Hewitt, the wellness coordinator here at Trinity University. She specializes in health education, mental health awareness, counseling, as well as incorporating student programming to ensure student success.
According to the health and wellness survey, which Hewitt presented to the Professional Development Committee’s annual PDC 360 event on April 30, 60 percent of students on campus have experienced problems in their academic performance as a result of stress.
“My presentation looks at longitudinal health and wellness surveys that were distributed to students, basically since the late 1990s and we still implement very similar survey tool currently,” said Hewitt.
According to the survey results, alcohol, drug, and tobacco use were major problems in the late 1990’s but have steadily declined, while mental health problems have increased. “In the past 10 years or so sleep difficulties have definitely impacted our students in a negative way in terms of academic performance. Those rates are also rising with anxiety and depression,” said Hewitt.
“During the school week I really do not sleep well and a lot of that is based on stress,” said Axel Anderson, a junior engineering major. “I wake up thinking about school work and when I’m going to bed I’m thinking about schoolwork, and I think that is a really unhealthy environment.”
Many students put the blame on their professors for the stress and anxiety they experience. They have expressed frustration that their professors do not seem to acknowledge that they have lives outside of the classroom. “In general, classes tend to stack but I honestly don’t feel professors gauge that as much,” said Ben Sawyer, a biochemistry major. “I have the sense that professors here at Trinity believe that they had it much harder as students than we currently do, so I think that contributes to it. But in general I think professors do care and they are willing to be open.”
Students themselves also deserve some blame, because a lot of the stress and anxiety is self-inflicted. “This year alone I pulled around four all-nighters. You can argue that is partially my own fault, but a lot of students, me included, have trouble balancing work, which causes a lot of stress,” said Anderson.
For one thing, many students procrastinate their work, choosing to have a social life instead of doing homework or studying for an exam, until the last minute.
However, “we got to have some type of personal life,” said Sawyer. “Being a young adult, this is when you are figuring who you are, so there is a lot of emotional stressors. They all attribute to overall poor mental health.”
Stress and anxiety affect more than half of the students on campus, but many students are afraid to get help or they do not even know where to get help. Some students tend to go to the Health Service Center when they should be going to Counseling Services.
“Health Services does see many patients with anxiety. We refer them to Counseling Services. But we also address any physical symptoms that the patient may be dealing with as a result of their anxiety,” said Yvette Tercero, one of the registered staff nurses on campus.
To make things worse, many students are afraid of what their peers would think of them if they went to counseling. A lot of students even believe that it is embarrassing to seek out help. To address such issues, Hewitt’s office holds the annual Mental Health Awareness Week.
“So let's sit down, let's raise awareness about mental health, how can we reduce the stigma of students coming to see a counselor, or seeking off campus help,” said Hewitt. Other mental health programs on campus include the Stress Free Zone, which allows students to take a day to relax before finals start.
There are also several programs that address sleep problems, one of which is called the Refresh Sleep Program. This program is a seven-week email intervention. “Students are given a weekly sleep diary to fill out, and they are also given a little series of information based upon how they can improve their quality of sleep, and increase their hours of sleep,” said Hewitt.
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