Nursing School Advice: How Do I Handle Stress?
College students face stress in their academic career. However, the stress level of students at a nursing school can be even greater than most other academic programs. A nursing student’s workload is profound as it involves learning a huge amount of information, clinical practice, and juggling personal or family responsibilities.
What makes nursing students stand apart is the clinical experience that’s acquired after classes, homework and studying, and after taking care of their personal lives. These activities can demand all of your physical, mental and emotional energy.
Stress is a reality of nursing school and cannot be avoided completely. However, you can keep it all under control without burning out. Let’s look at some ways to manage your stress during nursing school.
Eating Right Can Help you Feel Better and Manage Stress
Eating a nutritionally well-balanced diet is imperative. Nursing school is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Your health can endure a short period of caffeine, fast foods, and exhaustion but your performance will plunge as time goes by. As a nursing student, you might find yourself making poor food choices since the body metabolizes more during stressful moments and this means that you may be hungrier most of the time.
You, therefore, need to have proper planning to take care of yourself physically, mentally and spiritually. Develop a schedule that will guide you to avoid making bad choices when you are too strapped to put a healthy meal together. Make sure not to skip meals to prevent yourself from overeating to compensate later in the evening.
Use your Support System when You Need Someone to Lean On
You can be tempted to go into isolation when stressed. You may feel like you never have time for anyone given the demanding full class schedule and clinical. While you may not be able to carve out time for everyone, spending time with family and friends can be a great way to get away from work and school. Your loved ones will give you emotional support and be there when you need them.
You also need some camaraderie from fellow students. There’s a good chance that they too are stressed when you are and therefore sharing with them can bring some relief and reduce some of that stress. When you collaborate with your friends to study for an upcoming project or test that has you worried, you can conquer more together than you would on your own.
Proper Time Management is Key for Nursing Students
As a nursing student, you need to ask yourself if you are using the time you have in the best way you can. Time management skills are critical in the life of a nursing student. It’s true that people organize their lives in different ways and having your own kind of organization is vital in reducing the stress of nursing school.
You need to set and keep to a schedule for managing your class, study, personal time and sleep. Nursing school will make you feel like you have a million things to do and the stress originates from worrying whether you’ll get them done. With a functional schedule, you can be sure that you can cross everything off your checklist
Nursing Students Should Practice Self-Care
Self-care doesn’t mean skipping class to spend the whole day in bed. It means sacrificing “me” time to indulge in activities that will relieve the stress. Nurses are masters at multitasking and busy taking care of the needs of others including patients, physicians, and family that they tend to forget they as well need to take care of themselves.
Incorporate to your schedule activities such as drawing a hot bath, meditation or yoga, walking, or journaling. Mix exercise into your study sessions to relieve stress and anxiety and boost retention of the information you’re studying. Proper self-care helps your rest better and think more clearly and this is essential in alleviating nursing school stress.
Study Smarter, Not Harder
Smarter study habits will keep you sane during nursing school. At the beginning of the semester, know what your workload will be to avoid procrastinations that will result in the dreaded and extremely unhealthy all-night study session. Find a solid study group to review your notes and make concepts easier to understand. Practice an after-class recap to avoid getting more stressed from cramming for exams.
Nursing school can be tough but no matter how frustrating the stress is, it helps you make you make things a little easier, healthier and more efficient. These five steps can help you handle nursing pressure better now and in the future.
Do you think you can handle the pressures of nursing school? If your goal is to earn an Associate of Applied Science in Nursing, consider ECPI University for the education you’ll need. For more information, connect with a helpful university admissions counselor today.
It could be the Best Decision You Ever Make!
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