Exam stress

Five Ways to Wellbeing at Exam Time

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Exam time is a difficult time for everyone, though for some more than others.

So it’s important to remember that you can do things to help yourself remain calm and in control, throughout those weeks when your adrenaline can be flowing a little more rapidly.

 

Here are some evidence based ways that we can look after our mental health, a bit like a ‘5 a day for the mind and soul’.

 

  1. Keep Connected; stay in touch with the people around you, the people who care about you and who can support you in life
  2. Be active; go for a walk/ run/ swim, breathe in some fresh air. Exercise on the Downs. Release that adrenaline in a positive way
  3. Take Notice; notice the world around you, the changing seasons, walk around and observe what is happening. Be aware of your feelings
  4. Keep learning; learning new things can be fun if you make time for it, and for yourself too
  5. Give; do something nice for someone else. Cook a meal/ help out your community/ volunteer. It is scientifically proven that being nice to others releases a happy hormone (oxytocin) and makes you feel better too!

 

However, if doing all these things isn’t enough to support you through a difficult time then remember we are here to help, as are the Counselling service, and other services in the university, like the Multifaith Chaplaincy.

It is normal for exam time to be stressful, that adrenaline can help focus the mind and bring your performance up a notch, but if it feels out of control, and overwhelming then please ask for help sooner rather than later.

Good Luck!

When you hear the word ‘counselling’ what do you think of?

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Two people in a room; one talking and the other just nodding and listening? 
Films have a lot to answer for, and for me that image conveys nothing of the aliveness of the relationship that counselling offers.

For instance, when was the last time that a friend or someone in your family really listened to your experience, without confusing it or comparing it with their own? 

The real trick of counselling is that it creates the circumstances that mean you can fully be yourself. By providing relational sounding boards and mirrors it allows you to see and hear the self you are in this moment. Sometimes someone else can see you changing when you can’t see it yourself.
Most people emerge from experiences of counselling feeling better than they did at the start, more able to function and on a positive trajectory in terms of their mental health, but the chances of this are much increased if they can come along with some openness to the process, some belief it could help in some way. This is one of the reasons we ask people to refer themselves, rather than being required to come: they need just a tiny bit of belief, and it can be just tiny.

The other surprise to some is that counselling is not just about two people in a room, in fact increasingly this is less and less so. The Student Counselling Service now offers about 300 students direct support each week and whilst some of them will be in individual appointments, most of these are either initial assessments to establish the best pattern of care for someone, one off follow ups to these meetings to support a person’s self help, 20 minute initial meetings to establish support choices, or 20 minute ‘Drop ins’ to offer immediate triage and signposting to support, or to help keep them on track with ‘Beating the Blues’ (our online CBT support programme). Even our regular sessions tend to be for fewer than 6 weeks.

Over 100 of the total seen are accessing our regular closed groups or coming just this week to an open group, or attending one of our workshops. And that’s without keeping a count of the number of people who use our resource library and website self help pages.

Because of the range of what we offer we registered over 1600 students last academic year, and so far this year we are experiencing a 20% increase on that. We can’t work with everyone but we have a number of useful contacts in the wider community of Bristol, so that no one needs to feel alone with their concerns.

And just one little plug for group work. If counselling helps you see aspects of yourself you can’t yet see , imagine what it might feel like if other students just like you provided the sounding board, or if someone in the group told a story that made you feel you were not the only one struggling with similar things. It is a powerful moment, and every group sees it, when someone says, ‘it’s such a relief…I thought it was just me’.

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/student-counselling/

 

I tried self hypnosis for my anxiety! You could too… a student writes…

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When I approached the Students’ Health Service to seek help with my study-related anxiety, night-time panic attacks and insomnia, I was really not sure what to expect. Although I knew they would have heard it all before, I did not anticipate such swift and effective support. Dr Grant, who I was able to see within a couple of hours of my panicked phone call, suggested a number of helpful options including referring me to a colleague in the Centre for Sports, Exercise and Health who introduced me to a range of approaches, including neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). In just an hour Matt Edwards had taught me a simple method of recalling a desired mental state: in my case, a state of calm and focused concentration on the task at hand. I had never attempted anything like this before, largely due to a deep suspicion of such techniques. I like to think of myself as a ‘rational’ person, not usually drawn to ‘alternative’ medicines or therapies. I felt nervous and a bit silly, but prepared to give it a try. In a private and comfortable office I explained that I was hoping address study-related anxiety and improve my concentration and focus. To my relief this was all the detail I had to give: this was not a counselling session! Matt outlined a range of approaches and we agreed to try a certain NLP technique. He told me to close my eyes and imagine a situation when I had felt calm, focused and in control: the mental state I wanted to be able to recall. He then talked me through a process of cementing in my mind what I could see, hear and feel in this situation. This took about ten minutes or so, but after imagining and magnifying that feeling in my mind’s eye, I felt that I really could return to it any time. Matt explained that in NLP this process is often accompanied by associating this mental state with a physical ‘anchor’: for me, this became a single word. Now, when I say that word to myself, I am able to recall that feeling of being calm and in control. I have used it several times since in class presentations and at home, particularly in the evenings, when my workload seems too much.

Apparently NLP is about being able to visualise what you want to achieve, and then re-create it for yourself by placing yourself mentally in that situation. I am being honest when I say I can’t believe it works, but it really does. I really would recommend anyone else at the end of their academic tether to give it a go – it can’t hurt, and if you believe in it even a little bit, it works wonders.

For a discussion about a referral to Matt Edwards book an appointment with a GP at Students’ Health Service.

Dealing with Exam stress part 2

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Hi, my name’s Rick and I work at Students’ Health two days a week, delivering cognitive-behavioural based talking therapies to students struggling with difficulties such as anxiety and depression.

 As the dreaded exams loom, the people I see often find that their problems become more difficult to cope with. This is because, frankly, there are various aspects of studying at a University that are psychologically downright unhealthy:

 The perfectionism, the isolated nature of the work, the unrealistic amounts of work expected, the competitive nature of the whole thing, the lack of instant reward for the hours and hours of hard slog put in, the uncertainty about what the future holds beyond University… etc etc etc

 I still vividly remember my own struggles with all this; and anyone who was in the vicinity of the Psychology department at Exeter University in 1989 will maybe recall my own less-than-ideal attempts to cope with it.

 The good news is that 23 years later, I’m full of good ideas about how to deal with the stress of University work, most of which I’ve learned fairly recently from working here with you.

 Here are 5 top tips for psychological wellbeing at this difficult time:

 

1.   Use a diary/ schedule to plan your work and your revision

     By planning work you can break it down into manageable chunks and hopefully find it less overwhelming. Try not to plan unrealistic amounts; 5-6 hours a day is realistic for most people. Plan breaks and relaxing/ fun activities as well and try to start as early as you can: If you’ve already done 3 hours work by lunchtime, you’re less likely to get stressed as the day wears on.

     Above all, see what works for you.

 2.  Try not to compare yourself with other people

 There are always going to be people who seem to get up at 6.00am and spend their whole day in the library, working for 14 hours without a break. Do not compare yourself with these people and on no account try to compete with them. Work at a pace that suits you, and try not to pick up on other people’s stress.

 3.   Try to avoid falling into spirals of negative thinking

     There are various unhelpful styles of thinking people can fall into when under pressure. These include predicting the future, catastrophising, and  black and white thinking, among others. There’s a link to 12 of these and what to do about them attached below.

 4.   When work stress and anxiety do start to get on top of you, take a look at what you do in response to this

      Do you dive under the duvet? Go to the pub? Switch on daytime TV? Phone a friend? Go for a brisk walk around the block? Surf the internet? Go to the gym? Jump up and down and scream?

      Try writing down what you do, and try to notice what’s helpful and what isn’t, in terms of keeping you calm and allowing you to complete what you need to complete.

 5.   Remember that the whole thing is time-limited: It will not last for ever and you can only do what you can do in the time you’ve got

Soon it will all be over…

 

If you are struggling with anxiety and/ or depression and would like help and support, you can contact Rightsteps Bristol on 0117 9431111 and self refer. It is a free service. Alternately you can e-mail me at

rick.cooper@turning-point.co.uk

 http://www.getselfhelp.co.uk/unhelpful.htm

 

How to beat exam stress

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Things the prospectus doesn’t tell you #17: Revision and exams

John Wilford, Sport Exercise & Health

 

Arrrggghhh.  Are your days broken down into 30-minute, colour-coded blocks of revision? Getting up early to claim a library desk? Staring at notes and screens until your eyes throb?  Before you know it the day ends, you’re hungry, dehydrated and your head hurts.  Welcome to the Summer term! 

 Stop. Breathe. Relax. You’re a finely-tuned, exam-passing machine. An athlete of academia. For any athlete, quality of training is more important than quantity; rest, recovery and refuelling must be programmed into their day. 

 Now look at that revision planner.  Which coloured blocks are for eating, sleeping, relaxing and exercising?  Don’t run on empty. You need to be relaxing, refuelling and refreshing yourself to survive and do well. 

 

Relaxing

  • Relaxation techniques: Practise tensing and relaxing each muscle group in turn starting with your toes and working your way up the body.
  • Breathing: Practise breathing deeply, evenly and slowly.
  • Sleep: If tired it’s hard to concentrate and maintain perspective. If you’re finding it difficult to drop off, cut down on stimulants (e.g. caffeine and alcohol) and allow time to unwind before bed. The key to feeling refreshed is having a regular pattern. Getting regular exercise helps (but not immediately before bed).
  • Massage and exercise (pilates, yoga, tai chi separately or combined in ‘Body Balance’ classes) are available from Sport, Exercise & Health
  • Therapeutic relaxation groups are organised by Student Counselling

 

Refuelling

What we eat and drink influences not only physical performance but mental performance too. If you want to boost concentration, memory and mood in the run up to exams try some of these:

  • “5 a day” of fruit and veg
  • Oily fish every week
  • Cut down “bad“ fats. Don’t rely on fast food!
  • Good breakfast to start the day
  • Eat regularly and have healthy snacks (raw carrots, celery, chopped nuts, raisins, dates, etc.)
  • Drink plenty of fluids (recent research suggests drinking water during exams can help improve grades – so don’t forget your water bottle!) though limit caffeinated and sugary drinks, especially before bed
  • Go steady with alcohol – bad for performance and sleep quality

 

Refreshing

Some anxiety can help motivate, but high levels of stress cause excess adrenaline resulting in headaches, racing heart, fatigue, irritability and sleep problems.  Physical activity uses this adrenaline, reducing these symptoms. It also releases endorphins, improving your mood.  Including some exercise in your day will boost energy and clear your head. It doesn’t have to be a two-hour gym session or a five-mile run. A brisk walk is great exercise and doesn’t need specialist kit or planning.  Even small bouts of activity can reduce tension and boost productivity.

 An organised class or activity could help.  Schedule them to fit your timetable.  It will give a welcome break from academic thoughts – and you’ll mix with different people.

 University gym staff note that many regular exercisers stop during this time of year.  Apart from one notable group – medical students.  What do they know that others don’t…..?

 

So, Wilf’s theory of revision optimisation (with apologies to mathematicians everywhere)…

 

Relaxing x Refuelling x Refreshing = Revising3

 

 

Further information: