TO THE EDITOR:
The increased workload in college compared to high school, pressure to get good grades, homesickness, new eating routines and new relations make the first period in college very stressful. We all have experienced some of the early signs of stress. Some examples are muscle tension, headache, stomach ache, concentration difficulty, nervousness and anxiety. In the long run, however, abnormal stress can cause digestive disease, high blood pressure, cancer and depression. Stress is not always a bad thing, though. Increased stress increases productivity up to a point. After that point more stress will cause problems.
Campus Health Services has a Counseling and Wellness Service that provides stress management education. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, though, many students never seek help within our institutions for this kind of problem.
Therefore, UNC should have a one-time compulsory 2-hour seminar where students are introduced to stress management. This would give students a better understanding of stress and how to deal with it, which is very important both for our performance in school and our well-being.
Niklas Hansson
Senior
Business Administration
