Meditating, Organizing Can Relieve Stress

By Megan Bice
mbice@smu.edu

Students and faculty sought ways to cope with stress at the Stress Management Brown Bag Luncheon Wednesday, Sept. 23 at the SMU Memorial Health Center. Marianne Stout, a Pre-Doctoral Intern with SMU Counseling and Psychiatric Services, guided the group by addressing the symptoms of stress and providing ways to stay stress-free.

“Stress is not just about negative things,” Stout said. “Change, whether good or bad, can induce stress.”

Are you more stressed than you think?

Stout asked attendees to fill out the Social Readjustment Rating Scale, which lists stress-inducing events such as the death of a close family member, the breakup of a committed relationship, and even outstanding personal achievements.

Each life event was associated with a certain number of points, and members of the group checked off the events that applied to them. The higher the total points, the greater risk that person has of becoming ill in the next 6 months.

“I was surprised by my high score,” Ian Aberle, Manager of Multimedia and Web Development at SMU, said. “I didn’t think I was stressed out before this lecture, but a lot has been going on in my life recently.”

The Social Readjustment Rating Scale lists the following as symptoms of stress: lack of concentration, change in sleeping or eating habits, nervousness, headaches, irritable stomach, and a greater likelihood of catching airborne diseases such as the cold and the flu.

So how can stress and potential illness be avoided? Stout and the group came up with a few different methods.

Ways to cope with and prevent stress

Acceptance-based therapy – psychological practice of learning to accept your life situation and recognize those things that cannot be changed.
Meditate- engage in 2 to 10 minute guided meditations once per day to focus on the present moment and let go of racing or wandering thoughts.
Get organized – prepare in advance for stressful situations that you know will come up in the future.
Exercise – rather than eliminating exercise to get other things done during the day, hit the gym even for a quick workout- the body releases chemicals called endorphins which trigger feelings of contentment and well-being.
Confide in someone or journal about it – externalize stress by writing in a journal or sharing it with another person. This can put things in perspective and bring the anxiety outside of you.

“There just aren’t enough hours in the day for school, outside commitments and extracurricular activities,” SMU junior Bretton Keating said. “It was good to hear other people’s ways of coping with stress. I’m going to start using meditation.”