Nearly half of college students face stress impacting academics. To reduce feelings of being overwhelmed, prioritize tasks, set realistic goals, structure your study schedule, and use productivity tools. Critically, minimize social media use, organize your space, and maintain physical health (sleep, diet, exercise). Remember to say 'No' and seek help when needed.
Why do college students feel overwhelmed?
Students feel overwhelmed due to the transition from high school to college, which brings new responsibilities, coupled with a lack of good time management, changes in routine (eating, sleeping, exercise), and exhaustion from excessive commitments.
Study-related stress is high among college students, with many studying up to 36 hours per week, similar to a full-time job. Furthermore, the pressure to achieve unrealistic goals, both academically and socially, combined with high levels of social media use (up to 2-3 hours daily for most US college students), significantly contributes to poor mental health and feelings of being overwhelmed.
What are 10 proven ways college students can reduce study-related stress?
Feeling overwhelmed is common when you're starting something new, such as college or a new job. We hate to be the bearer of bad news but feelings like this don't disappear when you graduate. You can, however, learn skills and techniques to help you cope with the feelings of overwhelm.
So, here are 10 things every student can try to help reduce study-related pressures and improve academic performance.
1. Prioritize tasks can reduce feelings of being overwhelmed
Prioritizing tasks helps you focus your attention on activities that matter most and reduces the risk of feeling overwhelmed by differentiating between urgent and important tasks.
The Eisenhower Matrix is a tool that helps college students achieve this by categorizing tasks into four quadrants: urgent/important, urgent/not important, not urgent/important, and not urgent/not important. Creating this matrix daily or at the start of each study session ensures you address critical tasks first.
2. Switch off social media to stay focused
Social media is a significant stressor that can easily capture a university student's attention for hours, leading to distraction, worse mental health, and feelings of being overwhelmed.
To counter this, college students should:
- Utilize in-app screen time limits and scheduled breaks offered by most platforms (e.g., TikTok)
- Develop habits like leaving their smartphone in a different room while studying
- Use productivity apps, such as Forest, which gamifies not checking your phone for a set period.
3. Set realistic goals
Setting realistic goals is important because setting ourselves unrealistic targets or unachievable aims is a major cause of stress and can set students up to fail.
Success is easier to achieve through hundreds of small, measurable steps than one giant leap. Students should define achievable goals for each study session and create short, measurable objectives, as achieving these boosts the sense of accomplishment and reduces feelings of being overwhelmed.
4. Create a structured study schedule
A structured study schedule benefits university students by enhancing focus and productivity and ensuring progress towards academic objectives.
Students should:
5. Embrace the power of saying 'No'
Students must embrace the power of saying 'No' because you cannot do everything, and it is important to recognize your limits and be selective about commitments.
Having the confidence to say no helps students turn down social activities, events, or other things that can interfere with their study plans. This protects study time and prevents becoming overcommitted, which is a common cause of stress.
6. Use technology to improve studying
New technologies can help every college student improve the learning process, making studying, revision, and reflection more efficient, thereby reducing stress.
Tools like Genio Notes, which is a personal study tool, enable students to capture every class. It provides video access to lectures or seminars and uses advanced AI to produce accurate transcripts, which can remove the need to take notes during lectures, allowing for greater immersion in the learning experience.
7. Practice mindfulness and meditation to cope with stress
Mindfulness exercises and meditation are proven to help university students calm their minds and center their thoughts.
Spending even a few minutes a day can make a significant difference to mental health and put students in a positive frame of mind. There are many free meditation and mindfulness resources available specifically for students to utilize.
8. Organize your study space
A college student should organize their study space because clutter can be overwhelming and create uncomfortable or unpleasant environments for studying.
This simple act of organizing study materials and the surrounding space can immediately reduce stress and enhance the ability to focus and study effectively.
9. Eat well and exercise
Physical health and mental well-being are intrinsically linked for students; when you are feeling physically stronger, you are better able to fight off feelings of being overwhelmed when studying.
The advice for students is simple: be sure to exercise, eat a balanced diet, and get enough sleep. Maintaining these healthy habits will make you stronger and better able to beat stress and focus on your studies.
10. Ask for help when you need it
A student should ask for help when they are finding things are getting too much and the stress moves from the kind they can cope with to the type they can't.
Never suffer from the feelings of being overwhelmed on your own. Students can speak to a friend or family member, a faculty leader, or seek help directly from their college's support services. You can find more resources to help you reduce stress and study smarter here.
