Stress carries a strong toll on the well-being of college students
By Penelope Carrillo
Within USC, there is a large amount of stress on the way to success for students on campus and it leads to many students struggling to maintain stable mental health.
Many students fall into the issue of having a difficult time attempting to not fall deep into their books and potentially losing their social life as a result of the large amount of stress they are given by class work and the fear of missing out within their peers (FOMO). “…Most of my leisure time was spending time on my phone before bed. The problem with that is that it would keep me up and lead to my sleep deprivation,” said Michael Lopez, a rising sophomore and philosophy, politics and law major with a law in psych and minor.
The immense amount of pressure instilled in college students leads to a negative impact like sleep deprivation on their own well-being in order to thrive in such an environment.
Poor sleep performance has become prevalent among university students resulting in a strong influence on their academic performance. On average, only 11 percent of American college students identify themselves as being able to sleep well. “…there is a relationship between stress and sleep deprivation where one heightens the other and vice versa,” said Lopez.
According to the 2009 National College Health Assessment Report, 41 percent of undergraduate students and 44 percent of graduate students said they experience more than average stress and since then, the numbers have continued to arise as time progresses. “While my studies are my top priority, I do not want to lose my sense of self as a person by slaving away to my work,” said Lopez as he mentioned how he maintained a steady routine by finding accessible activities to involve himself in his leisure time in order to maintain a stable routine.
Jacqueline Gomez, a 21 year old applied mathematics major, is one of many students who fell into the struggle of managing different aspects of her life. “I would spend evenings studying to avoid stress or sleeping to alleviate stress and was not able to participate in social events,” Gomez said. As college students, there is a great difficulty in the attempt to help maintain consistency due to the strong toll stress inputs into the body.
Many students at USC that struggle to preserve their well-being. Stress in college is a highly detrimental issue, “Stress not only affected my physical health but also my mental health. I felt that my anxiety worsened as I began to worry about having to balance school, work, social life, family involvement, and my own mental health,” Gomez said.
Although there are students that have the ability to withstand from the damage that college springs upon them, not all are met with that same accessibility. In many first generation households, students aren’t able to seek the help or communication they need to deal with all they have to juggle.
“I believe that USC does little to support minority students in the classroom. Aside from cultural centers, USC shines dim in comparison to the resources offered at other campuses to students that may need that extra support,” Gomez said. In order to assist those in need, there must be a change that values the mental health of students instead of allowing them to fall in order to fly.
