Stressed-out students’
health may deteriorate
By Karl Anderson
Staff Reporter
A sickness is in the air. Some
students are experiencing sweaty
palms, rapid breathing and sleepless
nights. A few may even lose their
hair.
Midterm exams have started and
many students are finding them
selves stricken with the stress bug.
Luis F. Diaz-Perdomo, a coun
selor who works in the Counseling
and Psychological Services Office
in the University Health Center,
defines stress as the body’s response
to a perceived threat. Anything that
requires adjustment can cause
stress, Diaz-Perdomo said.
For students, stress often
revolves more around psychological
factors - such as worrying about
performance on a test - than around
physical factors, such as being
chased by a wild animal.
What many students probably do
not realize is that if stress is left
untreated, it can cause long-term
health problems.
Wesley Sime, professor of
health and human performance, said
people can develop health problems
if they do not learn to cope with
their stress. Common ailments
include heart disease, high blood
pressure, ulcers and gastrointesti
nal disorders such as Crohn’s dis
ease, which is the chronic inflam
mation of the digestive tract; and
ulcerative colitis, or inflammation
of the colon. Other ailments include
chronic back pain, migraine
headaches, arthritis and outbreaks
of acne.
Some less common ailments can
include:
■ Alopecia, an ailment causing
hair loss in individuals. This hair
may grow back, but in some cases,
the hair loss may be permanent.
■ Raynaud’s Syndrome, the
restriction of blood vessels in the
hands and feet that causes rapid heat
loss in those areas. It is natural for
vessels to constrict when a person is
under stress, but in most individu
als, the vessels quickly return to
normal after the cause of the stress
has passed. The vessels of individu
Have a repertoire
of tecjiniques so you
don’t just depend on
one (stress relief
method)”
Luis F. Diaz-Perdomo
counselor
als suffering from Raynaud’s
Syndrome take much longer to
return to normal, Sime said.
■ Bruxism, commonly known
as teeth grinding. If left untreated,
bruxism can cause teeth to become
loose and painful. Patients can grind
away parts of their own teeth and
leave them with worn surfaces or
fractured enamel. Bruxism can also
lead to migraine headaches if left
untreated.
Stress also weakens the immune
system, leaving individuals more
vulnerable to more common ail
ments such as colds and flu. Stress
may even be a contributing factdr in
the development of some types of
cancer, Sime said.
Sime and Diaz-Perdomo both
stressed the importance of learning
how to handle stress before it
becomes a problem.
Exercise, eating right and main
taining strong relationships w'ith
family and friends is important,
Diaz-Perdomo said. Having a reli
gious grounding also may help
some people deal with stress, he
said.
Diaz-Perdomo said better orga
nization, improved study habits and
the ability to say no when asked to
take on extra responsibilities can
also help students to relieve stress.
Rather than relying on just one
form of relief, it is important to
maintain a’balance of stress reliev
ers.
“Have a repertoire of techniques
so you don’t depend on just one
thing,” Diaz-Perdomo said. Overuse
of apy one relief will decrease its
effectiveness, he said.
Stress on the Web
reople suffering from
stress can find helpful
information on the World
Wide Web:
«•* How to survive unbear
able stress
http://www.bighom 1 .com
/success/
** Noodle’s
Panic/Anxiety Page
http://www.algy.com/anx
iety/index.html
^ Stress
http://www.uiuc.edu/depa
rtments/mckinley/healtn
info/stress/stress.html
Stress Management
h ttp.7/www. heal th
net.com/stress.htm
Stress release through
natural healing
http://www.best.com/%7E
morgana/stress_release.html
*•* The Herb Connection
http://members.aol.eom/d
eanmcel.index.html
*•* Uncomfortable with
College Stress
http://kwazwai.cc.colum
bia.edu/cu/health
wise/0113.html
Problems of Life:
Exams
http://www.soon.org.Uk/p
roblems/exams.html
Dealing with Stress in
College
http://www2.ncse.edu/ncs
u/stud_pubs/nubian_mes
sage/Archives/Fall 1996/120
596/Health.stress.html
Stress on Campus
http://www.collegeedge.c
om/college/articles/ready/str
ess.stm
The pains of stress strains
Stress does more than make people unhappy. Doctors say continued stress can cause serious
physical effects, literally from head to toe. The worst of such effects can include long-term illnesses.
Proper stress management is an important part of healthy living.
/ 1
■\ .
Arthritis
(inflammation of a joint)
isease
Back pain
Crohn’s disease
Raynaud’s Syndrome
(blood vessel restriction in/
extremities) / Colitis
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