Every night before Brooke Gibbs goes to sleep, she writes.

Her writings consist of reflections from her day and serve as a way for her to translate her emotions on paper.

According to a book published in 2006 titled “Stress and Mental Health of College Students,” the American College Health Association reported college students had named stress as the primary factor affecting their academic lives.

Gibbs, Arkansas City senior, said daily writing was a way for her to process her thoughts. She said consistent writing helped her manage her stress.

“Every time I do it, if I’m stressed, I’ll end up feeling a lot better,” Gibbs said. “It’s benefited me because I always try and find ways to be thankful for what I have. At the end of the day, everything is not so bad and the stress kind of melts away.”

John C. Wade, outreach coordinator and licensed counseling psychologist for Counseling and Psychological Services, said the most common sources of stress for students were academics, finances and relationships. He said prolonged stress weakened people’s immune systems and made them more susceptible to illness.

Wade said research showed that having a reliable social support system was a factor in handling stress effectively.

“One of the points I would emphasize is that it’s not about trying to avoid stress,” Wade said. “We will experience stress at times because life has stress, but it is important to be able to manage it well.”

Abby Cunningham, Topeka senior, notices she is more relaxed after she spends time in the kitchen. Her specialty is cupcakes, but she sometimes bakes cakes or breads. She said she began baking last year during finals week. Ever since then, she said, she has resorted to baking to relieve her stress.

“I just like being able to start a process like baking and complete it in two hours,” Cunningham said. “It’s something that can take my mind off things. I’m sure as it gets closer to graduation, I’ll be baking a lot more.”

Cunningham said she felt more stressed this year than in years past because she was a senior. She said her stress stemmed not only from school but also from graduation and finding a job.

“Sometimes it’s stressful because it feels like everything can pile up at once,” Cunningham said. “But if you take a minute to organize it and figure out what you can do, it becomes manageable.”

The KU Art of Living Club, a student organization, offers a de-stressing session called “Body, Breath and Mind.” Manas Bhatnagar, Bhopal, India, sophomore, and president of the organization, said the session consisted of learning breathing exercises and processes that relaxed the body and calmed the mind. He said the goal of the session was to show how the mind and body were connected through breath.

“The nature of the breath is always in the present moment,” Bhatnagar said. “By observing our breath, our mind, which is stressed, will come back to the present moment. Once the mind is calm, you can apply it to solving whatever problems you are facing.”

Bhatnagar said there was a correlation between emotions and breathing. He said that when angry, a person’s breath was heavy. When sad, people take deeper, longer breaths, and when happy their breathing was more stable.

“We use the connectives between the breath and the mind to de-stress,” Bhatnagar said.

He said the techniques were practical and anyone could practice them.

“If you are traveling on a bus and you have five minutes and you want to calm yourself before an interview, you can just pay attention to your breath,” Bhatnagar said.

Wade said being able to put things in perspective and having balance in life was crucial to adequately managing stress.

“A good question to ask yourself is, ‘Will this matter in five years?’” Wade said. “Certainly, some things will be important five years from now, but much of what we can spend a lot of mental energy on, we realize this is not as important as it seems right now.”

Gibbs said it was important to have an outlet for stress.

“Your emotional and mental well-being goes hand-in-hand with your physical well being,” Gibbs said. “If you are not taking care of yourself, eventually everything else will suffer.”

— — Edited by Brandy Entsminger