This March marks one year since COVID-19 invaded our lives in Ithaca and changed all we were accustomed to; the pandemic has impacted everything from school to extracurriculars to social interactions to organized sports… the list goes on. Unfortunately, with new challenges emerging from the pandemic, there has also been a growth in mental health issues. According to a study published in Science Advances, the pandemic has caused an increase in acute stress and depressive symptoms across the United States. From personal experience and reaching out to peers, it has become obvious that stress has also affected students at IHS. Distance learning and hybrid instruction, along with the continuation of heavy workloads, has created an environment where students are experiencing more mental strain than ever before. With AP and Regents exams coming up in just a few months, it seemed imperative to research stress management and see if there were any methods that could help students at our school manage any mental strain they might be experiencing.
As part of my research into stress management techniques, I reached out to Dr. Cristen E. Haltom, Psychologist, PhD, CEDS. Dr. Haltom is a professional psychologist in Ithaca who has been delivering psychotherapy services for 35 years. When speaking with her, the psychologist offered insight into the most effective ways to improve mental health and manage stress during this difficult time. Her first tip was one that should not be surprising to any of us, and yet it is something that seems to be repeatedly neglected in our busy student lives: getting enough sleep. Dr. Haltom expressed that sleeping enough is extremely important for stress management, and recommended that we try to sleep at least eight or nine hours each night. This amount can seem like an unattainable goal, what with all the work we are given as students, but getting enough sleep will help reduce stress and actually increase our ability to concentrate and do work.
Following a regular sleep schedule improves concentration, regulates mood, sharpens judgement and decision making, and restores the body. If you are well-rested, you are a better problem solver and more able to cope with stress―all important factors in completing the mountain of work that many of us have. Without sleep, our energy is reduced, our mental clarity declines, and our ability to do quality work lessens. No matter what homework you may have, what test you might be cramming for, what classwork you are not caught up on―sleep is the most important factor when it comes to your health and academic performance. Dr. Haltom recommends setting a bedtime for yourself and sticking to it, no matter what. Various students she has worked with in the past have reported it to be the most effective stress management tool that has also helped in their academic success. Even though consistently getting nine hours of sleep may be unrealistic for many students at IHS, just adding one extra hour of sleep every night can go a long way in reducing stress, and it is something we can all do if we make it a priority.
Dr. Haltom’s second tip for stress management was to eat regular meals. It’s a simple, easy way to help lessen stress levels and improve general well-being. When we are poorly feeding our bodies, stress can take an even greater toll on our health and concentration. Eating regularly helps keep our blood glucose levels stable, which our brain needs to function well. Studies have shown that more stable blood sugar levels are associated with lower stress and better academic performance. Too often, basic self-care―like eating well and sleeping enough―is sacrificed for schoolwork and other aspects of our busy lives, but the truth is that if we take the time to focus on self-care, the rest will fall into place. It is common among teenagers to skip breakfast on a daily basis, due to lack of time, and some even skip lunch because they are “not hungry.” Not only is skipping meals extremely unhealthy, but it also negatively affects stress levels, concentration, and academic performance. Too many high school students skip meals and neglect basic self-care, and it is reflected in their mental health. Not to say that everyone who skips breakfast is super stressed, but it is a general trend―and it can be solved in part by eating regularly. If we all realized the importance of our nutrition, chances are our stress levels would decrease and our focus and concentration in school would increase.
While eating more regularly is a major way to reduce the stress of school and general pandemic life, Dr. Haltom also described another technique we as students can utilize that involves less change to our lifestyle and routines. Specifically, Dr. Haltom outlined the benefits of practicing deep breathing every day and especially spoke about RSA Breathing, or Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia Breathing, a technique first used to treat asthma patients in Russia. RSA Breathing is deep, metronomic breathing aimed to slow heart rate and decrease stress. Dr. Hatom recommends deep breathing for about ten minutes every day if possible, especially right before going to sleep. While performing this breathing exercise, you should try to have only six breaths per minute, with each breath lasting for ten seconds (four second inhale, six second exhale).
The aim of RSA Breathing is to balance the parasympathetic drive (the relaxed side of autonomic nervous system) with the sympathetic drive (the stressed part of the autonomic nervous system). By deep breathing, we can relax the body, relieve tension, and reduce stress. Breathing deeply sends messages to the brain to calm down and relax, which the brain then relays to the rest of your body. As you breathe deeply, the parasympathetic drive in your brain increases and helps you relax by lowering your heart rate and decreasing blood pressure throughout the body. Deep breathing before bed is also an excellent way to help you fall asleep, which, as discussed before, is also very important for stress management and general well being. If ten minutes of deep breathing a day is too much to ask for, even a couple minutes of dedicated relaxed breathing can be helpful in reducing stress, and it is so easy to complete―there is no excuse for not being able to just relax and breathe for a few minutes out of your entire day.
The last piece of advice Dr. Haltom gave about managing stress was stretching or doing a relaxing yoga flow before bed. When we are stressed, the fight or flight response in our body, triggered by the sympathetic drive in our brain, causes our muscles to contract and restricts blood flow. By stretching these muscles before sleeping, we can increase circulation to the muscles which can help lower the sympathetic drive and increase the parasympathetic drive, leading to increased relaxation. Stretching or yoga before bed has similar effects as the RSA Breathing described earlier―both aim to balance the parasympathetic drive with the sympathetic drive in the brain in order to increase relaxation and manage stress levels.
Stretching or yoga also has the added benefit of forcing you to slow down and be present in the moment. It makes you pay attention to your body, allows you time to breathe, and lets you take notice of your surroundings. Slowing down helps you decompress and relax, which ultimately leads to stress levels decreasing. Lastly, if you stretch or do yoga before bed, it will help you fall asleep by relieving muscle tension and allowing you to let go of stress carried in your body. Sleep quality may even improve because mental stimulation is reduced by stretching, a factor common for people who struggle with insomnia.
Although stress is a huge problem in many of our lives right now due to the pandemic, the solutions for this issue are relatively simple and easy to incorporate into our routines. Too many students at IHS disregard the importance of basic self-care, like sleeping enough and eating well. Increasing sleep and improving nutrition is a good first step in managing stress levels and general mental health. There are also specific actions we can take to reduce stress, like practicing deep breathing and implementing stretching and yoga into our daily lives. These changes are not magical solutions, and will not immediately reduce the stress we may experience every day, but they definitely are helpful in improving mental health over a longer period of time. I was fortunate to have the guidance of a professional psychologist when exploring the solutions to student stress at IHS. Hopefully many of you will apply these techniques to your own lives―sleep, nutrition, deep breathing, and stretching all have proven benefits for reducing stress, and one of these approaches to stress management is bound to work for you.