By Kwan Pearl Li, Licensed & Registered Counsellor, Student Affairs
During the Movement Control Order (MCO), our stress levels had risen exponentially. A webinar on stress management was delivered on 31st March 2020 via ZOOM by a licensed counsellor.
From the webinar, students and staff had the chance to understand more about stress, the symptoms of stress and how to implement healthy coping strategies.
Take-a-way from the webinar:
Stress is not all bad.
Eustress, the good stress, can serve as motivation for us to get things done. However, chronic stress is the one that we all need to be aware of. Chronic stress is the prolonged exposure to stress and it eventually leads to several health concerns.
When a person is overly stressful, he or she may experience different symptoms and that can be categorised as physical, cognitive, behavioural and emotional symptoms. Examples for each category are illustrated below:
Physical: Aches, nausea, and frequent cold
Cognitive: Inability to concentrate and seeing only the negative side of life
Behavioural: Eating more or less, withdrawing from others and sleeping too much or less
Emotional: General unhappiness, feeling overwhelmed and isolation
Even though stress is inevitable, we can prepare ourselves to deal with it. Some of the healthy coping strategies are listed below:
Short term strategies: Exercise, reach out to people, enjoy a hobby
Long term strategies: Maintain a healthy lifestyle and have a positive mindset towards stress
It is crucial for everyone to know that your stress would not simply go away just by thinking about it. It requires action. So, do something about it.
Stress is inevitable. Moderate stress can motivate us but it can be damaging when it becomes too extreme. If you find that your stress is out of control, please seek professional help.
Student Affairs Department of SEGi College Kuala Lumpur (SCKL) exists to support students on non-academic related matters throughout their college journey. We believe there is more to college life than just studying.