Wake up, go to practice, go to class, work on homework, go to the next class, go to workouts, go to another class, go to the trainer, work on more homework, and repeat. What about stopping to eat meals, socializing, relaxing, and sleeping? As a college athlete if you were to ask me that, I would most likely laugh and jokingly ask “what is that?”. Probably not a normal reaction, but one that many college athletes can relate to. According to Jason Perry from Athlete Network, student athletes face a higher risk of anxiety due to their abnormal stress factors. 

Not only does my personal experience along with loads of relevant research support the idea of elevated stress amongst college athletes, but also the first-hand experience that numerous others like myself can attest to. For instance an anonymous student athlete at North Central College stated “everyday it can be hard to find the motivation to get out of bed knowing all I have to get done that day with school work, sports, and whatever else is going on”. It is evident that student athletes are particularly susceptible to mental health struggles, so how exactly are we supposed to manage this rising issue? Well, it all starts with recognition.

Recognizing the Symptoms 

In order to manage the problem, it is important to first be able to identify if you may be displaying the symptoms. Symptoms of stress and anxiety can be displayed physically, emotionally, behaviorally, and cognitively. According to Thomas Broderick some of the ways that stress may present itself include:

• Increased heart rate

• Muscle tension

• Fatigue

• Mood changes

• Loneliness

• Eating disorders

• Drug and alcohol misuse

• Dissociation 

Symptoms of stress and anxiety can vary amongst different individuals, but looking out for the more common ones can be beneficial. It is important to be mindful of these symptoms not only so you can identify them within yourself, but also so you are able to identify them amongst your peers. The easiest way to identify this is if you notice a drastic change in your mood, eating patterns and sleeping patterns. So what is it that’s causing these particular symptoms?

Acknowledging the Factors

Now that you are able to identify the symptoms it’s time to begin managing them. You must first start at the root of the problem, the causes. By identifying the causes you will know exactly where to begin attacking the problem. The causes of a general college students stress may include things like:

• Finances

• New independence

• Living with strangers

• Coursework/Exams

• Work schedules

• Social obligations

On top of all of these causes for an average college student, student athletes tend to face many additional causes of stress including:

• Performance

• Relationships with coaches and teammates

• Scholarship criteria

• GPA requirements to stay eligible

• Public image

• Maintaining a healthy lifestyle

These added factors not only cause high levels of stress in student athletes but can even lead to more serious diagnosis like anxiety and depression. According to research done by KindBridge health “Student athletes are even more susceptible to emotional struggles due to their high-pressure lifestyle.”  That is why it is particularly important for us as student athletes to identify what is causing our stress early in order to address it before it turns into a greater problem. 

Managing the Stress

We’ve identified the symptoms and the causes, now you are finally able to start managing the problem. Stress can be very overwhelming, but fortunately there are ways to overcome it. Managing stress can be done in healthy and unhealthy ways. While we will be focusing more on the healthy ways to deal with stress as it has a longer-lasting effect and is more positive, we will identify negative ways as well. According to Athlete Network, good ways stress can be managed are: 

• Have a hobby: This gives us something else to focus on besides school and athletics.

• Talking with someone: Being able to talk things out takes weight off your shoulders because you are addressing the issue. The people you are talking to then can give you their advice and help talk you through the problem.

• Having other life commitments Having other things important to you in life is a good getaway after you have a bad performance on the field. This will help remind yourself that there is so much more to life than just sports. If you have other important commitments, this helps you have something else to fall back on.

• Accept that failure is inevitable: Understanding this is crucial as failure is part of being human. The better you understand this the easier it is to move on and learn from your mistakes so that you can turn them into positive growth. 

• Have a cheat day: As an athlete, it is easy to get caught up in having a strict diet or workout routine. It’s okay to get away from that now and then as it won't affect your athletic performance if done occasionally. So grab your favorite snack from the store, a soda, and relax!

These are all positive ways to deal with stress. While it is not good to deal with stress in negative ways, it is good to recognize them. As stated by Harvard Health, some common ways people negatively manage stress are:

• Watching too much TV

• Avoiding the problems

• Over/under eating

• Oversleeping 

• Lashing out at others 

• Drinking

• Smoking 

Again, it is important that we recognize these negative ways to cope with stress so that we can avoid them or stop them. Back to more positive things we can do to manage our stress. Things like limiting our caffeine intake, taking a nap, and taking control of our social media are all great ways to help manage stress.  Sometimes we need a little boost of energy, but having multiple energy drinks a day is something we should avoid. Instead, if you have 20-30 minutes of free time, use it to take a nap. Your brain and body could use one every now and then. Social media is a great tool in our lives, but if we let it become a big part of our life it can be a huge distraction. We have to be able to take control of it. We can do this by blocking or unfollowing accounts that are adding to the stress. Setting a screen limit for ourselves can be a useful tool as we can then recognize how much time we are spending on social media every day and then use that time instead to have an in-person connection. Turning off notifications is a huge way to take control of your social media usage because you get to control when you want to use it instead of having that persuading distraction.

Brian Cain, a well-known and credible mental performance coach, has a lot of good insight on how to alleviate anxiety and stress in the moment. He has a simple technique he calls the 6-2-8 exercise, which basically is you inhale for 6 seconds, hold breathe for 2 seconds, and exhale for 8 seconds. He recommends repeating this several times until you feel more focused in the moment. I personally have known about this technique before and have used it on and off the field plenty of times. When doing this you should feel as if weight is lifted off your shoulders making you feel more relaxed and focused on the present moment. I recommend giving this exercise a try as it is a good tool to use to alleviate stress and anxiety temporarily. Cain also recommends that every morning we should have an MIT (most important task) so that we can have our priorities for the day. He backs this up by saying “if everything is a priority nothing is a priority”. As student athletes we must have time management skills as they can help us deal with stress and anxiety by keeping ourselves from being overwhelmed.  

The Importance of Time Management

As stated above time management is a vital part of managing stress especially for student athletes, but what exactly is time management? As students we are constantly being told that we must develop adequate time management skills, but we are never really given a reason why that is so important or what exactly it is. Fortunately, some colleges including my own offer resources to student athletes that answer this question. Time management is specifically important for student athletes because outside of the time we are required to spend in and out of the classroom, we also are often dedicating a considerable amount of time to our team whether that is practicing, traveling, or competing.  According to North Central College “Developing time management skills… [is an important task that can allow you to]... succeed both as a student and college athlete”. Now that we’ve highlighted the importance of fostering good time management skills, we can look at skills that are particularly helpful to student athletes.