Alcohol and Stress
College can be one of the most exciting life experiences for students! However, along with the good times also comes the common experience of stress. Stress is one of the healthy challenges of life that can help stimulate growth, hard work and discipline. Experiencing stress is normal. However, when stress becomes overwhelming and excessive, it can lead to behaviors that can be detrimental to a student’s health. These unhealthy behaviors may include eating poorly, lack of sleep, using alcohol, racing from one thing to the next, and feeling overwhelmed. Sometimes stress can also be a reaction to a deeper more serious problem or depression. Students must recognize when they are using alcohol to relieve stress. Often times, after a very difficult week, a long project, crisis with a friend or family member, or simply the competition to perform and compete with others academically at Notre Dame, student’s may turn to drinking for relief, to relax, or to temporarily feel good.
When drinking is a reaction to stress a student may be experiencing, it is easier to have a tendency to over do it. Always take a step back before making a decision to use alcohol as an outlet. In stressful situations, it is best not to drink, or if you choose to drink, have a plan to limit use and take it slow.
Risk Factors for Abuse of Alcohol in Reaction to Stress:
- Negative self talk of not feeling that you measure up (not skinny enough, fit enough, as smart…)
- Attending parties where you feel out of place or don’t know anyone
- Using alcohol to “deal” with stress
- Experiencing the stressful event or feeling as severe, chronic, or unavoidable
- Lacking social support or other resources for coping with stressful events
- A family history of drinking in response to stress
- Feeling helpless or having no control over the event
- Having unhealthy or other problematic drinking behavior prior to the stressful event
- Trying to avoid or numb feelings in reaction to the event
Use the Following Guidelines to Help Manage Your Stress
- Take a walk or exercise
- Listen to music
- Avoid negative self talk or thoughts
- Keep your lifestyle balanced and organized
- Learn specific relaxation techniques (deep breathing exercise and the Seven S’s of Stress Management included on this site)
- Gain perspective on problems by discussing them with a friend, family member, hall staff, or make an appointment with the University Counseling Center
- Clarify values, prioritize, and develop a sense of spirituality (spirituality can help you feel more centered and a sense of connection)
- Call the University Counseling Center to learn time management techniques
Taking a Breather (Relaxation Technique)
This exercise called “taking a breather” is a good way to slow you down long enough to relax a little and pull yourself together. In many ways, it does just what any substance would do; it cuts off the stressful event, gives a pause, and most importantly, lets you calm down. It’s an exercise that makes use of deep breathing, much like the relaxing, euphoric effect you get from the deep inhaling of smoking a cigarette, having a drink, or getting high.
Take a comfortable position. If you have to, take a moment to get ready. Let yourself relax by going limp. Then inhale slowly and deeply all the way down into your diaphragm. When you’ve taken as much air into your lungs as you can, stop, pause for a moment, and then breathe all of the air out slowly. At the end of the breathing-out cycle, give an extra push to remove the last bit of air. Repeat the exercise five times. This should not be hard, fast breathing; instead it should be slow, deep, relaxed breathing. Try to practice this exercise a few times a day.
The Seven S’s for Managing Stress
Stress management is really about lifestyle. This is not something you can decide to do the morning of a stressful day and expect it to work. It involves living choices that must be made early and practiced daily. Consider the following seven “S’s” as stress management training for students.
- Sleep. Get enough of it on a daily basis. A tired mind and body are poor allies in stressful situations.
- Sustenance. Treat your body like a friend. Eat well, exercise daily, and learn some stretching techniques to help you relax. Avoid relying on the false stress reducers like alcohol, caffeine, or nicotine. When you experience illness or distress, get help.
- Solitude. All of us need some time alone; some people need a lot, some only a little. It’s not the amount of time you spend alone that matters but what you do with that time. This is time to refill your emotional reserves and to give your mind a chance to quiet down and rest. The better you can learn (through meditation, relaxation, restful activity, and recreation) to quiet your mind of all the chatter, the more effective your solitude will be.
- Sharing. Just as solitude is important, so is sharing your thoughts, your emotions, your hopes, your fears, your life, and your stress with someone else. Learn how to interact with others, particularly your family and close friends, as a genuine, present human being. Practice listening to someone else and really try to understand what they are saying. Find people you trust enough to share your failures with as well as your victories. Your life is stressful enough without trying to do it all alone.
- Silliness. Don’t take yourself so seriously. It doesn’t matter how big and important your workload is; if you can’t laugh at yourself, you’re a heart attack waiting to happen. At least once a week, do something fun that involves no competition. Nothing relieves stress and tension better than a good laugh. Try to laugh a dozen times a day.
- Spirituality. Spirituality doesn’t necessarily mean religion. Find what works for you and than pay attention-to it. If a particular religion or spiritual practice works for you, put it into action in your life. If getting out in nature is a spiritual experience for you, go regularly. Whatever you choose let it give you some perspective on your life. A strong sense of spirituality can also provide you with guidance and direction which will help to reduce anxiety, worry, and guilt.
- Schedule. Make stress management a part of your life. Schedule time for all of the other “S’s.” The less time and energy you have to devote to simply trying to find the time, the more likely you can do things like exercise, play, or enjoy some solitude.
Stress management is important most of all to you. Studying and cramming can be inefficient, ineffective, and just plain not beneficial if you are stressed out. Managing stress takes commitment, but the time and energy you devote to it is an investment in yourself.
No one can do this for you. No one but you can make life any more or less stressful for you. You alone have the power to make positive change in your life. You can contact campus resources to develop your own stress management program using deep relaxation, meditation, time management, and other stress reducing techniques.