Drop the Pressure

With impending essay deadlines and exams drawing closer, it can be hard not to buckle under the stresses of student life. Features Editor Charlotte Sivvery tries to chill out…

AS MY Editor well knows, deadlines have never exactly been my forte. Before uni this was never really a problem because there was always a teacher to give me a good kick up the arse when my homework was late, and they found me frantically typing away in the common room when I should have been in their lesson. My cushty, close-knit sixth form did not prepare me in any way for the realities of university. First of all, I discovered that you have to be self-motivated, a problem for me given my dire organisational skills. Secondly, I discovered that a deadline is a deadline here at Manchester, and that ‘the dog ate my homework’ excuses were most definitely a thing of the past, given that you are unlikely to obtain special circumstances, unless your entire family has just been killed in a plane crash.

So where was I to be found on the day before my first essay deadline? In the pub, panicking into my pint. I then pulled an all-nighter, typing, chain smoking and drinking Red Bull. I managed to hand the essay in approximately five minutes before the deadline. This high-stress approach to my studies was to be repeated throughout my first, second and (some of) my third year and is probably to blame for my premature grey hairs. When it gets to the point that it’s four o clock in the morning, you have twelve hours to write 2,000 words and you are so tired that you are seriously considering snorting crushed up Pro Plus, you know that something needs to change.

The experiences of first year student Fiona are not dissimilar to my own. “I have lived in OP this year and there is always social stuff going on, so my studies always get neglected. Before a deadline I’m up all night in the computer suite tearing my hair out and wondering why I didn’t start it sooner!”

This kind of intense pressure can be quite an adrenaline rush but sometimes leaving things until the last minute can go too far. In my second year, I had to complete an ‘Independent Study Unit’, a 6,000 word twenty credit essay, a bit like a dissertation. The later I left it, the harder it was to start. In the end it got to the point where I was so stressed that I could barely concentrate on reading and I ended up handing it in late.

Needless to say, I received a zero for that module. Being cocky and reckless with deadlines had finally caught up with me and I was forced to face the music; my average dramatically decreased from a high 2:1 to a mid 2:2. By the end of my second year I was so stressed out that I was having panic attacks and decided to take a year out of uni before going into my third year.

Looking back, I should probably have got some kind of help with stress management, but at the time I failed to recognise the point where I crossed the line from typical student stress to a more serious form of stress. Stress can be paralysing and can lead to depression if it goes untreated. “It got to the point where I was sleeping all the time, just so I didn’t have to face up to life. I was missing lectures, not because I didn’t care or was being lazy but because I physically couldn’t drag myself out of the house in the morning. If I did go to uni, I found it hard to concentrate,” says Adam, a third year Economics student.

In such a large and sometimes impersonal environment as a university, it can be easy to feel alienated. With large class sizes and few contact hours the norm in many departments, your tutors are unlikely to notice if there is something wrong. This is what the counselling service exists for. Another student I spoke to told me why contacting the counselling service was one of the best decisions she ever made. “I was having a really hard year: problems at home, with relationships, with money as well as all the stresses of trying to complete my degree. Everything just got on top of me. For so long, I was coping, just about, but eventually I broke down. Going to the counselling service helped me a lot because it gave me a chance to let all my worries out.”

Some students simply find the exam period too stressful to cope with. Karina, a conscientious, high achiever studying Law says, “I have always placed enormous pressure on myself to do well. I got all A*s and As at GCSE, five As in my A-Levels, and I feel the need to excel at uni as well. My flatmates aren’t very supportive when I get so stressed around exam time because I always do well in the end, but I have a crippling fear of failure.”

If you are struggling with exam stress or depression, don’t suffer in silence; there is plenty of help out there. A new website called Students Against Depression offers impartial advice which is straightforward to understand. The site highlights key thoughts that often lead to student depression during the exam period, such as ‘I’ll never get the revision done now, I’ve left it too late’ or ‘failing will ruin my life’. The website also covers issues such as self-harm and what to do if you are worried about a friend who might be depressed.

Sometimes, taking simple steps to look after yourself can put things in perspective and make things seem a whole lot better. “I used to let exam stress eat me up” says Sarah, “but now I realise that stress can be very counter-productive. At the end of a long day in the library, instead of going home and trying to do more work and thereby run myself into the ground, I go for a jog in the park or run myself a nice hot bubble bath. University should be some of the best years of your life, not the most miserable ones.”

The University Counselling Service offer confidential help with any personal issues affecting work, self esteem, relationships, mental health or general well being. As well as individual counselling, they offer a range of groups and workshops in which you can learn new personal skills or better ways of coping with particular issues. The ‘Managing Exam Stress’ (two linked workshops) will be held on 30th April and the 7th May and the ‘Learning to manage Stress & Anxiety’ workshops will be held on 14th and 21st May. All workshops are held in the Wellbeing Room, Dover Street building, Dover Street. For more information about workshops, groups and forums contact reception at counsel.service@manchester.ac.uk.