HOW TO OVERCOME STRESS AND DEPRESSION AMONG THE STUDENTS

Students are the future of our society, they represent the social investment for future
thus their mental health is an important factor not only for them their right but also for society as
they are the one who is contributing for a larger part of society. The psychological problems like
stress and depression among students are increasing every year. There are many reasons for
such psychological problem most common problems for these kinds of emotional disorders are
greater academic demands, changes in social and family life, new and different environment.
Other problems for depression and stress are time pressure, tough competitions, and pressure
of academics and fear of failure.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported that of all illnesses, depression is the
leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide. According to the latest estimates from WHO,
more than 300 million people are now living with depression. Depression and anxiety are
prevalent problems in colleges across the country. During college, students experience many
firsts, including a new lifestyle, friends, roommates, exposure to a new culture and experiences.
Students may struggle if they can't manage these firsts. If students aren't prepared to cope, they
can become easily susceptible to stress and depression. 

There are various reasons why stress occurs among students. First and foremost is the
fear of academic excellence, often student fear of getting lower marks than expected. This is
quite widespread, as practically marks will always be lower than what is expected. Other
stresses might be due to the changing environment from high school to college, being away
from home. It has been observed that the stress and depression among the students in the
second year are way more than that was in the first year, this is primarily due to the increase in
the load and complexities of the subjects to be learned. This further gives an implication that
proceeding to the further years will exert more pressure on the student and so the stress will be
more (Eisenberg D, 2007).

Often institutions provide medication to the students to overcome depression. The

mediation for such stress and depression includes only two effective treatments,
antidepressants, and psychotherapy (McArthur, 1961). However, there might also be a case
where a combination of both the two treatment methods can be found. First, antidepressants in
medical terms work on neurotransmitters. They are some specific compounds that alter the way
the brain works and regulate mood. However, it must be used with caution, as exact ways are
quite uncertain, how it would work.

Second, psychotherapy is the most recommended way of treating stress and

depression. It involves changing the psychology or the thought process of the individual to
permanently remove the negative thoughts. There are two ways by which this can be done,
which are cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and interpersonal therapy (IPT). CBT helps an
individual to change the thought process. It includes several sessions to change the way the
individual thinks, which consequently moves him out of the depression. While, IPT is used for
more serious cases, includes conflicting relationships and other serious personal problems.

Besides, there are other ways that I think students can use to overcome their stress and
depression. Apart from that is spend time in nature. It may seem simplistic but spending time in
nature has been shown to reduce symptoms of depression. There is a model of therapy built
around the philosophy that spending time in, and connecting with, nature will improve mental
health. This is called ecotherapy and is also known as green therapy. Finding time to sneak
away from studying disruption even once a week could have a significant impact on your mental
health. An added benefit of spending time in nature is that usually while in nature people are
doing some form of exercise, such as walking, hiking, running, or swimming which also helps
reduce depression. Even a 30-minute walk in a green setting has been shown to have an
impact.

Furthermore, students also can do exercise consistently to overcome these problems.

Exercise has countless physical health benefits such as strengthening your heart, lowering
blood pressure, reducing body fat, and improving strength. Exercise has also been shown to
have numerous mental health benefits including reducing stress and depression. Students can
also benefit from the impact that exercise has on the brain including improved memory and
thinking skills. Exercise can be anything that you enjoy doing, so if you don't feel like hitting the
gym or going for a run then call a friend and go for a walk or get a group of friends together for a
round of disc golf or another group sport. Connecting with friends while walking or playing a
game will take your mind off the exercise, and will give you the added benefit of social support.

Moreover, nutritions consume can affect a student's emotions. Everyone knows that
when you eat well you feel well. Eating healthy doesn't have to be hard or overwhelming. Even
the simple act of trying to add more healthy nutrient-rich foods into your diet will cancel out
some of the other less helpful foods. Simple snacks that don't require any prep, and travel
easily, like apples and almonds are the perfect to-go snack for busy students. And when you
think about the time and energy that depression can take away from your life, it decides to put
the time into eating healthy food seem simple. When you are planning your meals, try
incorporating these 10 healthy foods to beat depression. Even small choices like
having oatmeal and green tea for breakfast can make a difference.

Therefore, problems like stress and depression are a serious issue not only for students
but also for others and we should always protect ourselves from getting such a serious and
stressful disease. One must be ready to ask for support of his/her family or friends for help.
These are dangerous disease thus one must be ready to take support and mentoring as early
and appropriately. College must create more effective and war environment for its student to
better cope up with the system and adapt it rather than getting depressed and emotionally
breaking and getting psychological problems. For the psychological well-being of college
students, health education programs and mentoring should be added to its curriculum and
closer attention should also be paid on the teaching methods of institution, teachers and their
teaching process
REFRENCES

Eisenberg D, G. S. (2007). Prevalence and correlates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality

among university students. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 534-542.”Studied to know the
fact and figures of anxiety, strees and depression in students”

McArthur, G. B. (1961). Problems Connected with Studying Cf: Emotional. Appleton-Century

Crafts.”Studied to analyse students thought process”

George Fink. (2016). Stress: The Health Epidemic of the 21st Century. Accessed at 29th August
2019 from: http://scitechconnect.elsevier.com/stress-health-epidemic-21st-century/