Mental health has become a very public conversation is the last few years. This is true across all fields but applies especially in the field of academics. Today’s students are the most stressed group of academics in history. Nearly half of students today have some sort of stress or anxiety-related issues.
This extends to homework as well. With the amount of homework that a student is expected to do, it is no wonder that they have anxiety! Managing classes, studying for school, working in jobs, managing homework, term papers, projects, and extracurriculars is a huge task list. Even the most efficient of people can become overwhelmed.
What Is Anxiety?
Anxiety is when you feel unduly stressed about something. It is how your body reacts to a stressful situation. It makes you feel like you’re on high alert. While some stress is par for the course, if you feel like your anxiety is preventing you from working, then you need to see a professional. Anxiety disorder is a mental health condition that affects a significant number of adults. You need a qualified professional to tell you whether what you are feeling is from stress with homework or if it is a treatable disorder.
If you feel like it isn’t serious enough to see a therapist, or if your circumstances don’t allow the same, there are some easy strategies that you can adopt that will help you manage your anxiety. These are called coping strategies, and they will help you manage your anxiety at the moment and continue with your day.
Box Breathing
Box breathing is a simple technique used widely for several stressful situations. Here, you breathe in for a count of 5, hold your breath for a count of 5, and then exhale for the duration for a count of 5. Close your eyes and repeat this entire exercise slowly till you feel like yourself again. Use this when your homework anxiety isn’t allowing you to focus on what is in front of you.
You can do this exercise any time you feel like you’re losing control. Be it in your car, in class, on campus, or at home. US Navy Seals use this technique when they’re in high-pressure situations as well, so you know it works!
Take A Walk
When you feel like the walls are closing in around you, take a break from your homework, and take a walk. Staying with your books when you are feeling overwhelmed is a bad idea. You’ll begin to associate your books or homework with anxiety and reinforce the association every time you try to tough it out. If you have a dog, take him along on your short walk. Keep your phone away for this walk, and just try to focus on the sky, the trees, and the people walking by. You’ll come back feeling much more refreshed and ready to tackle homework!
Steps To Manage Homework Stress
Find Help for Homework
One of the first steps you should take when you’re experiencing anxiety about your homework is to seek help. You can look for both online and offline sources for help. First, you have to identify where you need help. This is because if you’re looking for mathematics homework help, you have to go to someone who specializes in it.
You can use online videos, online courses, or even private tutors to get help with homework. You can also ask your friends if they want to do group study sessions so you can bounce questions and doubts off of each other.
Pick And Choose What You Want In Your Schedule
You don’t have to every single class and extracurricular that’s available. While trying to get as much as possible is a great approach, it cannot start affecting your mental health. Instead of taking extra credit homework assignments for every class, take them only in classes where your grades have slipped. Once those grades have recovered, you can think of taking up more things to boost your grade.
There might be classes that you enjoy that are pulling your grade down. If you cut out one extracurricular, instead of being stressed about homework, you might have time to focus on that class and do the homework well enough to give you some extra marks. You have to learn how to pick and choose what you want in your life so that you aren’t getting overwhelmed with stress from homework.
Ask Your School For Resources
Many schools and colleges have additional resources to help their students academically. If you have homework anxiety, you can use these resources to finish your homework faster and get better grades on it as well. There are online libraries and journals that your school might subscribe to that you can take advantage of as well.
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