Going to college for the first time is an exciting experience for most. College students have opportunities that were not so easily accessible before coming to campus and have the freedom to find themselves. While mom and dad are no longer there to hold their child's hand, the student is more likely to face new challenges, or challenges similar to those faced before. According to the 2015 National College Health Assessment, 30% of students reported that stress had a negative impact on their academic performance. College stress can be caused by poor time management skills, pressure to excel, and a lack of forming new relationships with colleagues. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay According to Coccia and Darling, common stress inducers could be caused simply by personal characteristics, social interactions, and personal behaviors. Personal characteristics such as gender and age have been shown to be predictors of stress. For example, females tend to have higher stress levels than males. Women have been reported to have greater concern about social and romantic relationships and have higher rates of social anxiety and depression than men of the same age (Catherine Coccia & Carol A. Darling, 2014). In college, one of the first problems a student will typically face is learning to manage their time as efficiently as possible. Different class schedules and deciding the best way to spend time outside of classes is a very difficult task. Because you live on a set schedule for much of your life, the ability to have control over your schedule is a new experience for a student. Dr. Gregory Jantz, psychologist and author of How to De-Stress Your Life, says, “We actually create more stress because we are not good stewards of time.” Time management has been shown to cause severe stress in college students due to the inability to accurately account for all aspects of the student's schedule, such as classes, breaks between classes, study time and to homework and even the time the student should plan to do. eat meals throughout the day. While in college, students feel increased pressure to excel in all aspects of their lives, especially academically. This pressure may be placed on the student by his or her parents or other close family members who constantly tell the student that he or she must keep his or her grades high, go to all his or her classes, or hang around. The student may also feel pressured to excel because they may be a first-generation college student and feel they have to prove they deserve the ability to go to college and make their family proud. While signs of this excessive pressure to succeed may be helpful to the student, they may also overstress them. Dr. Turner of the Mayo Clinic suggests asking others, such as friends or family, for help. Stress can lead to severe depression, and if not treated properly, symptoms can become too out of control for the student to be able to manage the depression on their own. Symptoms of depression include changes in appetite, defensive and rapid mood changes, irritability, and sleep changes. Depression can be caused by stress and is a serious mental illness that can be avoided and helped if addressed correctly. Dr. Turner recommends seeking help from a psychiatrist if yousituation becomes too difficult to handle. This disease can become harmful to your health if help is not sought and the situation is not managed properly. Since each person has their own way of dealing with depression, if the cause is not identified in its full extent, the disease can worsen. College relationships are a vital part of every student's experience. As a student, you can feel detached and quickly become depressed if social interaction is not a key part of your daily routine. “Something I hear repeatedly is that students are looking forward to college to form the network of friends they used to have at home in their communities,” says Dr. Nancy Stockton, director of Counseling and Psychological Services at Indiana University. Distance from peers can cause students to feel as if they are not worthy of friendships or romantic relationships, causing them to isolate themselves more from other students or making them feel the need to turn to their peers for help and acceptance. Elizabeth Scott of About.com said, “Knowing who is toxic to you and protecting them a little [can] prevent the stress from occurring.” The stress he talks about can come from “insignificant friends” who are supportive one minute and negative the next. Dr. Gregory Jantz, psychologist and author of How to De-Stress Your Life, says, “We actually create more stress because we are not good stewards of time.” Time management has been shown to cause serious stress in college students, along with inadequate relationship building. Failure to release endorphins is a problem that affects many college students and people in general. Not regularly releasing endorphins can lead to an accumulation of tension and excessive stress on the body and mind. The Mayo Clinic reports that exercise is one of the best stress relievers. Exercise releases endorphins, improves mood and helps you become fitter and healthier in general. When you live a busy lifestyle, finding time for a visit to the gym can be difficult. Fortunately, more convenient forms of exercise like yoga or gardening can help stressed students release the endorphins needed to lift their mood and reduce stress. These forms of exercise work and calm the mind at the same time. These activities also lower blood pressure and can be very beneficial to overall health and well-being (Erlanger A. Turner). A study was conducted by Sandra Lenz based on other journals and studies on college stress and why students show higher rates of extreme disorders. stress while enduring what is said to be the best four years of one's life. Lenz took part in this study so that college students, parents, professors and others could better understand why college students have higher rates of stress as they age and the coping mechanisms that can be used to combat stress. Sandra begins by explaining that many factors go into the cause of stress and how each student deals with it. With many other studies fueling the research Sandra undertook, she was able to put together a well-rounded study. One of the first coping styles Lenz talks about is task-oriented coping. It refers to the fact that homework is a likely cause of stress in college students. Task-oriented coping means a student is more likely to do homework before taking a moment to consider how stress is affecting them. The student will directly address the source of their stress without mincing words. The second form of coping described by Lenz is called coping.