By Samuel Medina/reporter
To get rid of unnecessary stress in life, people should determine where it comes from and release the stress in the body, a counselor told South students Feb. 4.
Sandra Johnson talked about different ways stress affects the body and explained how to cope with it in a healthy way during her Stress Management presentation.
“Although generally seen as a bad thing, stress can also be good and useful,” she said.
“Stress allows us to concentrate and motivates us to meet deadlines.”
Exercising, reading, sitting quietly outside or even writing are a few of the tips Johnson gave students looking for an answer on how to relax. From making students give each other a massage to sharing pet peeves, Johnson made sure the nerves in the room were at ease.
Johnson had the students take a step back and helped them determine what was causing them stress. Some knew and others had no clue what it was, but Johnson knew how to relieve everyone from it and to take care of the body. People are constantly eating unhealthy and taking awful care of the body, and this is a place to make change, Johnson said.
“You have to make small healthy adjustments in your life to relieve the stress,” she said. “You have to give the car the right kind of fuel, or it will break down.”
Johnson also emphasized the importance of quality sleep to ease the tension and strain the body goes through every day. Unconsciously, the body is always under constant stress, she said.
“You can go to sleep all night, and your body is not even rested,” she said. “Stress is normal. It happens. It’s life!”
She also explained simply changing pillows could make all the difference in getting the sleep the body needs.
“What most people don’t know is you need to sleep how you stand,” she said. “How you stand comes natural to the body. So when you sleep like this, you feel refreshed.”
South student Marissa Gaiman said it feels good knowing she is not alone when trying to cope with stress and with the newfound knowledge on how to take care of her body. Now, she can finally begin to relax.
“As a college student, I just have no time to calm down,” she said. “Now that I know treating my body well can make a huge difference on how much I stress, along with many other things, I’m going to make time to treat it right.”
