Stress is a natural body reaction to difficult or challenging situations, according to the Help Guide mental health website. Stressful feelings happen as the body gears up to handle it. The heart will pound, muscles will tense and breaths will be short and rapid. This is not harmful if it only happens occasionally, but ongoing stress can cause problems like exhaustion, insomnia, headaches, muscle pain and digestive problems.
Nursing students face the same sources of stress as students in many other fields. They must learn detailed material and how to apply it in real-life situations. They must study for long hours and take frequent exams. They have to maintain good grades to stay in the program. Maureen Davis, a registered nurse and instructor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing, explains the stress is compounded by going through clinical rotations and working hands-on with patients, which is not required of students in programs outside the medical and psychological fields.
Stress can impair concentration and affect sleep patterns, according to Help Guide. This can affect a nursing student's performance and cause him to get lower grades. The academic impact might compound the anxiety. Davis warns that nursing programs have one of the highest dropout rates because of burnout. Students who cannot handle the stress often become exhausted and quit.
Nursing students should be alert for symptoms of an elevated stress level. Some stress is normal, but it becomes a problem when it impairs the student's studies, schoolwork and personal life. Warning signs include being irritable with other people, continual feelings of anxiety, difficulty concentrating on schoolwork and other things, social withdrawal and a noticeable drop in grades.
Davis advises stressed-out nursing students to find the underlying sources of the stress. These might include poor time management practices, too little social contact or too many classes during a semester. Students often can make changes to alleviate the problem, like dropping a class, learning to manage time more efficiently, expanding their social support network and scheduling down time. Davis also recommends breaking big tasks into small steps. For example, a looming exam might seem overwhelming until the student breaks down preparation by scheduling certain times to study for each section. Exercise can offer a physical release for stress, and it can be done as little as 30 minutes a day three times per week to fit into a busy nursing school schedule.