Assessing Stress in College Students After Breathing Meditation with and Without Music


Book Description

College students face increased levels of stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which can adversely affect their academic performance. Therefore, it is critical for students to have access to practices that reduce stress, such as breathing meditations and listening to calming music, which are cost effective and require minimal time commitment. This study aimed to examine the efficacy of combining breathing meditation and listening to music for five minutes a day, five days a week, for two weeks. Fifteen undergraduate students completed the study and were randomly assigned to a control group who completed the breathing meditation with music (n=8) and a treatment group who completed the breathing meditation with music( n=7). Participants completed surveys before and after the meditation program, which included the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), the 15-Item Five-Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ-15), questions about COVID-19 experience, and demographic information. Additionally, participants wore a Fitbit Inspire 2 for the duration of the study to collect physiological data including sleep, activity minutes, steps, and heart rate. Participants who completed breathing meditation for two weeks reported a significant reduction in stress and a significant increase in overall mindfulness at post-treatment compared to baseline, independent of whether music was included. However, there were no significant differences it Fitbit measures of physiology. This study lays the foundation for future research into combined stress-reduction practices for college students. -- Abstract, leaf iii.




Stress and Depression in College


Book Description

"College students make up a population that is greatly affected by high levels of stress, with over half experiencing more than average levels of stress (American College Health Association, 2018). This study looks at different coping mechanisms students can implement into their daily lives to intervene with higher stress levels. The study consisted of a controlled stress intervention experiment with a stressor and four tested intervention methods, along with a control method. The four tested conditions were listening to music, yoga, meditation, and a breathing exercise. The participants were given a survey asking about their perceived stress levels prior to the introduction of the stressor, after the stressor, and also after the implementation of the intervention method. The results suggest that each tested intervention method is significantly related to a decrease in the perceived stress levels from the introduction of the stressor to after the implementation of the intervention method."--Abstract




Stress Management


Book Description

Are you among the 95 million Americans who suffer from stress during these trying times? Revised and comprehensive, this invaluable guide helps you identify the specific areas of stress in your life–familial, work-related, social, emotional–and offers proven techniques for dealing with every one of them. New material includes information on how men and women differ in response to stress, updated statistics on disorders and drugs, the ways terrorism and the information age impact stress, the key benefits of spirituality, alternative medicine, exercise, and nutrition. Stress Management will help you • test your personal responses to daily stress– and chart your progress in controlling it • learn specific techniques for relaxation– from “scanning” to “imagery training” • discover how to deal with life’s critical moments without stress • embark on a program to improve your physical health as a major step toward stress management • discern which types of stress must be reduced and which kinds you can turn into positive motivation




College Success


Book Description




Stress Education for College Students


Book Description

Stress can affect anyone regardless of age, sex, creed, or race. It can rear its head anywhere and anytime, and it has likely been a fact of life since prehistoric days. While stress is obviously a concern of all, it has particular resonance among college students, from freshmen experiencing their first separation from home to seniors having to find that first job. In addition, students have to face other worries like time constraints, grades, and financial woes. Stress also can afflict an entire group, as witnessed by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. With stress such an indisputable part of life, it is of critical importance for individuals to learn to cope with it. This book is geared towards college courses in stress management, which have been found to reduce the symptoms of stress and raise self-esteem among students. College students will find it especially helpful to learn how to cope with stress at a young age, so as to be ready to face life in "the real world." Throughout the book are helpful and varied techniques for dealing with stress, along with "principles of living" that most people can use in daily life. Examples of these principles include continuous self-evaluation, talking things over, recognising one's accomplishments, and taking things less seriously. Given the need to face and adapt to stressful situations throughout life, the education offered by this book is informative, insightful, and practical for everyday use.




Managing Breathlessness in Clinical Practice


Book Description

Breathlessness is increasingly recognised as a common, disabling symptom of many advanced diseases and one that is very difficult to treat. There is now an understanding that a multi-disciplinary approach to management can make a significant impact on the severity of the symptom improving both the patient’s and their carers’ quality of life. Breathlessness is one of the most difficult conditions that palliative care (and other clinicians who care for patients with advanced disease) have to treat. With the improvements in pain control, it is possibly now the most difficult symptom for clinicians to manage: many feel frustrated at not being able to give their patients better care. Many patients and families are enduring terrible suffering. There has been little progress in improving the symptom, in spite of an increase in the amount of research and interest in it over the last twenty years. The Cambridge Breathlessness Intervention Service (CBIS) has been established since 2004 and is a research-based service which has being evaluated since its inception: its model of caring has been shaped by the patients and families who use it and the clinicians who refer to it. CBIS has firm evidence of its effectiveness with patients with breathlessness with both malignant and non-malignant disease. This book will help others to manage breathlessness in their day-to-day clinical practice and, if so desired, set up their own breathlessness service. There is a well-established website which can be used in conjunction with the book. The book is written to give practical help in the clinical management of breathlessness and written so that the information is easy to access in clinic, ward or home.




Managing Stress


Book Description

This friendly and concise guide will help students to understand what stress is, why they experience it and how they can manage it. Based on up-to-date research, the book teaches students how to identify their stress and anxiety triggers, and how to recognise the difference between healthy and unhealthy stress. It equips students with coping strategies to help them manage the ups and downs of university life, and provides guidance on the sources of help and support available to students. This is a must-have resource for any student who would like to manage their studies more effectively and deal with challenges in a more resourceful way.




The Happiness Track


Book Description

Everyone wants happiness and success, yet the pursuit of both has never been more elusive. As work and personal demands rise, we try to keep up by juggling everything better, moving faster, and doing more. While we might succeed in the short term, this approach comes at a high cost in the long term: it hurts our well-being, our relationships, and—paradoxically—our productivity. In this life-changing book, Emma Seppälä explains that the reason we are burning ourselves out is that we fall for outdated theories of success. We are taught that getting ahead means doing everything that’s thrown at us with razor-sharp focus and iron discipline, that success depends on our drive and talents, and that achievement cannot happen without stress. The Happiness Track demolishes these counterproductive theories. Drawing on the latest scientific research on happiness, resilience, willpower, compassion, positive stress, creativity, and mindfulness, Seppälä demonstrates that being happy is the most productive thing we can do to thrive—whether at work or at home. She shares practical strategies for applying these scientific findings to our daily lives. A fulfilling, successful, and anxiety-free life is within your reach. The Happiness Track will show you the way. Happiness Is the Fast Track to Success “Are you a hard-driving, multitasking, conscientiously striving professional? Then your ideas about success are probably all wrong—and you need The Happiness Track, Dr. Emma Seppälä’s investigation into the counter-intuitive factors that create career and life success. The best news of all? All these skills are well within your grasp.”—Daniel H. Pink, author of Drive and A Whole New Mind “Emma Seppälä convinces us that reconfiguring our brain for happiness can change the way our lives unfold and the way we approach success. A worthwhile read for anyone who wants to achieve a successful and fulfilling life.”—Amy Cuddy, professor at Harvard Business School and author of Presence “Backed by extensive research in psychology and neuroscience, The Happiness Track offers a wealth of insight on changing how we approach our work, our personal lives, and our relationships. It’s a carefully researched, engaging look at how to improve ourselves without losing our authenticity or our sanity.”—Adam Grant, Wharton professor and New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take and Originals “Through her research-backed strategies, Emma Seppälä teaches us not only how to thrive in our chosen profession, but how to stay true to ourselves—and enjoy every moment of the process.”—Susan Cain, cofounder of Quiet Revolution and New York Times bestselling author of Quiet “For decades we’ve been tied to theories of success that have burned us out and driven us into the ground—because we don’t know of any alternatives. The Happiness Track provides us with a highly readable, science-backed solution to obtaining sustainable success, the sort of success we are all really striving for, that leaves us fulfilled, happy, and healthy.”—Scott Barry Kaufman, Ph.D., scientific director at the Imagination Institute at the University of Pennsylvania




Practical Stress Management


Book Description

Practical Stress Management: A Comprehensive Workbook, Seventh Edition, is a focused, personal, worksheet-based text that combines theory and principles with hands-on exercises to help readers manage the negative impact of stress in life. As a practical tool for recognizing and preventing stress, the action-oriented approach enables the student to make personal change through self-reflection and behavior change techniques. This approach allows the book to be used as a text in a course or as a self-study/reference book. In this edition, the authors cover financial stress and expand their section on sleep. The book is accompanied by online MP3 files of guided relaxation techniques and downloadable worksheets. In addition, worksheets and thoughts for reflection boxes help users determine their own level of stress and apply effective stress management techniques. Completely revised, including updated stress management techniques and references, along with further readings in each chapter Updated websites accompany each chapter Includes ten new worksheets, along with an updating of remaining worksheets Contains 'thoughts for reflection' boxes that highlight meditation techniques throughout the world