Perfectionism and Academic Stress in Undergraguate and Post Graguate Students

In today’s world, stress is unavoidable especially for people who work or study in universities. Studying in a university is very stressful for most of students especially for those who come from another country with different culture. From the beginning of studies, stress haunts the student and becomes the main reason of violations of the behavioral, emotional, motivational areas of activity.

According to Cleveland clinic (2015), “Stress is the body’s reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response. Moreover, stress is a normal part of life, so you can experience stress from your environment, your body, and your thoughts.”

Academic stress is a mental distress with respect to some anticipated frustration associated with academic failure or even an awareness of possibility of such failure. Nevertheless, the ability to be disciplined, to memorize a large amount of information in a short period of time, to properly organize your daily schedule, learn how to communicate with a large number of new people, make new friends, make the right decisions in a variety of situations – all of this can be real problems for students.

There are several difficulties in the life of a modern student that may lead to stress. First and foremost, very fast change from schoolchild to student and study in university is a completely new stage in the life of a young man, which requires him to maximize the concentration of his internal forces. According to professor West and Rimmer (2019), “It’s more than just a geographical move away from home, friends, and family. It’s also a cultural change, as students step into different socio-economic circles and networks for the first time and take their first steps towards financial independence. The expectations and pressure on students as independent learners can also be challenging and isolating and is often compounded by social expectations of university being the ‘time of their lives’, when in fact their adult lives are only just beginning.”

Secondly, not enough sleep becomes especially relevant problem during the session or exams. Furthermore, exams are a serious test of the strength of the entire nervous system. Absolutely, any exam is a powerful stress that seriously affects health. The third reason is the difficulty of studies. This problem is enсountered by students who want to study well, but it is very diffiсult for them to remember or analyze any new information and they have to spend too much time on it, sacrificing sleep or a good rest. Moreover, serious changes in the student’s personal life or in the life of his relatives such as death of loved ones, financial difficulties, transfer to a new group can also lead to the development of strong emotional problems. For many students, these challenges are manageable, and quickly overcome. But for some, these factors often create significant distress, disrupt their academic performance, and can potentially worsen a pre-existing mental health condition such as anxiety or depression.

Furthermore, “Stress can lead to different illnesses and diseases such as memory impairment, depression, obesity, insomnia, heart disease and autoimmune diseases. Prolonged stress puts your body in a continuous state readiness for physical action. When your body has no time to re-establish balance, it becomes overworked and your immune system weakens, making you susceptible to sickness. Many essential bodily processes are disrupted and your risk of health problems increases dramatically.” (Healthline Editorial Team, 2016) Therefore, correct understanding of positive and negative aspects of stress is very important especially for those who study in universities.

To be straightforward stress is not constantly a negative thing. Sometimes it can be very necessary for human being and there are some positive influences of stress. Firstly, only by impact of stress to our muscles they become more stronger than they were. In addition, stress can motivate us to study harder, to come up with challenging situations. As reported by research of the Buffalo University and the Rockefeller University (2009) a little amount of stress significantly enhances our ability to learn and remember information and helps us to be smarter. Nevertheless, John Whyte, Former Chief Medical Expert and VP, Health and Medical Education at Discovery Channel (2014) wrote, “Occasional stress can help keep you focused and improve your recall, which can be a plus when cramming for that test or preparing for an important presentation at work.” Also, there are some more benefits of stress that can help students in everyday basis. Stress can sharpen our memory and boost immune system effectively. So, when you get sick, stress causes you to create hormones that battle threats to your health. para.

In conclusion, there are plethora of impacts of stress and it is very important for students to know the correct understanding of positive and negative aspects of stress. According to my findings, studying in university is very difficult and stressful period of time for most of the students. Although, according to my findings stress is always perceived as a very bad thing, it also can be a positive thing in some aspects. Good stress can sharpen our memory significantly and motivate us to study more harder. So, stress is just a response of our organism for different things in our live.