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Kylie Moran

Professor Schlesinger

ENG 102

18 April 2024

The Importance of Reducing Stress and Anxiety

Is stress and anxiety taking over your life little by little? If it is, you are not alone. Around

31% of adults in the United States suffer from any anxiety disorder at some point of their lives

(National Institutes of Health). Every day, many people struggle with the complexities of mental

health, particularly the challenges caused by stress and anxiety. As a full time college student

trying to balance the load of homework, employment, and personal commitments while

navigating through life triggers a significant amount of stress and anxiety. These feelings and

thoughts can take over your entire being, causing a constant sense of restlessness, dread, and

unease. Stress/anxiety takes a major toll on an individual's mental and physical being, and can

cause their loved ones to be affected as well. Although this is a tricky subject to work with, it is

important to be educated on the major benefits that come with managing your stress and how

there are many ways to prevent it or minimize the severity of it. Stress is a major factor of life,

although being able to determine how it affects you and take action upon it makes all the

difference. Prioritizing and understanding the reduction of stress/anxiety and overall mental well-

being holds extreme significance in today's world. This process enhances overall quality of life

through boosting mental and physical health, raises academic performance, and improves

productivity in the workplace.

Stress and anxiety are very prevalent issues throughout the world, negatively affecting

mental health in various ways but also causing poor physical health. Overall well-being and the

quality of life will begin to feel significantly better once you work on yourself and these issues
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that you may be facing. Without taking action upon this issue and being aware of the benefits of

how reducing stress and anxiety can positively impact your life, stress can worsen overall health

in various ways. Understanding how and why these effects and feelings alter our mind and

bodies is important so we can improve these aspects of our life. According to the National

Institutes of Health, “high social support predicted less subsequent depression in patients with

acute and chronic cardiac illness and that this relationship was partly mediated by the use of an

active coping style. Importantly, in this cohort, social support preceded and facilitated the use of

active coping mechanisms.” (Harvard Health).Practicing stress management and coping

mechanisms that work the best for you will change the way that you look at certain aspects of

life and help navigate around negative thoughts. Mindfulness techniques, social support

networks, and regular exercise are very effective in this process. Through these steps you can

open up many opportunities to self improvement. Mindfulness techniques will enable high levels

of relaxation and increased self awareness. Building and maintaining strong social support

networks will reduce anxiety by providing emotional reassurance, assistance, and a sense of

belonging. Exercising regularly increases the production of endorphins, which are your brain's

feel-good neurotransmitters (Exercise and Stress: Get Moving to Manage Stress, 2022). When

you have an increased level of endorphins in your brain it will improve your mood, reduce stress

and anxiety, and enhance your overall sense of well-being (Supasitthumrong, 2023). With a

decrease in stress and anxiety, it can positively impact one's lifestyle in these various ways. You

will begin to feel better physically, emotionally, and psychologically. As a society, we must

embrace stress-reduction exercises and resources that are available to us to encourage physical

and mental well-being.

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Heightened stress and anxiety levels can cause a negative impact on the ability to perform

and achieve academic success. Like many other college students, it is normal to experience

school related stress, although it becomes an issue when it begins to block academic success,

impact grades, and prevent you from completing your course work. Although managing these

issues can simply prevent that and allow an individual to improve their academic performance.

Teaching positive coping skills to students can help reduce stress and anxiety. One way to

support students is to teach them how to manage their emotions and encourage them to utilize

positive ways to manage stressful situations. (Burnett). Being educated on managing stress

important for your personal daily life situations, but when it comes to school it is very helpful for

professors to encourage a positive environment and be assuring of how to manage stressful

situations so that it does not inflict on their academics in that particular class and in the rest of

their coursework in general. There are many benefits associated with practicing stress reducing

exercises. “It can help students be successful academically and socially by decreasing stress and

anxiety, increasing energy and productivity levels, and boosting concentration and focus.”

(Burnett). It is hard to stay motivated through school especially when dealing with mental health

related issues due to stress, although it is critical to take care of yourself and implement

mechanisms to relieve the load of the stress. You will feel so much better mentally and

physically which increases motivation to do better. When it comes to academics, having a strong

drive to stay motivated is one of the most important keys to academic success. Taking the steps

to better yourself will increase work ethic and overall drive to do better in your ability to perform

well academically.

High levels of stress and anxiety in a workplace can be very rough on an employee by not

only harming their mental well-being, but also affecting their productivity and overall success
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which would not only affect the person, but possibly other employees. A research was done by

Mental Health America where 76% of the survey takers would agree that stress and anxiety

affects not only their mental health, but also employees have felt emotionally exhausted which

causes harm to their work (Boyd) . With a decrease of stress and anxiety in a workplace comes a

lot better work ethic and improvement of lifestyle outside of the workspace. Being able to not

have to worry about sleepless nights or having the need to constantly feel like you are not doing

enough for your job could improve overall well being in the workspace. Having a reduction of

stress and anxiety in a workplace may also favor less mental health days, sick days, and people

actually wanting to go into work and having the mental capacity to do so correctly. “Engaging

your workers with stress management programs also shows you care about their overall health.

You won’t find it hard to keep the employees you want with such an approach. Workers will

become more attached to your operations and feel less inclined to quit when they are not stressed

out.”(Actweb). Providing employees with the resources to reduce stress and anxiety and creating

a positive work environment will not only improve their work ethic as a whole but it can

completely prevent them from quitting. Many times employees quit when they fall under too

much stress, although this can be avoided through helping them manage their stress. Moving

forward after acknowledging all of the negative impacts of stress and anxiety in a workplace, it is

essential to find new strategies for a more supportive and favorable work environment.

Giving priority to reducing stress and anxiety, as well as promoting overall mental well-

being, holds immense significance for. It boosts mental/physical health and quality of life,

contributes to higher academic performance, and enhances workplace productivity. This is

something that numerous individuals struggle with on a day to day basis, therefore being

educated on how to handle and reduce stress and anxiety in certain situations can go a long way
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in helping someone out, potentially even saving their life. Learning about the positive outcomes

of managing your mental health can serve as inspiration to take action and get the help that you

personally need or to help someone that you know who is in need. With that being said, it is

important to take action. Think about the ways that stress and anxiety have affected you in

certain situations throughout your life and how you handled it. Many people do not take action

and they dwell on their negative thoughts caused by stress and anxiety which often leads to a

spiral of emotions and a decline in mental health. In order to take action, the most important

aspect is to identify any signs of stress or anxiety taking a toll on either yourself or someone else.

Being able to Identify these signs is crucial because you need to implement the necessary help

and steps as soon as possible in order to experience the positive outcomes in daily life. Do not

wait until it gets too late. We can all take action by being educated on this topic and promoting

the use of stress and anxiety management to others. Those who take the time to reduce their

stress and anxiety likely have experienced the difference in their overall well being and quality

of life, productivity in the workplace, and academic performance.

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Works Cited

Actweb. “How to Relieve Stress to Increase Productivity | Advanced CT.” Advanced

Consulting and Training, 16 Feb. 2022, advancedct.com/how-to-relieve-stress-to-

increase-productivity/#:~:text=Workers%20will%20become%20more%20attached,want

%20with%20such%20an%20approach.).

“Any Anxiety Disorder.” National Institute of Mental Health, U.S. Department of Health and

Human Services, www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/any-anxiety-disorder. Accessed 18 Apr.

2024.

“Exercise and Stress: Get Moving to Manage Stress.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for

Medical Education and Research, 3 Aug. 2022, www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-

management/in-depth/exercise-and-stress/art-20044469#:~:text=Exercise%20increases

%20your%20overall%20health,%2Dgood%20neurotransmitters%2C%20called%20endorphins.

“Stress Management: Enhance Your Well-Being by Reducing Stress and Building Resilience.”

Harvard Health, www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/stress-management-enhance-your-

well-being-by-reducing-stress-and-building-resilience. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.

Supasitthumrong, Thitiporn. “Endorphins - the ‘Feel Good’ Chemicals for Well-Being.”

MedPark Hospital, 3 Aug. 2023,

www.medparkhospital.com/en-US/lifestyles/endorphins#:~:text=pain%2Drelieving

%20drug.-,Endorphins%20are%20neurotransmitters%20released%20by%20the%20pituitary

%20gland%20and%20hypothalamus,exercise%2C%20and%20sex%2C%20etc.
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“5 Ways Educators Can Help Students Reduce Stress and Anxiety.” RSS,

www.goguardian.com/blog/5-ways-educators-can-help-students-reduce-stress-and-

anxiety#:~:text=Mindfulness&text=There%20are%20many%20benefits%20associated,and

%20boosting%20concentration%20and%20focus. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.

“Workplace Stress.” The American Institute of Stress, 15 Feb. 2023, www.stress.org/workplace-

stress#:~:text=Research%20by%20Mental%20Health%20America,for%20mental%20and

%20emotional%20exhaustion.
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