Everyone knows that being too stressed too often can have many bad side effects on the body and mental health. But how is it possible to not feel stressed while being in college, with never ending school assignments, work, eating healthy, working out, getting enough sleep, and trying to maintain a social life? It’s not easy, that’s for sure, but finding balance is something we all deal with in our everyday lives. I swear, we are all superheroes. Trying to get everything done on time and stay sane in the midst of all the hustle and bustle is like walking a tightrope blindfolded, a balancing act of sorts, not to mention the fact that many of us also spend ridiculous amounts of time on our phones.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I usually get three times a year to decompress: winter break, spring break, and summer. Although I love these long breaks, I wish we had more small ones in between. This term, one of my teachers instructed us to take a break from the world and spend an entire day with no technology and no mental stimulation, so that’s exactly what I did. I highly recommend everyone do the same. I picked a weekend in the term and picked a date on which I decided that I would have absolutely no stress, when I would do nothing for an entire day. I expected to get bored or feel anxious about other school work that I may not have finished at that point, but as per usual, the day did not go as I planned.
On that fateful Sunday morning, I slept in for quite a long time (I’m talking a good 12 hours of sleep). I woke up and expected to feel rested and ready to spend the entire day relaxing, but I got out of bed and had the absolute worst headache ever. It felt like someone had punched me in the face a few times and stuffed my nose so I couldn’t breathe, and I was coughing uncontrollably. After two hours of suffering, finally realizing my off-brand decongestant medication wasn’t doing the job, I went to my local urgent care near campus. As it turns out, I had come down with a “really bad sinus infection,” according to the doctor. He prescribed me some heavy-duty decongestant and a strong antibiotic, and I went home feeling hopeful. I just couldn’t figure out how I went from feeling normal one day to waking up the next and feeling like death.
Interestingly, this onslaught of mucus and sinus headaches could have been induced by my day of “no stress.” My body had gone weeks without a break, so when I gave myself with a day of nothing, my body let out its true colors. It let me know loud and clear what the constant stress had been doing to me deep down. And when I let my mind relax, it also let my body relax and begin to deal with all of the repressed issues. In this case, my body was pushing off a sinus infection until I let myself have a day of healing. This day was not stress free, not even close. My body was fighting this sinus infection (which did allow me to sleep all day and have absolutely no problem doing nothing at all).
By the end of this “stress less” day, I ended up learning a lot about stress and how it affects the body. Maybe if I had given myself more days with no stress earlier in the term, I wouldn’t have had to deal with this attack of sudden illness. It was a major wake-up call! I have to say, moving forward I will give myself many more days of R&R! Being sick is not fun, plus we all have too much other fun stuff to worry about! Give yourself a break ladies, you deserve it!