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Some students feel like stress and student life seem to be intrinsically linked. There are a variety of factors that lend themselves to high-stress environments as a college student, including writing last-minute papers and roommate disagreements. With spring break around the corner, however, many Syracuse University students are taking the upcoming week to calm down and reset before midterms and the end of the semester.

Dessa Bergen-Cico, a professor of public health and the director of the addiction studies program at SU, has researched the effects of stress on student health, specifically its effects on the brain. She said that short-term memory, emotional regulation and attentional control for students were all negatively impacted by higher rates of stress.

“We were able to really look at measuring things related to cognition that are, again, not only important markers of stress, but underlie things that are very important for students to be able to learn and study,” Bergen-Cico said. “So being able to direct your attention to where it needs to be, being able to retain information and functional working memory, those are really important key constructs.”

For many students, untreated stress is a normal part of their life. Freshman Weiwei Liu said that her writing intensive courses often cause her stress, which piles on top of long-term worry caused by the pandemic. Liu also said the act of balancing her social and academic life has been a struggle since coming to college.

But Bergen-Cico said she urges students to work on managing their stress levels. Specifically, she points to meditation as a way to reduce stress in both the short- and long-term. Through her studies at SU, Bergen-Cico has taken a closer look at how meditation can be used as a tool to reduce student stress, putting her theories into practice with the help of the students in her PHP 405 (Science and Practice of Mindfulness) and PHP 605 (Science and Practice of Mindfulness for graduate students) classes.

Students in these classes have a practice lab where they’re able to practice mindfulness for anywhere from 45 to 60 minutes over the course of six weeks. To conduct her study, Bergen-Cico used a functional near infrared spectroscopy to monitor blood flow in the brain and target brain functions that are typically impacted by stress.

“We measured those areas of cognition before and then again six weeks later in the semester and found significant improvements … for the students in the science and practice of mindfulness class, and so that was really cool to see,” Bergen-Cico said.

But when it comes to putting de-stressing techniques into practice, SU students operate according to their own desires. This spring break, sophomore Iona Volynets has plans to spend time with their family and partner. Liu is looking forward to taking a trip to Boston to de-stress and reset before coming back to campus.

And while getting away from campus to visit family and friends is a popular idea during spring break, freshman Willow Scappace has found some other ways to de-stress during the semester.

“It’s okay to tell people ‘I don’t really want to hang out’ or not do anything too extravagant. Find what makes you happy,” Scappace said. “If going to the beach makes me the happiest, then I definitely say go for it.”

Bergen-Cico said she believes that de-stressing during the school year is just as, if not more, important as de-stressing during breaks. Despite the number of assignments and responsibilities that can build up during the semester, she said she recommends spending mindful time doing nothing — which truly means doing nothing.

For any de-stressing technique, from yoga to a mindful morning routine, consistency is key, Bergen-Cico also said. Finding a stable way to incorporate meditation, intentional breathing or other mindfulness practices into your daily routine is necessary to seeing results.

“Consistency of a few minutes a day of either yoga or intentional, mindful meditation, that really helped improve the constructs of what we call self regulation,” Bergen-Cico said. “Sometimes we don’t give ourselves time to be alone, and sometimes we aren’t aware of why we’re doing that, so (give) yourself time to do that and see what comes up.”

Published on March 9, 2022 at 10:44 pm