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Lindsay Mortensen
PSY-1010
July 4, 2016
Stress Semester Project: Managing Stress
Most people, including myself, will admit they are more stressed than theyd ideally like
to be. This reality continuously manifests as young adults like myself are continuously given
more responsibilities: navigating the treacherous job-market, deciding your career path that is
more likely than not stick with you for the rest of your life, and the seemingly never ending
demands of school. These stressors multiply without the proper coping strategies also increasing.
People get stuck in their old ways without changing their lifestyles to adapt to the increasing
stressors in their lives. This semester project on stress management will give me the opportunity
to explore new techniques to manage and hopefully decrease the stress I experience in my own
life.
The results from the traditional college student stress scale showed that I had an average
level of stress. However, the stress would oftentimes manifest in negative ways. Lifes demands
would seem overwhelming and I would ignore the stressors and let them build. In order to
compare stress reducing techniques, I picked three differing coping strategies in order to see how
their results differ. The three strategies I decided to incorporate into my life were exercising 30
minutes a day, using to-do lists and planners to organize my time, and to practice mindfulness
exercises. In order to gauge their impact, I tried each strategy at least three times. In order to gain
more insight into the techniques I was going to attempt, I read three studies published in
scholarly journals.

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I didnt have a specific goal in mind when I decided to exercise 30 minutes a day. My
main goals for this technique was consistency; I wanted to make sure that I didnt just exercise
every once in awhile IF I was feeling motivated. In my mind, the aspect of a set schedule to work
out would help my with stress.
My 30 minutes of exercise ended up consisting of walks that I would take around my
neighborhood, sometimes with family members. For this project, I used an exercise tracking app
to map the distance and duration of my walks. Although most werent vigorous, they all covered
a distance over 1.5 miles. These exercises felt like good ways to distance myself from my
stressors and feel better about my mental health. Even though I felt good about exercising, I was
still concerned with the fact that the sources of my stress werent actually being dealt with.
However, it was reassuring to know that I had time planned out for myself and that I was
working to increase my health.
When I started this project, I felt like using to-do lists and daily planners every day would
be the hardest of the three techniques for me to do consistently. However, I liked the idea of
writing more often and becoming more productive and organized. I purchased a planner to record
activities I had planned for certain days, such as work, deadlines, and planned events. In the
planner, I would also record to-do lists with objectives for each day.
I found it hard to check the planner every day. In a way, this aspect of the daily to-do list
increased stress. However, if a new task came up, it was reassuring to know that I could write it
down with the rest of my planned tasks so I would not forget about it. At the moment, I am not
used to checking my planner regularly. I also do not have a set format worked out for my tasks.
However, I feel like I will be better to utilize planners and to-do lists once I start going to school
full time. For the future, I plan to use the planner to write down assignments and schedule out

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time to study. I hope to create a more organized system that will utilize color coordination, sticky
notes, highlighters, and other mechanisms that will help make the planner more effective.
Overall, I feel like the planners effectiveness will increase as I become more used to using it on
a daily basis.
I have frequently heard of the benefits of meditation and practicing mindfulness, so I
made it a priority to attempt during this project. Since I was inexperienced with mindfulness, I
used an app called Headspace to guide me through mindfulness exercises. This app used a
timeline format to track your progress through the lessons and it encourage daily, regular use. I
ended up not using the app daily, but I still felt like I could notice a change. Personally, I feel like
I would need to work harder at making this a daily habit in order to reap the largest benefits.
Since this technique was also the newest and most foreign to me, it was the hardest for me to feel
motivated to do. In order to gain a fuller understanding of mindfulness I feel like I should also
branch out and practice mindfulness with other apps and in other settings.
Although practicing mindfulness and meditation seemed new and strange to me, it was
hard for me to deny the many proven benefits these techniques have. Numerous studies have
praised the stress reducing qualities and overall benefits meditation has on an individuals mental
health.
Going into this project, I did not have a lot of knowledge about meditation; I assumed
that many years of practice were required in order to reap the benefits from this practice.
However, contrary to my assumptions, a 2015 study conducted on stressed Italian workers
suggests that even using a mobile app that instructs your through meditation exercises can
measurably reduce stress. (Carissoli 2015) This study used a downloadable mindfulness app that
utilized short lessons to teach the fundamentals of mindfulness. This study shows that even if

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you only have a few minutes to spare in your day, you can still take steps to improving your
stress management skills.
The previous study on mindfulness techniques convinced me that it was a technique
worth investigating further. More studies showed that no matter an individual's religion, sex, or
age, mindfulness was beneficial. (Greeson 2015) The study used Mindfulness-Based Stress
Reduction (MBSR) in order to measure the diverse participants reported stress and depressive
symptoms. This study showed that mindfulness can not only decrease stress but also be a
possible alternative treatment to depressed patients. This information convincingly shows that
mindfulness should not be dismissed; by simply incorporating mindfulness exercises into your
life, you can become healthier psychologically.
Regular exercise is known to have numerous physical benefits. However, the
psychological benefits of exercise are continually being uncovered. A 2015 study published in
the International Journal of Yoga Therapy tracked the relation between a 10 week yoga course
and the participants reported stress. The 50 participants were all either students, staff, or faculty
at a university. The 90-minute weekly yoga courses incorporated elements of exercise, such as
mastering difficult yoga poses and improving flexibility, while introducing concepts of
mindfulness and self-reflection. The yoga classes were made more convenient for the busy
participants by being taught in the workplace. The results of this study were promising; after
completing the initial 10 week course the participants reported reduced levels of stress. The
courses were effective enough that 64% of the participants voluntarily enrolled into an additional
10-week course.
Quantitative data revealed that 10 weeks of regular yoga practice at work resulted in
significant reductions in perceived stress and self-reported physical, psychological,

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behavioral, and other symptoms of stress in the lives of these very busy university
faculty, staff, and students. ...yoga practice provided participants with skills for stress
management and coping (Brems, pg 68)
Some of the effectiveness of Yoga, and exercise in general, is explained by the fact that
endorphins are released after exercise. These neurotransmitters behave as natural painkillers that
give people the feeling referred to as a runners high. The success of the study shows the
numerous benefits that incorporating exercise and mindfulness in your life. Yoga, whether done
at your work or on your own, can have far reaching benefits. These benefits have convinced me
to try turning to yoga next time I am stressed.
By the end of the project, I definitely feel like my level of stress was reduced. All the of
the techniques I decided to try were easy enough to incorporate into my daily routine. It will take
effort, but I feel like I will be able to make these stress reducing strategies into habits. This
project has opened my eyes to new ways to manage stress. It helped me appreciate how small
actions, such as taking a walk for 30 minutes or doing a weekly yoga session, can have positive
and proven effects with regards to my overall wellbeing.

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Works Cited
Brems, Christiane. "A Yoga Stress Reduction Intervention For University Faculty, Staff, And
Graduate Students." International Journal Of Yoga Therapy 25.1 (2015): 61-77. Alt
HealthWatch. Web.
Carissoli, Claudia, Daniela Villani, and Giuseppe Riva. "Does a Meditation Protocol Supported
by a Mobile Application Help People Reduce Stress? Suggestions from a Controlled
Pragmatic Trial." Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking 18.1 (2015): 46-53.
Web.
Greeson, Jeffrey M., et al. "Decreased Symptoms Of Depression After Mindfulness-Based Stress
Reduction: Potential Moderating Effects Of Religiosity, Spirituality, Trait Mindfulness,
Sex, And Age." Journal Of Alternative & Complementary Medicine 21.3 (2015): 166-174
9p. CINAHL with Full Text. Web.
Melnick, Meredith. "How Does Exercise Reduce Stress?" The Huffington Post.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 21 May 2013. Web.