At the end of the month, nearly 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students will walk across a stage at Biola University — a symbolic and celebratory finish to their college years. Aside from time, often the only obstruction standing in the way of that celebration is stress. Dr. David Wang, a professor at Biola’s Rosemead School of Psychology, states that stress can take a toll on the body so it is important to know how to combat its effects.

According to Wang, when stressed, the limbic brain takes over, which in turn shuts down all body systems threatening the “fight or flight” response. The digestive, reproductive and immune systems are turned off momentarily to move all power and energy to the muscles to run or defend the body. Once the immediate danger is over, all systems revert back to normal functioning.

The problem is, says Wang, today’s current stressors are not momentary physical dangers but a constant bombardment of mental stress. Whether it is a professor expressing displeasure over a late project, or a rush across campus to get to the next appointment, or something “un-Christian” shouted in traffic, all these stressors trigger the body to always be on high alert. The adrenaline and cortisol never decrease so the systems are not turned back on, resulting in a host of health issues.

For many Biolans, this comes at the worst possible time, as May often brings “senioritis,” anxiety over grades, and the future. For those inclined to nervousness with the upcoming weeks leading to finals, Wang shared two approaches to managing stress.

“There’s emotion-focused strategies and problem-focused strategies,” said Wang. “For short term things you can’t control, emotion-focused is often better. But you have to be careful to not ignore the root cause.”

Indeed, a study from the Journal of Behavioral Medicine by Drs. Penley, Tomaka, and Weibe conducted a meta-analysis comparison of the two methods, showing that people who consistently used emotion-based strategies such as eating, drinking alcohol, and suppressing negative emotions reported poorer health outcomes.

“By using problem-focused strategies like getting instrumental social support, or just trying for problem solving or time management, it’s often possible to deal with the stressor itself entirely,” said Wang.

It is important to recall that problem-focused strategies are most helpful when some degree of control is found over the stressor. In a 2006 piece called Personality and Social Psychology Review by Drs. L.S. Nes and Susanne Segerstrom shows that optimistic people, who tend to have positive expectations of the future, are more likely to use problem-focused strategies, whereas a pessimistic individual is more inclined to use emotion-focused strategies.

To ensure connections and provision for students, teachers can also help students alleviate and cope with stress more effectively by making them feel they belong to the academic community, which Rosemead faculty plays a key role in.

Another resource offered to students is the Biola Counseling Center (BCC), located roughly a block away, that helps clientele tackle issues ranging from depression and anxiety to stress. Biola aims to help visitors address these difficulties, offer spiritual direction and pastoral counseling to those in need.

Written by James O’Hearn, Public Relations intern. For more information, please contact Jenna Loumagne, Media Relations Specialist, at jenna.loumagne@biola.edu or via phone at (562) 777-4061.