Category Archives: Civic Issues

Resources for Stress Management

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April is recognized as Stress Awareness Month and as discussed in the previous Civic Issues blog, stress has a variety of effects upon the health of young adults, both physically and mentally. With such a concerning number of students reporting feeling stressed or overwhelmed at Penn State, surely there must be measures that are being taken in order to counter these issues. I will go over the current systems and programs that Penn State currently has in place regarding stress management, and by the end come to a conclusion of services that I think should be further advertised or made aware of.  

There is a condensed area of information regarding stress management that comes from a page on the Penn State Student Affairs website. This page comes from Health Promotion and Wellness(HPW), a unit under Student Affairs that includes an overview of the services provided by Penn State to help their students navigate and handle stress. Among the services listed are one-on-one-services with peer educators, stress management 101 (a self-guided course), workshops, counseling, chats, and fitness classes. Not to mention, extra resources and tools for managing stress at home for those who prefer a more isolated environment to handling stress. 

The first service that I will introduce is the HPW trained peer services. These services provided are all free and can cover a wide range of topics such as sleep, mindfulness, nutrition, relationships, and general stress management. These services are offered in sessions in the HUB and Intramural Building by scheduled appointment and are conducted by a trained peer health educator. Scheduling for these appointments can be done in the same way as any other doctor’s appointment or by emailing promotinghealth@psu.edu. 

The next resource I will go over is the “Manage Stress Workbook” also provided by student affairs. To summarize, the workbook is a 20 page online pdf that goes over a multitude of techniques to help deal with stress management. Within the workbook, there are a multitude of activities for students to explore and complete on their own, such as deep breathing exercises and a page for stress tracking. This barely scratches the surface of all the detail and information packed into the workbook, with numerous suggestions and mindful techniques meant to address various causes of stress. 

The third resource is one that particularly piqued my interest. Within the Intramural Building, there is a place called the Relaxation Room. This room is open from 8am-5pm Monday through Friday and features multiple activities designed for students to utilize to destress, take a break, relax, or study. These include software programs on desktop computers to practice breathing exercises, relaxation/stress reduction/mindfulness audio tracks to listen to, coloring books, a zen sand garden, puzzles, light therapy boxes, and a comfortable space to relax in. There is no appointment necessary to show up. 

 

The next resource comes through the form of a canvas course called Stress Management 101. Within this course, there are several video modules, reflections, worksheets, and readings to complete that, by the end of its completion, should transform students into a more educated and healthier being. Currently there are a total of 6 modules, each taking a variety of time to complete. This course does not count for any real credit, although it holds the format of a usual college canvas page, but the completion of the modules are entirely up to the student in choosing what areas to spend their time focusing on. 

The fourth resource sort of touches back on the previous program of the trained peer services, except this time it is facilitated by professional staff. This resource focuses on workshops which are conducted for academic classes, student organizations, student clubs, and residence hall floors. To sign up for a workshop, a form must be completed in order to make an official request. The topics for these workshops include an alcohol workshop, an eating disorder workshop, and a mindfulness and compassion workshop. There are other workshops available as well, but these are provided by the trained peer educators. These then include workshops for sleep, nutrition, safer sex, and of course, stress management. 

This next service is provided by the Counseling & Psychological Services (CAPS) and is called the “WellTrack Boost.” It basically is a wellness assessment that can be used either one time, on an as-needed basis, or as a regularly scheduled mood check. WellTrack Boost helps students to understand the activities in their schedule that contribute to changes in mood and motivation and how these tie into their own individual change. Within WellTrack Boost there are also programs or “courses” that have content focused on Resilience, Anxiety & Stress, Depression, Finding Purpose & Meaning,  Healthy Sleep, Inner Calm/Mindfulness, and Public Speaking. Of course, CAPS also provides their usual services which can be focused towards stress such as their informal consultations, virtual library, and mental health screenings. 

The final resource that I will go over is the Fitness and Wellbeing services that are available to all Penn State students. While it does not directly address motivations and thoughts that tie into stress, physical activity and exercise has been linked to reducing the feeling of stress, and turning negative energy into a positive outlet. There are over 100 fitness offerings available for Penn State students, including Group Fitness Classes, Small Group/Instructional training classes, personal training packages, and special events that are hosted throughout the year. Not to mention virtual fitness options for those who would rather like to do workouts within the comforts of their home. Some of the programs listed that I found the most interesting include aquatics, outdoor adventures, and yoga. 

After reviewing the many resources available on Penn State’s campus, it has become clear that all the measures that are offered are plentiful and varied in their options for virtually any type of student to choose a method that best suits their needs. The only issue I found is that for students who feel stressed, finding where to start can be a bit overwhelming because of the sheer number of resources available. Not to mention, some of the most interesting and hands-on approaches that I found to be very useful don’t seem to be advertised that much in the open as I wish they were. Among the resources that I have summarized, I believe that the Relaxation Room and the Manage Stress Workbook should be the ones to be widely pushed for Freshman to be aware of. Although all these resources come with their own downsides or differing methods, I found the Workbook and the Relaxation Room to be the most generalized, and thus the most applicable to the majority of students which should in turn be the most used and advertised. 

 

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Stress Effects

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In 2015, the American College Health Association found through a survey that stress is one of the leading issues for students when it comes to academics. This survey spanned over a hundred colleges and universities in the U.S., with the top universities subsequently facing stress even before becoming enrolled in the college due to the elite acceptance rates. The same survey found that “45% of American college students claimed to undergo ‘more than average stress,’ while 33% of students reported ‘average stress’ and 12.7% saying it is  ‘tremendous stress’” (research.com). It’s clear that this is an issue for students nationwide, and this causes more issues than just a hindrance to academic success. 

The effects of stress in the short term already causes a multitude of issues for students. Among these are mental and physical, with stress often being linked to procrastination and depression, as well as a lack of sleep and heart disease. In the survey mentioned prior, 40% of US college students feel inadequately rested five out of seven days in the week, which leads to negative academic performance, lower self-esteem, and unfortunately, even more stress. It quickly becomes that students get trapped within the cycle of stress. Long-term, stress can do major damage to the body. According to the American Psychological Association, stress can affect all areas of the body. 

Beginning in the musculoskeletal system, damages include pain in the low back, tension-type headache and migraine headache, and overall muscle tension. Chronic stress causes muscles in the body to constantly be in a period where they are tensed, which can lead to other reactions in the body. Each damage specific correlates with a different muscle tension. The headaches and migraines can be attributed to shoulder, neck, and head tenseness.

Moving onto the respiratory system, issues can be shortness of breath, rapid breathing, as well as asthma attacks. For people without pre-existing respiratory issues, they usually do not have as much of a problem as those with asthma or COPD. However, they can still be affected by stress that causes problems mentally, as rapid breathing can lead to hyperventilation and panic attacks. 

The third area that is affected by stress is the Cardiovascular system. Stress can elevate heart rate, stress hormones, and blood pressure. These increases do immense damage, creating risk for hypertension, heart attacks, and stroke. Repeated stress may also cause inflammation in the circulatory system, especially the coronary arteries, which may be tied to heart attacks. 

Not to mention, stress also widely affects the immune system. Hormones, including the stress hormone cortisol, are important to regulate the immune system. The presence of chronic stress may impair the effectiveness of fighting against diseases, and can be linked to fatigue, metabolic disorders (diabetes, obesity), depression, and other immune disorders. 

This is only a few of the issues relating to stress physically. In the perspective of college students, being exposed to new environments and people can already weaken the body with illness. Place a large amount of stress on them, this will more than affect not just their grades, but recovery as well. In regards to Penn State, stress is one of the leading issues that affect academics. In the Penn State Student Health Assessment for the Spring of 2020, stress was marked as the 2nd leading issue that affects academics, with 33% of students saying stress had affected their performance in the last 12 months. In fact, 62% of Penn State students rated their level of stress as moderate or high. 

Aside from the students, other stakeholders within this issue include parents of students, counselors/therapists, health workers (nurses, doctors, etc.), Penn State administration, and professors and TAs of the university. For parents, their childrens’ well being is always at the forefront of their mind. In the issue of stress, many parents worry for their child on what to do or how to make them feel better. They may pressure the school to promote more access to mental health services or stress management programs. As for the counselors/therapists, an increase in stress on campus means more students that need helping. This may be overwhelming, or in the opposite case may be concerning that not enough students are taking these resources. They may feel responsible for ensuring the student does not become worse and is indeed taking their advice and making positive improvements. Then comes the area of health workers. In the case of stress taking a toll on students physically, health workers will have to write prescriptions for students suffering from chronic pains or insomnia. Paired with any medication already taken for mental health issues, the combination of all of these things may become overwhelming for the student, and complicated for the workers. To continue, Penn State administrators may start to see the grades decline and rise in stress as a result of a lack of responsibility among students or even take it upon themselves to become more active. The increased usage of mental and physical health services would become apparent and may cause an increase in budget toward that area. Not to mention, administration would be at the front of any criticism brought by parents and family members. Finally, professors and TAs would be affected by this issue due to the performance of the students. While not all professors can be applied to this, I believe that a good majority care about the well being of their students, as well as their class performance as a whole. The major academic hindrance would become apparent to them, and would cause not only them to stress and worry as well, but to feel pressure from administrators to have the class perform better. 

Overall, one can see how stress plays a role in many areas, such as nationally, locally, physically, and mentally. It is clear that something must be done to not only ensure the well-being of students, but the well being of families, workers, and administrators. Next civic issues post, I will cover the steps that other colleges and universities have done, recommendations from health care workers, as well as current systems implemented here at Penn State. Stress in its current state is so prevalent that it has almost become normalized. People expect for students to be stressed and to deal with stress, and see it as a natural part of growing up. However, I argue that stress doesn’t have to be part of progressing through schooling and through life. As mentioned, it does more harm than good, therefore the elimination of stress as much as possible is a glaring issue that needs to be resolved.

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The Two-Party System: Past

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When George Washington, the United States’ first President, delivered his farewell address in 1796, he left behind a set of precedents that largely shaped how many Americans now view politics today. He implored for unity and upholding the Constitution while also admonishing interference with foreign relations and the creation of political parties. For the most part, neutrality, unity, and upholding the Constitution have in some form or another been an important basis surrounding our political views. Yet how is it that political parties, something even the first President had foreseen becoming an issue, become such an integral part of our modern day politics? To start, we need to look over the emergence of the two-party system.

During Washington’s second term, a two-party rivalry had already begun to emerge: The Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. The Federalists mainly represented New England and the Mid-Atlantic states, while Democratic-Republicans were mainly representative of the South. At this point, senators tended to vote along these parties, but did not have a formal organization or alliance within the Senate. The Federalists were headed by Alexander Hamilton and John Adams, who supported strong government and the establishment of a national bank. The Democratic-Republicans, led by Thomas Jefferson and James Maddison, were quite the opposite– favoring power to the states, a non-invasive government, and reduction of taxation power. The rivalry between the two would eventually meet its end with Thomas Jefferson beating John Adams in the election of 1800, establishing a majority in the Senate and reducing the power of the Federalists greatly. The Federalists had also expressed their opposition to the War of 1812, and following the aftermath of the war, had ruined their reputation because of said opposition and ended up disbanding.  

During this period, there were numerous factors that led to the growth of the system including geographic, economic, and cultural changes during the time. America was currently expanding west, which meant new styles of politics as there were significant absences of established economic elites. Following the War of 1812, there were also larger gaps between the regions. Politics now had to branch differences of economies and interests. The textile industry was growing rapidly, populations were rising, and various exports were booming with trade. The increase in trade meant individuals that represented manufacturing interests, agricultural commodities, and international trade had strong influences on politics, especially in the North where this change had mainly taken place (such as New York City). On the other hand, there were also crises such as the financial panic of 1819, which led to political differences over issues like debt relief, banking, and tariffs. And of course, one of the most significant sources of political division– slavery. 

Most regions in the Old South (states along the Atlantic Coast from Maryland and Delaware to Georgia) during the 1800s were suffering from population loss and economic decline. Exports that used to hold a lot of power (tobacco, rice, indigo, etc.) that were highly valued in the colonial era were not as needed as they used to be. The soil itself had also begun to lose its fertility. The era’s most valuable crop, cotton, was not suitable to be grown in the majority of the region, so many left for the West in hopes of better prospects. It was at this point that much of the wealth in the region lay in the investments of slaves, and southern planters started to sell slaves to cotton planets in the Southwest. Despite the importation of enslaved people becoming banned in 1808, the number of slaves only increased. According to archives.gov, the population of slaves were just over 1 million in 1810, and increased to 2.5 million in 1840. 

As listed from above, a combination of all of these changing aspects at around the same time, led to greater discourse and disagreement among the states. With different regions holding different economies, cultures, and beliefs, tensions funneled into the politics. With so many changes and every locality striving for their own beliefs, it seems almost daunting to go to a leap of 2-parties to represent all of the interests of the different regions. Although there were hints of the two-party system being formed, it lacked the consistency and strength that the modern-day system encompasses. At the current time of the mid 1820s, there was only one national party that had been broken up into factional fighting centered around leading candidates. This is where we finally see the true institution of the two-party system, created by none other than Martin Van Buren, future president but at this point, New York Senator. His vision was to create order to the political landscape by revolutionary change– these new political parties enabled non-elite politicians to challenge traditional leaders. Elites could be overthrown by a coordinated disciplined team that had the support of the common people and could win elections at various positions in government. Party members would set aside local interests in order to achieve a unified national agenda. Compared to the past two-party systems, this signified a huge break and permanently changed political values. 

Now enter 1828– the growth of the post office. During this year, the United States Post Office had become the world’s largest bureaucracy which promoted the publication and exchange of newspapers (archive.gov). As you know, increases in communications meant increased strides in the spread of information, technology, and most influential– propaganda. Add this to the new ways of politics introduced by Van Buren, the last thing that needs to be covered is how we got to our current rivalry. The 1828 election had Andrew Jackson placed as President, and he had become backed by a new party– The Democratic Party. The Democratic worked hard to get Jackson into the Presidency, being the first party to use the press effectively in order to rally their followers to support them. In the Senate, Henry Clay led his own coalition to oppose Jackson’s faction called the Whig Party. Eventually the Whig Party dissolved over the issue of slavery in the 1850s, and became replaced with the Republican Party which at the time, supported the decision of blocking the spread of slavery out West. As for the Democratic Party, it had split between Northern Democrats being largely anti-slavery, while Southern Democrats stayed pro-slavery and ended up leaving the Senate in support of secession. By the time of the Reconstruction period, the modern two-party system could be seen firmly in place. 

Post Civil War saw the Republican party largely in control, and were largely based on liberal ideals. They used their power to make strides in protecting formerly enslaved people and guaranteeing their civil rights. At the same time, Democrats were very much disapproving of the measures the Republicans were taking. Compared to today, each respective party’s values seemed to be completely opposite. Following the Civil War, many Northern industrialists, rich from the war, entered politics. These wealthy politicians now didn’t see much of a reason to support the rights of Black Americans and felt that they had done enough. With this in mind, they stopped their efforts to reform the southern states. That left the white Democrats to the south to continue their oppressive policies and conservatism. 

The real switch took place about 60 years later, during the Great Depression. The Republican Party, dominated by wealthy businessmen, favored laissez-faire (hands-off) policies that contributed to the support of big business. While this works in a good economy, during a period where the economy becomes bust, this type of policy only digs a deeper hole. The Republican president during this time, Herbert Hoover, opted to continue staying hands-off, and his inaction had weakened his and his party’s reputation. Franklin D. Roosevelt, who we know today for all of his restorations and reformative policies, was Democratic. His way of government intervention and introductions to tons of new policies led to not just his popularity, but a complete overhaul shift in party ideologies. 

The final kicker was the Civil Rights movement during the mid 1900s. Southern Democrats and Republicans still opposed the early Civil Rights movement while Northern Democrats and Republicans were supporting legislation. Later in 1964, Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. At the same time during the 64’ election, Republican candidate Barry Goldwater actively opposed this new law. This disagreement finalized the switch. Black voters had up to this point historically been loyal to the Republican Party, but had now been switching to the Democratic party. By the 1980s, white southern Democrats had become Republicans, as with the majority of the south. And that is how it has stayed ever since.

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