Turn to Tara: 5 simple tips to help college students deal with anxiety

The Turn to Tara team brings us five simple things you can do right now to help you deal with anxiety.

Tara Rosenblum

Aug 11, 2022, 10:39 AM

Updated 816 days ago

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Are you a college student dealing with anxiety?
If so, you're not alone. A new study just found students are more stressed out now than they have been in a decade.
Symptoms ranged from difficulty handling schoolwork to changes in eating, energy levels and sleeping patterns.
Why are our children struggling so much? Mental health counselor and anxiety treatment expert Justine Carino says it's much more than just the pandemic at play.
There's a lot of anticipatory anxiety around what the academic expectations are going to look like.
The Turn to Tara team brings us five simple things you can do right now to feel better:
Carino says start with practicing mindfulness.
"One of the skills I like to teach is the rainbow room. You go through the colors of the rainbow in your head. So, if you're starting to feel really anxious, name everything in your dorm room that's red, orange, and hopefully by the end of the exercise, you're a little bit more present with yourself," says Carino.
Next -- learn how to challenge the way you're thinking. Ask yourself -- is this thought true? Is this thought helpful?
Another tip is called give your mind a name.
"I tell people to literally name the anxious part of their mind. To remind you of someone or something that you don't like so much, right? This gives you some power to choose whether or not you listen to this anxious part of your brain. You want the confident part of your brain to step in and say anxiety, you're not taking the wheel," says Carino.
Tip four involves creating a mental health routine that you can stick to. For some people, that could mean getting up early for a morning run.
The last tip involves setting boundaries with people and time.
Got a problem? You should Turn to Tara. HERE'S HOW.