Stress of a Student-Athlete
Many experts and individuals agree that stress is a problem that needs to be dealt with. However, when discussions of stress in students occur, the extra stressors placed upon students that are also athletes are frequently overlooked. In addition to attending the same classes as students during the middle of the day, athletes also have practices in the mornings and in the evenings before and after classes. Obviously, the time spent practicing greatly reduces the amount of time spent studying. As a student-athlete myself, I know first hand that with minimal hours to study it becomes much more difficult to earn the grades you know you are capable of, or even earn the grades necessary to stay eligible to participate in your sport. The pressure and conflict between practicing, and having enough time to study greatly adds to stress of a student-athlete, and is a key component in why stress amongst athletes is often higher than those of regular students. Unfortunately, this is not the only conflict that arrises and can yield higher levels of stress. Amongst female student athletes, issues with body image can contribute to stress and depression. In a recent Fox Sports article, it is cited that female athletes must build muscle to become better at their sport, but still face beauty standards that dictate women must be thin. Body image coupled with school related stress, results in women being nearly twice as likely to suffer from depression and stress. The article mainly focuses on the stress of female student-athletes, and though men are not mentioned the article proves that there are other factors in athlete stress besides time management. When student-athlete's are talked about in terms of wellbeing, time management is usually mentioned. However, as the article from Fox Sports discusses, these student skills are not always enough to ensure the mental health of athletes.
Effects of Stress
Stress is prevalent. However, is it a problem? According to the American Psychological Association high levels of stress can affect other areas of your life. When students become stressed, they report getting on average an hour less of sleep per night. A vicious cycle is then created, as less sleep causes one to become more stressed which leads to less sleep etc. A similar cycle is created with exercise. As teenagers of high school and college age become more stressed, they exercise less which causes them to become even more stressed. Further more, comfort food consumption becomes much more common as individuals become more stressed. Yes, stress is a problem. What is often ignored as a common experience that everyone suffers through, stress can greatly decrease your general physical health in addition to your mental health. Though sleep and diet may not be as large of a concern for most, student-athlete's lives often evolve around these two essential practices as a supplement to training. Being a runner sleep is absolutely essential to bone and muscle recovery. Our track coach says at least once a week that in his over nine years of coaching experience he has noticed that once runners begin to average closer to six hours of sleep per night as appose to nine, they suffer from more lower leg injuries. Once again, females are more susceptible to these effects of stress. 45% of women report experiencing a lack of interest or energy as a result of stress, while only 35% of males experienced this symptom in a APA survey. Once again, lack of motivation and energy are very detrimental to sports performance and should be a concern for those involved in student-athlete wellbeing and performance results of a specific program.
Need for Stress Resources
It has become clear that stress is common, and can be detrimental to sports performance, so why hasn't there been any action taken to help our athletes? Yes, it is true that as an athlete, stress is necessary, but in small doses. In a recent NPR interview of a stressed teen Nora Huynh, she talked about how there is a certain point where the optimal level of stress can be exceeded and begin yielding detrimental effects mentioned above. Optimal levels of stress? An optimal level of stress occurs when you are just nervous and excited enough to produce adrenaline and get into the "zone" which can help perform at your highest level. However, as an athlete that experiences too much stress, your performance can suffer and even lead to depression. After the death of Madison Holleran, a track runner for University of Pennsylvania, from suicide due to depression and stress, the NCAA's resources for student wellbeing came into question. A survey was conducted asking student-athletes if they were aware of any resources available to aid in athlete stress or depression. The results were alarming, as no one surveyed knew that the NCAA had resources in place to seek help. To prevent myself, or any other student athletes from leading stress filled lives or loosing any more friends and teammates, action must be taken to establish mental health resources, or make current resources more widely known to all athletes. If there are well known resources in place, it would be much easier and comfortable for athletes such as Madison to seek help before it is too late.
Footnotes
"American Psychological Association Survey Shows Teen Stress Rivals That of Adults." Http://www.apa.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2015.
http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2014/02/teen-stress.aspx
Dailymail.com, Chris Spargo For. "Parents Share Tragic Suicide Note of Ivy League Track Star, 19, Who Jumped to Her Death from a Parking Garage and Left Gifts for Friends and Family Members Nearby." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 22 Jan. 2015. Web. 05 Apr. 2015.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2920310/Parents-share-tragic-suicide-note-Ivy-League-track-star-19-jumped-death-parking-garage-left-gifts-friends-family-members-nearby.html
"Mental Health Issues a Huge Challenge for NCAA in Regard to Student-athletes." FOX Sports. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Apr. 2015.
http://www.foxsports.com/other/story/madison-holleran-ncaa-student-athletes-mental-health-issues-032515
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/12/02/246599742/school-stress-takes-a-toll-on-health-teens-and-parents-say
"Stress in America." Stress in America 2009 (n.d.): n. pag. American Psychological Association. Web.
http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/stress/2009/stress-exec-summary.pdf
