FYS: Understanding and Managing Stress

Catalog description

Transitioning to college can be a wonderful and exciting time, but it can also come with new challenges and stressors. In this course, we will gain an understanding of psychological stress and how the ways we respond to it are linked to our psychological and physical health. We will discuss effective coping strategies, such as shifting our perspective (or reappraisal) and turning to friends and family for support. We will also explore practices that reduce the emotional and physical toll of stress, including meditation, movement, and cultivating positive emotions like gratitude. Designed as a First-Year Seminar, students gain perspective on the connections between stress, stress reactivity, and health while developing tools to better manage the transition to college and beyond.