Students with Generalized Anxiety Disorder are prone to myriad symptoms — including restlessness, muscle tension, irritability, being easily fatigued, difficulty concentrating and sleep disturbance, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA). While these symptoms can make it all the more difficult to complete the increasing demands that come with being a full-time college student, proper symptom management and self-care practices can help one achieve long-held academic and career goals — without compromising one’s emotional health.

Ronni Margolin, coordinator of threat, risk and crisis at NC State’s Counseling Center, works with students directly to help ease symptoms of anxiety and additional mental illnesses, leading them toward a more balanced mental and emotional state of being. 

Margolin shared some of the ways students with anxiety can manage symptoms on a day-to-day basis in order to remain both academically successful and emotionally stable.

“Learning to breathe slowly, and learning to breathe out longer than you breathe in — learning to settle your nervous system in that way can be really, really helpful,” Margolin said. “It’s hard to do in the middle of a panic attack, for example, but it’s not hard to do when you’re first starting down the road to a panic attack.”      

For Margolin, acting as a licensed psychologist is far more than just a job title. It is a personal mission of helping others see a glimmer of hope in the often unnavigable shadows of mental illness. After all, she added, “there are few things in life we are meant to go through alone.”

Margolin said that college students between ages 18 and 23 are especially prone to psychiatric symptoms, as it is a time period marked by numerous life changes.

From leaving home for the first time to balancing coursework and additional responsibilities, such as part-time jobs, along with personal commitments like maintaining relationships, finding consistency in the chaos is critical in preventing a breakdown or panic attack or later on.

While a wide net of resources does exist for students managing a mental illness, having limited time can hinder the essential process that is symptom management. But putting one’s mental health on the backburner, falling second to WebAssign homework and lengthy project proposals, typically results in more harm than good, an idea which Margolin reinforced. 

“Students feel very, very busy, and of course psychiatric issues can make it harder to complete all the demands of the student, so you feel like you have even less time,” Margolin said. “And that becomes a vicious cycle.”           

Shannon DuPree is one of many figures here on campus dedicated to helping students break this unforgiving cycle of stress and anxiety. Acting as NC State’s very own wellness director, DuPree is an expert on all things healing.DuPree talked on the meaning behind a frequented term among those hoping to better balance anxiety and stress: self-care.

“One of my favorite things to say is that self-care is care provided for you, by you,” DuPree said. “It’s whatever you do to make yourself happy.”    

DuPree, who has always held a passion for all that is wellness, practices self-care by taking a rejuvenating swim in the tranquil waters of Carmichael Gymnasium’s Olympic-sized pool — the water is, after all, her “happy place.”

DuPree credited maintaining a nutritional diet full of leafy greens and fresh fruits as another way to both prevent and diminish anxiety symptoms, in addition to working 30 minutes of physical exercise into one’s daily routine.

Perhaps the most beneficial, and frequently underutilized, remedy for restless anxiety symptoms is simple — sleep. DuPree noted that sleep is vital for recharging one’s physical and emotional batteries, providing the perfect healing solution to the overworked college student.

“Think of your body like your cellphone,” DuPree said. “Your phone is running apps and receiving calls all day — your body does the same thing. Your body is constantly receiving information, processing information, running around and doing all these things, and we don’t take time to charge ourselves but we charge our phone all night. So think about sleep as ‘I have to recharge in order to get up the next day and process more information.’”

In her position as director of wellness, DuPree works with multiple on-campus groups aimed at cultivating and maintaining students’ overall well-being.

From promoting healthy dining options with NC State Dining to working with counselors from NC State’s Counseling Center to ensuring there are plenty of group fitness and personal training options through Carmichael Gymnasium, DuPree views wellness as far more than simply eating healthy and opting for the occasional workout in effort to decrease anxiety.

Wellness, according to DuPree, has many sides. It is a balancing act made possible by those who have dedicated their lives to improving the mental, physical and emotional states of those around them. It is, in every aspect, a way of life.

Anxiety, like wellness, impacts more than just one area of well-being. DuPree explained why it’s important for students to stay grounded, resilient and realistic when experiencing overpowering symptoms of anxiety.

“Anxiety impacts so many different things,” DuPree said. “So do your best instead of aiming for perfection, because we know perfection is not possible. Focus on being proud of being able to accomplish what you can, [and think] ‘I’m doing my best, and that makes me proud, and that’s good enough.’”

Nature is another underestimated healing source that works to lessen anxiety’s invasive symptoms. For those who feel suffocated by panic, Mother Nature offers a freeing, serene sanctuary of sorts that helps to silence unrelenting thoughts of worry and panic.

DuPree regularly takes advantage of nature’s medicinal qualities, finding solace in the beauty that surrounds her.

“When I am feeling overwhelmed, or it’s just been a really long day, I will take off and walk down the greenway,” DuPree said. “It’s just [about] enjoying the fresh air and the elements of nature. And then you also see people on the greenway and birds and in that moment I just feel at one with nature.”

Most students, in some fashion, have been brushed with the trying effects of mental illness. Whether it be consoling a roommate during the midst of a 4 a.m. panic attack, or personally fighting off feelings of hopelessness between classes, students across backgrounds are bonded by the fight for balance, peace and acceptance during a particularly anxiety-inducing time. 

By practicing symptom management and basking in the therapeutic nature of self-care, students can further free themselves from anxiety’s tight grip — and soar.