Fresher Take

Stress Management

April 27, 2021 UoL Student Life Season 2 Episode 9
Fresher Take
Stress Management
Show Notes Transcript

On this episode of the Fresher Take podcast, Ben is joined by special guest Owen to talk about stress at university. Stream now on all major platforms.

For more advice, please visit Student Services or the Student Union Advice Centre. You can find Owen's article on the Stress Bucket here.

For more content made for students by students, check out Student Life blog or follow us on social media @UoLStudentLife!

Ben: Hello and welcome to another brand new episode of the Fresher Take Podcast. My name is Ben and in today's episode we're going to be talking about how to deal with stress whilst at University. Now to do that I am joined by a very special guest and our residential stress expert here at Student Life. Would you like to introduce yourself? 

 

Owen: Hi everyone, I wouldn't call myself a stress expert Ben, but I did write a blog post on managing stress and the stress bucket model. I'm Owen Liggins and I am a first year drug discovery and development chemistry student. 

 

Ben: Oh, so you're basically- you're a lot more clever than I am, Owen, so thank you for coming on the podcast. Hope you're alright, mate. You're being too nice man. 

 

Owen: Yeah, I'm very well thank you. 

 

Ben: So in this episode what we're going to be looking at specifically is how to deal with stress and stressful situations whilst at University. Because if you know anything whilst at University, you can get quite stressed and as awful as that can sound, you know it's really important to be able to deal with that stress to ensure that you are the most productive you can be, but also the happiest that you can be during- while you're enjoying the best three years of your life whilst at University. So that's what we're going to be talking about today and we're going to start the podcast off. Owen, by talking about the background to stress, now, obviously stress can manifest itself in a variety of different ways, and there are so many different types of emotions that are related to stress. You know you've got anxiety, you've got anger, you know there's so many different ways that we as humans deal with stress. So what I want to ask you is what is your personal experience with stress? What is your interpretation with stress and why do you think stress Is- is something that people struggle to sort of deal with? 

 

Owen: OK, yeah, right. So I think stress is a really important thing that we all need to get to grips with more how we manage it because as you say everyone experiences it differently, but we do all experience it, especially as students. And personally. I used to get really, really stressed when I had all of my deadlines and everything really close together. I wasn't as prepared as I am now and I had no kind of mechanism of dealing with that. And when it all builds up, that's when, as we'll hear later on, your bucket overflows, you become overwhelmed and you can't deal with it anymore. And we don't want to get to that point. So what we'll talk about later is some more of the techniques that you can use to reduce your stress so you don't get to that point. And for me, one of the things that I really like to do is go for a run or do some exercise, put- pop as Fresher Take podcast on or- - 

 

Ben: Well done Owen, that's right, well done. 

 

Owen: If you know you know. Put an episode of a podcast on, watch a film, do some chilling, but we can talk more about that later. 

 

Ben: Do you know what you're doing a better job at this than I am - you are preparing the audience for what they can expect next. You know you're coming for my job, Owen, I think. So, yeah, I totally agree what you're saying. I think stress for me and I'm going to say now as someone who is sort of who brands himself on the Fresher Take podcast as the the person that sort of goes. Don't worry, it'll sort itself out. I think this is this is a topic that's quite close to my heart because I've dealt with anxiety. I still am dealing with anxiety. I've dealt with stress especially in my undergrad, and like you said, when deadlines are sort of so close together, it's not a case of, right, OK, I can focus on one thing at a time, and you know, sort of work my way through my deadline. Sometimes you have to work on multiple things at once. You have to juggle a part-time job with socializing, with doing your work, with going to lectures and every other thing that you want to do. So I think it is something that is quite hard to overcome, especially if like you've never experienced it before, because my assumption always is. That if you've been- If you're at University, you've probably at some point done some sort of higher education. You know you've done college. You've done A levels, you've gone to 6th form or whatever, so I think people sort of understand the level of stress that you can get because, again, through A levels when you juggle in, you know, three or four different exams and different modules and different- completely different subjects, I guess, it's quite hard to focus on just one thing, but I don't know, I think- Oh no, go on Owen. – 

 

Owen: It's, it's very very different from other levels of education because you- when you're doing more... A varied amount of things at a lower level, it's a different kind of stress to doing one or maybe two different- two subjects at Uni in a much higher, more intense level is a different kind of stress. Or at least I think it is, as I say, not stress expert. But it- I feel like it affects you differently when you're at University than when you were essentially A levels or college. 

 

Ben: Yeah I agree, I think because a lot of people think and I- I believe I've said this again in the podcast, in a previous podcast, that because you're doing sort of 1 topic that you enjoy. So for example, you're doing chemistry. I'm doing, was doing media production, now doing journalism, you do something you actually enjoy so you think I'm not going to be stressed. It's not the case. I'm really sorry to tell you, I'm really sorry to burst this bubble that is literally not the case. Like if you can go through University without feeling stressed, you are an amazing person, - A robot. - and I think you possess. Yes. You literally possess qualities that I only dream of having because it is hard. Like there's no, there's no nice way of saying University is a challenge, but it is so rewarding and I think if you can curb your stress and sort of find ways of dealing with it then you're going to be so much better off. 

 

Owen: That's why it's so important to be able to manage stress because everything in life that is worth having or in some point- at some point involves a level of stress to get there, and it's that- everything that's worth having or going for or striving for will- isn't easy. And those things that aren't easy will at some point involve stress. It could be lots, it could be a small amount, but no matter how much it is, you need to be able to manage it to be able to get you where you want to go in life. 

 

Ben: Yeah yeah, so. So what are your personal experience with stress then Owen? Obviously as a first year going into second year, you are sort of. You've only just started really dipping your toes in the world of University, so how have you found the first year? How have you dealt with stress and sort of what- looking back, let's say, how, if you give advice to yourself, what would it be? 

 

Owen: I would say. Get more organized, more quickly. So when I started, so I did foundation year last year and I quickly realized that just winging it when it comes to making lecture notes and doing assessments is not the way to go because it will eventually all pile up and then you kind of have a stress mountain that you have to somehow climb and get to the top of. But my advice to myself would be get handle on it. I did a blog post last year on how you can make to-do lists work for you. And to-do lists are the saviour of my life. I have them on my phone. I have actual like Post-its that I put over everything that have a to-do list of what I need to get done that week and what I need to get done that day. And once you tick it off, you know that's done, and as soon as I get a new assignment, I write down when it's due and I have everything that I need to do and what I need to do it written down so that if I know that if I tick off all of my To-Do list every day, I will have this assessment done at this point, this assessment done at this point before the deadline so that I can- - Yeah. - It's a way of managing it so that you don't get stressed about it, and I feel like before I had that mechanism of knowing when it was going to get done, I would stress about the fact that it wasn't going to be done in time or it wasn't going to be done at all. But knowing that in my head I know when I'm going to do this, when I'm going to do that. I'm sure in myself that it's going to get done, so I don't need to stress about it not being done. 

 

Ben: Yeah, so the fact that you've physically given yourself time to sort of like. Get it done, I guess, you sort of said right? Well, it's gonna get done because it's on the list, so there's no way there's no need for me to go. Oh my God, it's not gonna get done because it's on the list of things to do. Which I think- I think is a really good way to do it and you know your experience is very similar to mine. I think. Obviously as someone who has done a lot of group work and a lot of, you know, productive and hands on sort of work doing media production and journalism, I think I can, I can relate to you in a very similar way, and you know, there's nothing worse than- than trying to let it all pile up, because there's, you know, whilst doing essays, you can kind of, I always think juggle at the same time because it's just a case of getting it written. I think physical, productive, you know, like making a film or making a documentary or making a TV show or graphic design or whatever you have to physically go out and make it so you can't do it from your bedroom. And I think that that was- my, my killer of- Because I'd like to think I'm quite this, you know, cool laid back, not cool in that sense, let's let's get out the way straight away. But yeah, quite a laidback person. I always thought, yeah, you know it will sort itself out. I've got these these dedicated workshop times and we're meeting outside of those times to you know, record things or use the TV studios that we have at the University of Lincoln or go out and film an interview or something. So it was like. A lot of the stuff that I had to do was little pieces of a puzzle to then bring together to make a bigger finished product. And I think that was the most stressful thing for me of understanding. that it's not just- you can't just sit down and do it. You have to physically find time to do it. Yeah, and I think again, if I was to go back to my first year self, I would say put the drink- I'm joking. Put the drink down, no no. I would say yeah, you know, get your head screwed on a little bit quicker than what you did because you realize that it's not. You can't just do one at a time. –

 

Owen: Exactly. I think again, from what you said and my own experience as well, you have to have some amount of flexibility as well, but having a to-do list is great, but for all you know you could have said that in this day you just get these 10 things done. But after the first three the third thing has taken you five times the amount of time you thought it was going to take you, and you can't do the other seven things on your list and somehow- some days that's the way it goes and you just have to make that work. Move those things to another day, spread them out, do whatever you need to do, but especially what you were saying where you have to go out and do things like for me group projects. You never know how long a group project is going to take, but it could take so many meetings or it could take one meeting like you never know. So you have to have some sort of flexibility, and I know a lot of people, and myself, like to have structure. But you have to try and find a balance between having a structure and knowing what's going on, but also factoring in the inevitable things that- -

 

Ben: Just life I guess. 

 

Owen: Yeah, sometimes it doesn't go the way you think it's going to go. So you have to kind of expect the unexpected in it. 

 

Ben: Yeah, I think, I think as well like it goes back to what you were saying about your stress bucket, which again we'll talk about in a lot more detail in a second. But it's like if you will- if you- If you allow that to get to a point where it's like almost full, but then you're stressed about stressing like you said, you know if you haven't factored in that life is so unpredictable, I think that's a way of getting you more stressed, so I think it really is a balancing act, and I think that perfectly sort of goes into the stress book analogy and how to relieve stress. So do you want to just talk very briefly about what the stress bucket is and what your blog post was about? 

 

Owen: Yeah, so basically the stress bucket, it was a model that was invented in 2002. And it symbolizes there- So this the bucket itself is meant to be how you- The amount of stress that you can deal with. So one person's stress bucket might be a lot bigger or a lot smaller than somebody else's. So how much stress you can deal with is your bucket itself. And then everything that causes you stress- it could be assignments, it could be relationship issues, it could be financial pressures, it could be health concerns, it could be all sorts of stuff that- they're taps pouring into your bucket. And eventually, what could happen is if you let those taps get too much, your bucket could overflow. And that's what we don't want. So what we need to do to stop that from happening is poke loads of holes in the bottom of our bucket so that this extra water can be removed. And the stress can dissipate or... What you want is to create a bucket that has so many holes in it that as the stress comes in, it doesn't fill up before it goes out. So things that could be holes in your bucket could be practicing mindfulness, going for exercise, actually taking time to enjoy the things that you're doing. It could be talking to your friends and family. There's all sorts of ways that you can put holes in your bucket, but the idea is. You want to not allow your bucket to overflow. 

 

Ben: Well, I mean that literally is perfect. It sort of highlights everything that we've talked about and again segues perfectly into how we personally can relieve stress and deal with stress, because, again, like I said, 17 different times already, that everyone will experience it differently. It's not a one size fits all. You know, what we're saying now is just our experiences. You know? We're not saying do this and you'll be fine, because if that was the case then someone would have packaged that thought up and sold it for hundreds of thousands of pounds because I personally would definitely buy it. Especially with the amount of stress that you get in life, because life is never stress-free as much as I think everyone would love no drama, no worries, it's just not- not viable, at least in my life. You might be very lucky and be like, yeah, everyone was way out. –

 

Owen: I can wish. –

 

Ben: Stress-free life would be just absolutely ideal. So I'll ask you first, then Owen. How do you personally poke holes in your stress bucket? What do you do? What are your like, key things that sort of signify, right, I'm getting stressed, I need to start poking some holes in the bucket. 

 

Owen: I don't know what necessarily would signify something that when- do you ever feel like your mind is just, you can't think properly because you've got too many things going on? 

 

Ben: Oh, that's just me normally mate. I've nothing between the ears. I'm just hollow. 

 

Owen: When I- when I can't think properly, and if I... So what I spoke about in the blog post and in also my blog post for to-do lists, is... Sometimes- Research has shown that if you're not organized, when you- Say you have two assignments, and you're doing one of them. If you've not organized what you're going to do for the other one. While you're trying to do one, your brain is too busy thinking about what- thinking about the other one. Whereas if you've set out, Oh, I'm going to do this assignment on this day and this is assignment on this day. Your brain knows that your other assignment is going to be gotten to at some point, so it doesn't need to worry about it now and it lets you focus on what you want, what you need to be doing at that point in time. And when my brain is thinking about way too many things, I know I'm not going to get anything done because it's not actually focusing on the thing that I need to do. So yeah, normally if I when I get really stressed I have to get away from whatever I was doing before, so that could be going for a walk up Steep Hill or going for a run down by the canal. Absolutely love going down the canal for a run, 'cause I have an affinity for water like. I swim- well. I used to swim all the time, but I can't really in Lincoln, but absolutely love swimming and being near water for me is just the most calming thing. So I love walking down the canal, seeing the water, seeing all the waves, seeing the swans, they all swim along, but for me that pokes a massive hole in my bucket because it kind of- it slows some of the taps down as well because it's removing all of this, stressing factors. But then it is also taking it to a place where you feel calm. 

 

Ben: Yeah, well mate, that sounds. You seem to- Listen, I'm gonna go back to it - you are the stress expert. Like what you've said there, I'm sat there like...I feel like I've just been counselled, feel like I've just been told the secrets of life like- I can do anything now! No, it's ace mate, what you're talking about and I love the fact as well that you you know almost find like a happy place and sort of go right, I love water, I have an affinity to water so that's where I'm going to go to sort of calm yourself down and I think I think being in and around Lincoln and Lincolnshire and East Lindsey and stuff, there are a lot of lovely like beaches and things you can go to. Again, you've got the canal. You've got the Brayford, you know, we've got so many really lovely, picturesque places in Lincoln that that really will allow you to take your mind off things. I think that is a fantastic one, and going back to what you were saying a second ago about when you can't think properly. I never really realized this until sort of the beginning of my Masters, so sort of September, October last year, and especially during the pandemic and stuff like that. It's been really hard to focus my thoughts, but when I have got 15 different things to do and I haven't physically written them down or categorized them or actually really know what I'm doing, my mind can get so clouded with stress like I have. I don't know if you can see, but I'll try and spin around. You can see I have a white board behind me effectively. Is what I'm trying to say, but on my door I've just spent two seconds trying to look like an absolute moron, but. Get behind me, I'll go this way. I have a white board behind me and I never used it for- When I was at undergraduate, especially when I lived in Lincoln, I had I buy a whiteboard every year like I'm gonna use, I'm gonna use. I never ever used it. So for my Masters I thought, right? I'm going to take a little more seriously. And I started to write down every deadline I've got, everything I need to do for that deadline. Have I done it, Have I not done it. You know, little notes and things, and that has actually helped me relieve my stress like so much because I'm not sat there going. You know, I'm not sat there typing then going. I've got to. I've got the other module. What have I got to do for that one? 'cause I've got it written down I know exactly what I need to do. And I think I think when you said that it really manifested with me that that yeah, you know this. This is really helpful and I've got a notebook here as well that I just write like useless little notes in, you know things that I need and I never did this in in undergrad. Never really used one of these and it's actually been one of the best things to have because, again, if you ever thought you could write it down. 

 

Owen: I have a pack of post-its in the top drawer of my desk so whenever I have a moment or there's something that I think of that I need to do, or there's something popped up that's really important that someone's mentioned or something I think of that I need to remember. I write it down, shove it on my desk so that next time at my desk I know that I'll see it again. 

 

Ben: Yeah, it's physically there, so you haven't gotta rethink what it was. It's already there. 

 

Owen: Yeah, and one thing I found really, really useful that I know not a lot of people look at is most courses I know within the School of Chemistry. I'm not sure about your school. Provide an assessment map on Blackboard. So for our assessment maps, had it in the foundation here. Had it this year, it tells you all of your assessments, the deadlines. When there- so the deadlines, what you need to do for each one, and the weighting of your module. Of how much the module you get, so the way they... Normally what they do is, well, at the top is, it has a number of weeks and what's covered in each week in terms of assessments. So what I did last year was I had that kinda on my wall in my accommodation and every week I got highlighter and I highlighted out one of the blocks of the weeks, so I knew what week I was at uni. But I also knew how far I've gone through my assessment. So, you could see because I was in front of my desk every day, I could see oh in two weeks time I have this lab report and this essay due and you can kind of begin to manage that in and I have the same thing this year for all of my modules. I have my assessment maps tucked into my drawer so that I can just pull them out, highlight them off and I know what's happening. –

 

Ben: I think that that's a really good thing though. 'cause again you all you're doing is you're allowing yourself to not get stressed 'cause you know exactly what you need to do that week instead of just sort of flustering, and being like, Oh my God, I've got so much to do and like I don't do any of this, I'm not going to lie to you. I don't, I don't, I know what I need to do things, hence why I use the white board. 

 

Owen: Not everyone will need to do it. People are very different and everyone's stress buckets are different. Some people could have a stress bucket the size of like I don't know. A huge paddling pool. Other people could have a stress bucket the size of a thimble like people... We all come from different backgrounds, have different experiences growing up. We've all learned to manage it differently. And I think. The University seems to be very understanding with- University can cause you stress and there is a lot of support to help you that can be accessed through wellbeing. They do all sorts of stress workshops that people can go to, and we also do have a few posts and I think a few videos on Student Life about stress that people can go and look at if they need more resources. 

 

Ben: Yeah, absolutely. I think that's definitely a big sort of, you know, big alert to say that there are support- There is support if you need it. You know it's not just a case of talking to flatmates or talking to friends. There are genuine people, genuine practitioners that can help you, especially at the University of Lincoln there are- You've got the student support services which you can you know. Just give it a Google if you're not sure where they are, that will come straight up. You've also got the Medical Centre that's located just to the right of the Stephen Langton building. Again, if you're from the University of Lincoln you'll know where that is. Next to the Swan, as everyone knows where the Swan is, it's the pub. Everyone knows where that is. Literally to the left of that is the Medical Centre. So if you do need help with stress is important to note - thank you for reminding me Owen - there are, they are there if you need them and I'm going to quickly go back to what you were saying of how you deal with stress, because obviously we've looked at, looked at what you do. I think I'm going to just throw my two pence into the conversation that I'm a big believer in- I think I've said this so many times, like it'll be fine. It will sort itself out and whilst that is the case for some things, you know, probably 50% of my problems do sort themselves out. You know if I've had a bad day, I'll go to sleep and I'll be fine. 'cause it was just a problem that day, but for me I love fitness. I love running. I love going to the gym. I love that sort of stuff and I've realized 'cause I've when we're recording this. This is the first week that restrictions have been lifted in the UK, so as of the 12th of April, nonessential shops, gyms, swimming pools have all reopened and this week more than ever has made me realize how much I've missed the gym and how. How sort of easy it is to get cloudy vision and sort of this this tunnel vision of stress and going to the gym and lifting some, lifting some weights. Going for a run, whatever. Whatever it is that I'm doing is a massive weight off. -Oh 100%. Pardon the pun. 

 

Owen: When I was doing A levels I would go for a swim every single Wednesday 8:00 o'clock I would go to my local pool. I would do 100 lengths of the pool. And I did that for the full two years that I did my A levels and I always thought that was the time that I had every single week where I could go. Not think about work, not think about everything and it 100% just clears your mind, right? It's crazy and I always say when people ask me about swimming, right? If I didn't do my swimming at that point in time, I feel like my brain would have literally exploded because, you know? –

 

Ben: You would have just gone into over drive, like I'm not doing this anymore. 

 

Owen: There's so much all of the time, and the same is true at University. Your brain is constantly processing so much. It needs to have time to relax and to not actually think because... I don't about you when you're in the gym, but when I'm swimming, I'm it's very repetitive and you don't have to think about it that much. 

 

Ben: You can sort of just switch off. 

 

Owen: You do your thing and your brain can just relax and not think about anything that stressing and what- it's like when you're sleeping, your brain is processing what's, what you've been thinking throughout the day. So even when you're sleeping, your brain and your subconscious is still thinking about everything that's going on. But for me, when I go swimming my mind is just clear and I focus on doing my strokes and getting- breaking my PB's and trying to better that and I don't need to worry about anything else that's going on. 

 

Ben: Yes, stress- stress at that point just disappears and it's the same with me, like when I'm, when I'm lifting weights or or, you know, doing whatever it is. I feel like I'm almost- the built up frustration and the tension is sort of taken out on that lift, do you know what I mean? Like you when you're lifting or when you're swimming, you are thinking about it, but you're not thinking about it, if that makes sense. Like you're thinking about the movement, thinking about the muscles that you're working, but you're not actually thinking I am lifting a weight, and for me that sort of aggression and just pushing and pulling and jumping and running and- is a great exertion of energy, which I translate from stress. –

 

Owen: And I feel like getting that energy out is really, really important and you can get that energy out in all sorts of ways. It doesn't have to be exercise. You could get that energy out through interpretive dance or through painting a really beautiful picture, but you can get that energy out in all sorts of ways, but I 100% get what you're saying with exercise even though I've said it 100% a 1000 times. I do get what you mean. So when I go running sometimes. If I'm stressed or I'm listening to a song and- I don't know about you but I really connect with music and I'm very much like lyrics mean a lot to me in certain songs. And when certain songs come on and I'm feeling stressed and the lyrics relate to something that I'm stressed about. There's certain times where I have just like- yeeted myself down the Brayford because certain lyrics of a song of come on and I'm like Yeah! 

 

Ben: -Yeah, shot- shot down there. 

 

Owen: -Literally, yeah, you just get it out and you feel so much better once you've kind of exerted that energy and then you're kind of dying at the end because your legs are like what have you just done to me and as an asthmatic my lungs are kind of caving in at that point but sometimes... -But, but it was the music that made you do it. -I know. But it's- you have to get that energy out just be safe while you're getting that energy out. 

 

Ben: You know, I never. I never ever thought I would hear the word yeeted in a Fresher Take podcast. So I'm I'm here for that. 

 

Owen: There's a first time for everything, Ben. Absolutely. So I'm going to move on now, Owen, to sort of the last little section and we're going to go over this quite briefly, but I think it's an interesting topic. We're going a little bit deeper to it because we've looked at what stress is. We've looked at it- it's sort of a negative. It has negative connotations of like- if you're stressed, you're doing too much. If you're stressed, you're overthinking. If you're stressed, you know, that might cause anger and anxiety to flourish a little bit more in- in your, in your, emotions and in your personal life. But is stress actually a good thing? Now I- I had a little think about this 'cause I thought it's a good thing to add into a, into the podcast episode. And again I'm going to go over it a little bit briefly. But if you want to listen more, there'll probably be loads of articles and things that you can read not only on Student Life, but also if you just jump down the rabbit hole of YouTube and I personally think that stress is inherently a good thing because it means that you are out of your comfort zone and you are experiencing a high performance or expecting a high performance from yourself. You know, if you live your entire life and your comfort zone and never having to worry or stress about anything, are you necessarily progressing forward? Like I'm a big advocate for positive mental attitudes and mindfulness and things, and I think sometimes you have to put a positive spin on things and that positive spin is, in fact, stress is actually meaning that you not only care about something, but you're also pushing yourself to exertion, whether that be mentally, physically, emotionally, you know, I think it's a good thing. 

 

Owen: I feel like it gives you a driving force, and although sometimes the driving force can push you too hard and you end up burning out, and that's when your bucket overflows, and that's what we don't want. But having your bucket somewhat filled isn't a bad thing, because I feel like we all need varying levels of stress. Otherwise, when, as you say, we're not. We're not going to get anywhere, and it gives- I don't want to stress gives meaning to things, but if you have to work hard to do something, and it's hard to do, It means more once you've done it. And if you, as you say, if we didn't have to experience stress and everything was plain sailing really easy. I feel like things wouldn't mean as much as they do now because it's just easy and everyone can do it, but that's not the nature of life. The nature of life is that we experience stress. We just have to learn to manage it in a way that works for us. 

 

Ben: Yeah, well, you've hit the nail on the head there mate and again that it perfectly wraps up that stress maybe isn't always a negative. So what we're going to jump into now is the final segment of the podcast, which is today's exercise for the podcast episode and Owen I'm going to leave this one to you because, again, you've talked about the stress bucket on your art- in your article, and you've also included a little exercise as well. Do you want to explain that again, very briefly, to the beautiful listeners of the Fresher Take podcast? 

 

Owen: Yes, so if you go ahead to the article, shameless plug there. Research has shown that breathing can be a great way to manage your stress, and the Student Wellbeing Center released a great thing that you can see on the post about box breathing. So that is the exercise for this podcast. It's really easy, you just inhale your breath for four seconds. You hold your breath for four more seconds, and then you exhale for four seconds and then you pause for four seconds before breathing again. So it's four sets of four. So inhale, hold. Exhale, pause. And you can just repeat that as for as many times as you need, but box breathing and other breathing techniques have been shown to kind of help you get a better control of your breathing and of your stress. 

 

Ben: There we go. A fantastic, very simple exercise that can help your stress because I guess it's that thing of detaching yourself from the situation and taking a second to sort of breathe and not worry and sort of just relax and think, you know, almost reflection, and that is. That is today's episode, that is today's episode wrapped up. You know. We've- there's been highs. There's been lows. There's been laughs. Owen's even said the word yeeted so it really has been a complete, complete package, the Fresher Take podcast today, and of course, as always as I always say at the end of every podcast, make sure, if you want more content like this, some fantastic articles, some fantastic videos, make sure you stay locked to the University of Lincoln Student Life socials. We've got a website which is studentlife.lincoln.ac.uk. I always get that mixed up even though I'm always on it. We've got YouTube. We've got Twitter. We've got Instagram. We've even got TikTok. So if you want to see me- -Don't forget the TikTok, Ben. If you want to see me do some stupid dances, I'll probably be on there at some point. I think I have actually done one with Becki. It was a stupid little dance. If you fancy it, give it a look on- all of our usernames on social media are @UoLstudentlife. That's no spaces. That's @UoLstudentlife. I think personally the University of Lincoln produces some of, if not the best student-based content available to any person. So if you want to check out all of the information is, is available to you and I believe they're always in the description of every video and podcast that you listen to, so that's where you go for the next episode. But that is it from me. I hope you have enjoyed, have you enjoyed yourself, Owen? 

 

Owen: I have thank you so much for having me. I just want to throw in there, as we mentioned, there's loads of support that you can get from the University. But if you also want external support to manage your stress or manage your mental health, if you go onto the article on managing stress, which will hopefully be in the description or in the show notes on whatever you're listening to, whatever you're listening on. If you scroll to the bottom of that article, there's a link to Heads Together and their get support page, which is a great way- it has all sorts of external supports available for everything from stress to anxiety. It's for everyone, and that's 24 hour support, if you need it, and that's external if you feel like you need external support. 

 

Ben: Yeah, because you gotta remember guys, there is always support available to you whether you need it or whether, whether you don't. So it's always good to have that in. But from me, Ben and from Owen, thank you very much for watching or listening. We hope you enjoy this podcast, and as always, we'll see you next time. -Bye.