Last week we shared a retweet to get the word out about an on-campus support service very near and dear to our hearts:

Therapy dogs will be in session tomorrow from 1-2pm at the International Students Centre.

— UWindsor (@UWindsor) October 20, 2015

You might laugh, but apparently a lot of us were in need of some helping paws this October exam season. After gaining in popularity over the last few years, therapeutic animals are now widely used by universities and colleges across North America (and in the UK, too) to help students manage their stress levels throughout the academic year. The message is simple: students are susceptible to stress, and we as an academic community need to get better and more creative at combating that stress.

I’ve written here before about the difficult responsibilities that come with being a TA, both promoting mental health awareness and providing students with strategies for combatting stress. The stakes are raised, however, when we’re talking about exams. Stress is to exams as cats are to tuna – inseparable, that is. The panic that exams and midterms can create can often alter the entire learning environment, including the teacher-student relationship. What do we know about exam stress?

Exam Stress: The Nature of the Beast

No two people are likely to experience exam stress the same way, nor are they likely to experience only one kind. Traditionally, we tend to imagine exam stress as the realm of the under- and over-prepared. That’s not entirely accurate, however. The fear of tests – a.k.a. “testophobia” – is very real and very common among students at all levels. Other students obsess about the results regardless of how prepared they are. The reality is that any number of factors can contribute to the way exams might be a stressor to you or someone you know.

In an informative reflection on exam stress on the Advice and Support Centre’s webpage, the University of St. Andrews describes “Exam Anxiety” as being anything from “excessive worrying about upcoming exams” to a general “fear of being evaluated,” or “apprehension about the consequences.” They also identify the familiar culprits we blame for all of our stress in academia: lifestyle choices, information needs, study habits, and other psychological factors. But what I really like are their techniques for managing stress while writing exams, like this tension exercise:

“Total tension release (can be done lying down or sitting):-

• tense your whole body one part at a time
• lift your toes and tense both calves
• tense your thighs and buttocks
• tighten your abdomen
• tense your chest and back
• tighten your arms and clench your fists
• tense your neck and clench your jaw
• tightly close your eyes
• take a deep breath and hold it for five seconds
• let your breath and the tension in your body go all at once
• feel the tension leave your body”

I used to joke with students that they should get angry at an exam, instead of stressed. I’d often quip, “Pretend that the exam insulted your loved one and it’s your duty to score as high as possible in order to avenge them.” Laura Bridgestock has also collected a sometimes comical list of what not to do when coping with exam stress, including faking your own kidnapping. Yes, humour can be a powerful anecdote to stress (see Moran and Hughes, 2006 for example), but it’s not effective for everyone. Some might even feel like your humour is belittling their anxiety. The fact is, exam stress, just like any prolonged period of stress, is a very serious and very dangerous thing.

This Is Your Brain On Stress

There are ways in which exam stress is just like any other stress you’ll experience in higher education. After all, many of the activities you might normally do to manage your everyday stress levels still apply to exams. For instance, building a study schedule, taking a walk, or listening to soothing music can all help manage exam stress. What you might not realize is just how dramatic of an effect these can have on your brain activity. In a collection of her own tips for combating exam stress, Andrea Leyden at Examtime shared an image from Dr. Chuck Hillman’s research at the University of Illinois, which studied brain activity in subjects  before and after a 20 minute walk. On average, participants who were physically active for a short period  saw increased brain activity. Keep that in mind for when your studying for hours on end, sedentary, locked away in your dorm room.

“The Stress-Brain Loop,” copyright of the Women’s Health Network.

Perhaps what’s more affecting, though, is the research on what the brain looks like when suffering from stress. An article posted by Psychology Today in 2014 suggested that individuals who experience repeated and prolonged stress may actually suffer damage to their brain structure. This type of chronic stress forces the brain into a production loop that alters its own structure chemically and, as a result, physically. Sometimes dubbed “the stress-brain loop,” this  cycle can affect functions such as memory, attention, and even word selection. Without taking action to combat exam stress, then, many might actually be impacting their exam performance in exactly the way they fear.

Finding Support For Your Students

There is a growing awareness about mental health issues on campus at the University of Windsor. @UWinMentalHealth, the Twitter handle of the Mental Health Awareness club, is an excellent resource on and advocate for mental health issues on campus and in the community.

The Student Counseling Centre also continues to provide a range of services supporting students’ mental health. As this page explains, it’s really easy to make an appointment with them, too. Good2Talk, a free, bilingual, provincial-wide help hotline dedicated to post-secondary students, is also available 24hours a day, at 1-866-925-5454.

If you’re taking to proactive approach, you should also encourage your students to sign up for one of the exam preparation workshops with the S.T.E.P.S. team. Look for more sessions on how to prepare for exams, including those pesky multiple choice exams, in the Fall 2015 S.T.E.P.S. Schedule.