Stress and Time Management

Stress is a fact of every human life in day to day activities. Stress is a normal psychological reaction when the brain recognizes threats of life (Bernstein, 2016). Stress is both positive and negative stressors. It can help to cope with life challenges. Students suffer from stress on some level. It mainly based on empirical study. This research focuses on stress and time management in college students during their academic studies.

Time is an essential resource everyone possesses equally but fails to utilize at the same level due to a variety of reasons. The only asset that cannot be changed or purchased or stored is time itself. The secret to achieving success in life is effectively managing this resource that everyone possesses equally and paying enough emphasis to plan (Scott, 2018). Good time management is essential for everybody, especially for university students whose schedule is often packed with activities and lessons.

Good time management to reduce stress include techniques such as setting goals, prioritize, determine if you are being proactive or reactive, monitor the use of time, and do not procrastinate can facilitate productivity and minimize stress, contributing to work effectiveness, maintaining balance and academic success (Five Time Management Techniques to Reduce Stress, 2015). From this broadened perspective, people can see that the real value of time management is that it enhances their lives in all dimensions. What people gain from time management is not more time, but a better, lower stress level, life.

Time concept is a problem for university students' academic life and their social life. In trying to read all the books and chapters assigned, meet paper deadlines, and participate in extracurricular activities, university students may become overwhelmed with feeling that there is not enough time to complete all their work adequately. Good time management behaviors can facilitate productivity and minimize stress (Tresca, n.d.). On the other hand, poor time management behaviors, such as not allocating time properly or last-minute cramming for exams are sources of stress and poor academic performance. The importance of time management and time practices has been increasing day by day and especially there is a lack of studies related to time management and academic achievement (Tresca, n.d.).

Time management has been referred to as techniques for managing time a technique for effective time use, planning and allocating time; the degree to which individuals perceive their use of time to be structured and purposive; a technique to increase the time available to pursue activities; self-regulation strategies aimed at discussing plans, and their efficiency (Sloan, 2018). It is argued that time management refers to the process of stacking greater amounts of work and activity into a certain length of time. Additionally, research has reported evidence for the multi-dimensional nature of the time management construct. Time management was conceptualized in terms of short-range planning, time attitudes, and long-range planning (McCarthy, 2018).

Not only the matter of time management bothers university students, but also the stress created during the academic years. Stress can be defined as a process in which environment demand strains an organismr's adaptive capacity, resulting in both psychological as well as biological changes that could place a person at risk for illness (Tresca, n.d.). University students might experience high stress due to academic commitments, financial pressures and lack of time management skills. When stress is perceived negatively or becomes excessive, it can affect both health and academic performance.

It is important students deal with stress. For those students who do not deal with stress, it could result in feelings of nervousness, unnecessary worrying, and lack of sleep. Certain levels of stress can either enhance or decrease performance (Sloan, 2018). A reasonable amount of stress may be crucial in order to encourage an individual to get the job done (Ingram, LaForge, Avila, Schwepker, & Williams, 2017). Also, a certain level of stress may increase performance. Those times when stress pushes you to study hard or cause you to spend more time on a class project can be helpful. However, too much stress may drastically slow down academic success for a college student by impairing memory, an important component of learning. Certain levels of stress are normal, but students need to learn how to manage their stress when it becomes overwhelming.

A negative relationship was found between time management and perceived stress. For example, it is found that lower stress levels were most strongly correlated to the factor perceived control of time (Sloan, 2018). This suggests that regardless if one undertakes time management activities and behaviors, such as writing lists and setting goals if they do not perceive to be in control of their time, they will still feel stressed. A negative correlation was found between time management behaviors and perceived academic stress (Sloan, 2018). This would mean that stress levels are decreased among students who manage their time well.

Based on the research, it perceives that both time management and stress are significant predictors of academic achievement. Also, the good predictor of academic achievement was found to be the combined effect of time management and perceived stress. This research emphasizes the importance of understanding the role of time management in academic achievement and everyday life to help reduce stress (Five Time Management Techniques to Reduce Stress, 2015). Certainly, students who are unable to manage time well may be at risk for underachievement. In order to remain successful and maintain a low-stress life, one needs to manage time in a fashion that will help them succeed and not fail academically and professionally.

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