While midterms and finals are several weeks away, a discussion of the causes and effects of stress is necessary because the time to prevent them is now. Apparently, procrastination is a completely normal behavior. According to the State University of New York at Buffalo's Counseling Center, an estimated 90 percent of college students are regular procrastinators. As a frequent procrastinator, let me add that I have no right to sit on my high horse critiquing the student body for its bad study habits. I find myself stressing out much too often, and it's time to break the cycle of procrastination and subsequent stress.
Procrastination is paradoxically both the cause and the result of stress.
It is no surprise that putting off reading three chapters of your economics book until the night before the midterm will stress you out. Although some students prefer to work under such pressure, procrastination ultimately produces anxiety. Although you may get the work done on time, you'll lose sleep, fall behind in your other classes and miss out on some social opportunities, which will stress you out even further. Having anxiety about an assignment or an exam may cause you to further postpone studying. In addition, if you're a perfectionist or have unrealistic expectations for performance, you may constantly fret about your studies and your grades, which may prevent you from concentrating on the task at hand.