Stress and Academic Performance

Stress is something that is part of our life and every human has a natural feeling to interact with it. Arguably the majority of human beings experience stress regardless of cultural background race age occupation religion etc. (SAMHSA 2014). Stress is that feeling when cannot sit still when thoughts are racing and feel out of control. Body feels tense as if tied into a knot. Feel revved up while cannot figure out where to direct energy (Kottler and Chen 2011). Thus stress represents both psychological and physiological reaction to a real or perceived threat that requires some action or resolution. Our response to such stress activates cognitive behavioral and biological reactions when sustained and chronic result in significant harmful health effects (Chew2014). Research on stressors and its impact on the academic environment for both students and lecturers haves also received considerable attention over the past years (Ahmed et al. 2013).