Andressa Lima da SILVA and Taylor Alves CABRAL
Plurais - Revista Multidisciplinar, Salvador, v. 9, n. esp. 1, e024007, 2024. e-ISSN: 2177-5060
DOI: https://doi.org/10.29378/plurais.v9iesp.1.19339 7
The day-to-day life experienced by students can present stressful situations, since they
are being assessed and this assessment can have a positive or negative influence on their future.
This fine line represents threats and can cause distressing feelings, which, when poorly
managed, can lead to stress and all its physical and psychological symptoms.
Stress is a reaction of the body to situations that are either too difficult or too
exciting, which can occur in anyone, regardless of age, race, gender or socio-
economic situation. Due to the constant contact with stressors, most people
experience different reactions that can lead to overload, which varies from
person to person. However, once a certain limit is exceeded, the body goes
into stress (Lipp, 2006, p. 16, our translation).
The first appearance of the term stress in relation to mental health was in 1936, by the
author Hans Selye, who entered the words of physics and used the term stress to designate
tension and wear and tear. According to Selye
The term stress was first used in physics to translate the degree of deformity
suffered by a material when subjected to an effort or tension and this term was
transposed to medicine and biology, meaning the organism's effort to adapt to
situations that it considers threatening to its life and internal balance (Selve,
1926, p. 2, our translation).
Stress is the body's reaction to an event that can change the individual's routine and
usually occurs when there is a need to adapt to a change. When adaptation occurs satisfactorily,
stress becomes something beneficial to the individual, as they understand that they have
managed to cope with the new situation (Everly, 1989). However, when the adaptation effort is
not sufficient to deal with the stressful situation, the individual feels pressured, fatigued,
uncomfortable and this movement can develop physical and mental symptoms and hinder the
learning process (Tabaquim; Marquesini, 2013).
The most common physical and mental symptoms of stress in students are increased
sweating, dry mouth, muscle tension, nausea, stomach pain, tingling, and headaches; the
psychological symptoms are: interpersonal difficulties, excessive worry, anxiety, tension,
anguish, mood swings, lack of concentration (Milsted; Amorim; Santos, 2009; Monteiro;
Freitas; Ribeiro, 2007).
In the course under study, there is a diverse and plural audience in terms of age, gender,
social class, professional activity and school life. If, on the one hand, we have students who
have just finished high school and have already joined the courses, on the other, we also have
individuals who were away from academic life and have returned to school.