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Wellness

Pumpkin Spice Anxiety: Anxiety in the Fall and How to Help

Updated Published
Annie Reyes
The opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at WSU chapter.
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Photo by Juja Han from Unsplash

I love fall. Between football games, Gilmore Girls, and hot coffees on crisp walks, fall might just be my favorite season. However, something that is not often talked about is the anxiety that comes along with fall. Fall is so overwhelming. With getting used to having to do homework again, getting sick all the time, and having a full social calendar, my anxiety always spikes during this season. Even if you don’t have anxiety, I’m sure you’ve felt the pressure of turning in your assignments on time. Trying to decide if you should miss this lab because you are sick, but you can only miss two labs and it’s only the first month of school. Deciding between going out with all your friends so you don’t have FOMO or staying in to let your body heal. It’s a lot to deal with all at once! So as someone who has these same struggles every year, I decided to share some of my favorite ways to help with what I like to call: Pumpkin Spice Anxiety. 

SLEEP 

This may sound like a no brainer, but I often struggle to get enough sleep in the fall. All I want to do is have a good time with my new friends, but unfortunately, sleep is important to your one’s well-being. It’s connected to everything you do and not getting enough of it may be why you’re struggling so much. I try to stick to an every-other-night rule. Every other night I make myself stay in and just watch a movie in bed and go to sleep early. Do I always follow this rule? No. Especially on weekends when literally everyone and their mothers are going out, but I make myself at least pause and weigh the benefits. If I can sleep in the next morning, maybe I’ll let myself stay out a little later. Class in the morning? Maybe it’s time to go to bed. 

STAYING ON TOP OF WORK 

I’ve been really struggling with staying on top of schoolwork this semester, and I’m sure many of y’all feel the same. However, if you can take a little time every day to check in on what assignments you have due and what you can get done, it’ll help you feel a lot less frazzled. There’s nothing worse than being out with your friends and realizing you have an assignment due in 15 minutes and you haven’t even started. 

GOING OUTSIDE 

There’s nothing that compares to taking a little walk outside and just being in nature. I take this time on my walks to classes. I allow for a little extra time to just slow down, take in my surroundings, and realize how magnificent our earth is. There’s nothing more freeing to me than realizing how small your problems are compared to how vast our earth and solar system is. Getting sunlight on your skin has also been linked to reduced levels of depression and it always helps me to feel better. 

CONNECTING AND GROUNDING 

Having connections is so important to your well-being when you’re struggling. You may not have a secure group of friends yet but keep putting yourself out there. We need human connection to thrive. I also believe grounding yourself with whatever spirituality you believe in is super important. For me, that is just sitting under a tree and breathing. For others it may be going to church or meditating in the mornings. Take that time to feel good. 

Anxiety in the fall is incredibly common but is not talked about as much as it should be. Everyone struggles a little, especially in college, but don’t give up! Keep trying new things while taking time to also make it to bed at a reasonable hour. 

Sources:  

Wang, Jie, et al. “Association between Sunlight Exposure and Mental Health: Evidence from a Special Population without Sunlight in Work.” Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 14 June 2023, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10277019/#:~:text=It%20was%20reported%20that%20people,decreases%20in%20mental%20health%20distress. 

Annie is a writer at the Her Campus WSU chapter. She’s always enjoyed writing and is excited for a new way to be creative with a team. Annie is from Austin, Texas and is currently a freshman at WSU majoring in human nutrition and food systems. She has always enjoyed writing in classes and for competitions but this will be her first time working on a team for a magazine! Back in Austin, Annie worked on a vegetable farm harvesting veggies and selling fresh produce at farmers markets. Over the past summer she also worked as a Camp Counselor at an overnight outdoors camp for kids. In her free time, Annie enjoys gardening, reading romance novels, listening to true crime podcasts, and shopping. Annie also enjoys music and loves to try out new instruments. (though more often than not, she doesn’t get very far.) Some of her favorite artists are Taylor Swift and Noah Kahn and will often try to learn a new instrument to be able to play a song by them. Annie is passionate about agriculture, our food system, and food inequity, and plans to explore these fields in her career in the future.