Coping with Anxiety and Depression - Resources for Students: Recommended Websites

As the name suggests, this site is designed to encourage you to spend two minutes doing nothing but relaxing.

This site plays the sounds of waves and ocean birds while a timer is displayed, counting down two minutes. If your mouse or keyboard is touched, the timer will reset.

This site guides you through the process of breathing mindfully, focusing on taking deep breaths.

This process has been proven to calm those in a state of agitation, and can be helpful to bookmark as a calming resource.

The idea behind myNoise is to use the noises you most enjoy to mask the noises you don’t want to hear: chatty colleagues, your tinnitus, or even your inner voice when you can't shut it down! The concept is simple, works extremely well, and doesn’t require expensive noise-cancelling headphones. Thanks to its sound quality and unique audio engineering, myNoise sets the standard among online background noise machines.

If you're studying and working at your computer all day, you know it can be easy to lose track of time, and to get burnt out.

Studies have suggested that taking breaks at set intervals helps reduce stress overall, and that's what this site is designed to do: pop up and remind you to take a break at a set interval.

Note that you can also achieve a similar effect with a timer set on your computer or phone if needed.

If you are currently going through a stressful experience and want better understanding of it and some guidance, this text-based analysis tool can help!

Simply follow the step-by-step prompts and you'll receive insight into your situation as well as the best ways for you to handle it.

Silk is an interactive site that allows you to create art by moving your mouse.

With no time limit, restrictions, or required background noise/music, you are free to focus on the experience and draw to your heart's content.

Soundrown is a soundscape site that allows you to listen to a single--or multiple--looping soundscapes at the same time, such as the sounds of a busy coffee shop, or the relaxing sounds of a thunderstorm outside.

Some find that listening to soundscapes like these helps them focus better on their work, and makes them feel calmer as well.

SPARX is a free game designed to help young people dealing with depression and anxiety process their feelings, learn CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) skills, and learn and practice real-life skills in a fantasy world.

Tamara Levitt guides this 10 minute Daily Calm mindfulness meditation to powerfully restore and re-connect with the present.

Calm's channel also offers more meditations, breathing exercises, and calming sounds/music to help you feel centered.

This page lists and describes the best exercises for reducing stress, and promoting physical and mental relaxation.

The focus of this site is mindfulness as practiced in mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR), mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and other closely related approaches.

The Free Resources page lists free guided meditation exercises that are protected by creative commons licenses.

This site provides free guided meditations in English and Spanish.

This podcast offers free guided meditations, instructions for meditation, and music for meditation.

Yoga is a great way to get some exercise and reduce your stress, and the best part is, you can do it at home!

"Yoga with Adriene" is a channel dedicated to providing people with free instructional yoga videos. Consider browsing her channel for videos focused on specific things you would like to improve, and even different types of pain you may be experiencing, in order to improve your stress levels!

Neuroscientists at Mindlab conducted a study to identify the most relaxing songs ever created, and this site lists their top 10 picks! You can also play these relaxing songs, and, since they're available on all streaming platforms, consider making a playlist of the ones you like best!

This infographic details stress management information for students along with suggestions on small changes you can make that will make big differences for mental health.

Bullet journaling is a method of organization that often helps reduce stress. By learning to bullet journal, you can focus your energy on productivity, break tasks down, and reduce stress overall.

In this course you will engage in a series of challenges designed to increase your own happiness and build more productive habits. As preparation for these tasks, Professor Laurie Santos reveals misconceptions about happiness, annoying features of the mind that lead us to think the way we do, and the research that can help us change. You will ultimately be prepared to successfully incorporate a specific wellness activity into your life.

Note: This course is free, but you will need to create a free Coursera account in order to officially enroll.

This detailed guide contains helpful tips and tricks for managing your stress, as well as information about why stress management is so important.

A guide from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America that explains how to reframe anxious thinking about the pandemic and about the quarantining process.

Doing What Matters in Times of Stress: An Illustrated Guide is a stress management guide for coping with adversity. The guide aims to equip people with practical skills to help cope with stress. A few minutes each day are enough to practice the self-help techniques. The guide can be used alone or with the accompanying audio exercises.

Informed by evidence and extensive field testing, the guide is for anyone who experiences stress, wherever they live and whatever their circumstances.