University is a time of growth and opportunity, but it is also a period when stress can quietly take hold. In Switzerland, about one in four students reports moderate to severe symptoms of depression or anxiety (Pittet et al., 2024). When your ability to concentrate drops, sleep becomes disrupted, and fatigue builds up, it is not just your performance that suffers; your quality of life does too. This workshop explores how to recognize those early signs and build real robustness, so that stress becomes a signal, not a sentence.

This stress is not solely psychological; it involves a cascade of neurobiological and physiological responses. Common indicators include persistent fatigue, cognitive fragmentation, emotional dysregulation, and sleep disturbances, all of which reflect the chronic activation of the body's stress response systems (Keller et al., 2024). Left unaddressed, these physiological patterns can significantly impact academic performance, decision-making, and overall well-being.

In this session, Dr. Sanae Tabnaoui offers a science-based exploration of how stress operates in academic life and how students can move from reactive coping to proactive regulation. Drawing on neuroscience and psychophysiology, the workshop provides tools to strengthen self-efficacy—the belief in one's ability to manage challenges—and supports the development of robustness: the adaptive capacity to recover and grow despite adversity.

Key Takeaways:

• Recognize early physiological and psychological signs of stress overload, such as sleep disruption, emotional fatigue, and cognitive fragmentation, and understand their neurobiological basis (Keller et al., 2024).
• Develop self-efficacy as a foundational capacity to enhance decision-making, emotional regulation, and confidence in the face of academic demands (Bandura, 1997; Pittet et al., 2024).
• Shift from a short-term performance mindset toward long-term robustness, prioritizing adaptive recovery and sustainable well-being alongside academic success.

Register here