Cassandra Webb, a dental hygiene sophomore, sat on a bench in the shade of a tree awaiting an escort cart to take her to her next destination on campus.
She was in need of the service because she broke her foot the week before, which was the introduction to a stressful week.
"I missed a whole week of classes because I was under so much stress," Webb said.
And Webb isn't the only overwhelmed person missing classes.
According to the National College Health Assessment, conducted by the American College Health Association, 30 percent of students polled said stress is the number one factor that affected their individual academic performance.
Webb said the horrid week continued with her purse being stolen from a friend's car at her surprise birthday party.
"Now I am having trouble with the credit card companies because the person who stole my cards is using them and they don't believe me that my purse was stolen," she said.
She added that the person who stole her purse has charged more than a thousand dollars and also used her checking account.
"Oh yeah, and I'm engaged and planning a wedding," Webb said.
Rita Archambault, a counselor at ASU's Counseling and Consultation, said stress plays a part in almost every visitor's problem.
"When people become stressed, their coping strategies start to breakdown and they may feel hopeless, which creates fear and anxiety," said Archambault, who has been a counselor at ASU for 10 years.
She added that she feels as though more people are using the counseling service this semester than those in the past.
"This is very good," Archambault said. "In the past, people were reluctant to seek counseling because they thought is was only for the mentally ill, but our real function for being here is to help people cope and succeed in school."
She said when people are under stress, they should avoid alcohol and drugs.
"Some feel that having a drink before bedtime will help them sleep better," Archambault said. "While you may fall to sleep fast, it disturbs your REM sleep so your sleep isn't restful."
Archambault added that when people are under stress they should eat three meals a day, with at least one of them being a hot meal.
"If they do nothing else, they should take a hot bath for at least 30 minutes," she said. "It is important to have some down time for yourself."
ASU architect freshman Patrick Mendez said while stress isn't a reason he missed classes, sleeping difficulties was.
Twenty-two percent of the students polled on the assessment said not getting enough sleep affected their academic performance.
"Last semester I missed a lot of classes because I was just too tired to get out of bed," Mendez said. "This semester I haven't missed hardly any classes."
He said the reason for the change is because last semester he drove to school and it was hard to get out of bed being very tired knowing he had a long drive ahead of him.
This semester Mendez said he takes the ASU shuttle from the West campus.
Reach the reporter at susan.padilla@asu.edu.
