5 Tips to Help You Handle Stress During Finals Week
As finals week is among us, college students feel overwhelmed and stressed to the point that they lose sleep, overeat or stop eating, and experience high levels of anxiety. This blog is designated to help you not avoid your stress but handle the high levels of it that come with finals week. Although you have to complete many big assignments or exams, there are ways to help relieve those high amounts of stress. Here are 5 tips to help you handle the stressful week of finals:
- Take frequent breaks and get active
- You always hear that taking breaks and taking a study break to scroll through your phone or for TikTok can be somewhat counterproductive. Although we find it a relaxing activity, it can be very harmful as we get sucked into endless scrolling and next thing you know you have spent 2 hours on TikTok. The better alternative is to take a short 5–10-minute walk outside and get some sunshine. This way you can clear your head as well as a chance to stretch out your body. If you enjoy going to the gym to work out, it can feel hard to motivate yourself when you have so much to do. Taking an hour break to go workout will release serotonin and provide you a clear headspace when you return to your studying.
- Make a plan
- Make a list of everything you must complete during the day or entire week. I find it helpful to make a list of what I must get done and order them in what is due first. If you can plan and set time limits for each of these tasks it will reduce your stress.
- Get Sleep!
- Getting sleep seems like an obvious task to do when you are stressed, but as we know many college students tend not to sleep much during finals week because they are staying up studying or finishing assignments. Prioritizing sleep is essential during finals week. When you deprive yourself of sleep you are putting unnecessary stress on your body. Giving your body 6-8 hours each night will help energize you for a full day of studying.
- Avoid stimulants
- Many college students drink lots of caffeine throughout finals week thinking it will keep them awake and help them study, but too much caffeine can cause unnecessary stress or anxiety. Make sure to drink plenty of water and avoid excessive amounts of caffeine.
- Celebrate your accomplishment
- Make sure to celebrate your accomplishments. When you finish a final or a big assignment, reward yourself with a meal out, a movie night, or maybe even a drink (if you are 21 and over!). Reward yourself for your accomplishments, big or small. It will give you more motivation to keep going and in turn help you reduce your stress levels. It is very hard to be stressed when you are celebrating!
I hope you take these tips into consideration and consider your mental health during finals week. It won’t be an easy task to reduce your stress, but it is doable. You got this!
Strive for progress, not success!
Kayla Withrow