A unanimous feeling of panic has now settled on to campuses near and far as the end of the semester is coming, and finals are basically here. The tension is high and the stress is even higher. Everything will turn out in the end, and in one short week, we will be home with our families and holiday cheer. But for now, here are 10 ways to de-stress during finals week.
Take a Long Hot Shower
A 40-minute shower can do wonders. You can wash away your worries and come out feeling refreshed and prepared to memorize those flash cards. Bonus points if you use some kind of "stress relief" body wash.
Color
Personally, I believe adult coloring books are one of the grandest ideas to ever be capitalized. So sit yourself down, and color. If you don't have a coloring book, print some off of Google images while you're at the library that is now open 24/7.
Paint Your Nails
Depending on your major, some of your finals may be essays which mean, your beautiful hands are paying the toll. Spruce them up by trying out some of those nail art designs you've pinned on Pinterest. Even if you're not typing essays, painting your nails is a relaxing process.
Facemasks
Try out some different DIYs or just go to Walmart and get 2 for $5.00. Place that baby on, put some headphones in and relax. Also, you can always take that long hot shower to wash it off.
Stretch
If you've been studying for hours on end, do yourself a favor. Stand up and stretch. For a good 10 minutes just stretch every muscle in your body; your arms, legs, back, neck, even your butt. Although I'm not really sure how you could stretch your butt. I mean I guess that's what Google is for! Maybe do some squats or something.
Call Your Parents
Normally in college, you just rant to your friends, but during finals week that may be a highly dangerous thing to do. Everyone is stressed out, and you never know who has it worse than you. So ranting to a friend, who's on the edge of failing, about how your grade is going to drop to a B is probably not a good idea. It's also not a good idea to keep anything that bothers you bottled up inside. Call your parents! They'll love to hear from you anyway, and they always know how to calm you down and put you back to where you need to be.
Go Outside
The air is a little bitter and cold, but that makes it even better. The cold brings you back to reality. It makes you focus on your cheeks turning red instead of how to do Stoke's Law. Try going out at night when it's clear, the stars have a way of showing you perspective.
And the 3 most important ones....
Sleep
We all have this romanticized image in our heads of a college student chugging their 5th Redbull at 5 in the morning and somehow retaining all the information needed to get them a 4.0 all off of 4 hours of sleep in one week. One or two all-nighters in the weeks leading up to finals week may be necessary, but during finals week sleep is so important, you're not going to be yourself if you walk into a final after getting 2 hours of sleep.
Eat
Do not forget to eat. I know how easy it is to be cranking away and look at your phone as it reads 10:00 pm and you realize you haven't eaten in 12 hours. Maybe set some alarms and pack some snacks with you. Fuel your body.
Breathe
Don't forget to take some moments to breathe. Just nice long deep breaths can make you feel like you're dropping some weight off your shoulders.
Happy studying & de-stressing and good luck on all of your finals! Remember that your physical and mental health have a much larger importance than your GPA ever will.
