Ah, good old dead week. It's that time of year again, to relearn or cram four months of a whole class. Now, times that material by like five six — depending on how many classes you are taking. That is a lot of material, so there is no wonder why it is called dead week... It will be the death of me. Whether this is your first dead week or your last, the amount of stress can always be overwhelming. There are easily some ways to relax during this stressful week, even if you are like me and sometimes don't start studying for finals until dead week.
1. Have a clean studying environment
Sometimes I like to have peace and quiet and study in my room. If I am studying for a class that I am not that worried about, I might study with friends, because if I get distracted, it won't be a big deal. However, if I am studying for accounting, I need peace and quiet. If you are studying in your room and you see a pile of clothes on the floor and a messy dresser, it might stress you out even more. According to Dr. Sherrie Carter on Psychologytoday.com, messy rooms can leave us feeling anxious, helpless and overwhelmed. If you look up from studying and see a clean room, you will feel organized and prepared.
2. Go to local humane society
It will benefit if you take a break for about an hour and a half to go with friends and play with some puppies and kitties. Just having a kitten in my arms, sitting in a chair and just telling the kitten all my problems can almost be better than going to a therapist. If you end up finding an animal you love, you can just remember this piece of motivation, "the hard work you put in now, will make you able to provide for your future pet."
3. Give into your sweet tooth
On every campus, there is that one dessert that is to die for at the campus restaurant. At UK, that is K-Lair's skillet chocolate chip cookie, which consists of a warm chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream on top with chocolate and caramel sauce on top. Even if summer vacation is coming up and you want to be healthy, it is OK to give in to some temptations.
4. Or go to the gym
If you absolutely do not want to eat a little dessert, going to the gym is always a good option. Any former athlete will know that when they went to sports practice stressed, they would leave relaxed. I know just being at swim practice for two hours and doing laps the whole time, would give me time to think and put my stress and anxiety into practice, and I would not be stressed. I would honestly suggest using the elliptical or swimming in the pool to be able to keep to your own thoughts.
5. Break out that eno
If you go to a southern school, you are blessed with nice weather almost year round. If you have an Eno, you can just hook it up between two trees and just lay in the sun and listen to some music. You can even read over some notes in there and study stress free.
6. Get enough sleep
I know those all nighters might be tempting, but it is very important to get a good night's sleep. If you only stay up until midnight, you can wake up at around 8 or 8:30 and get back to studying. It is better studying with a full night's sleep rather than a little sleep and your brain is not able to learn the information you are studying.
7. Actually limit the Starbucks trips
While it is nice to get your favorite venti drink before you start to study, if you are overly stressed and have too much caffeine, it will cause anxiety and even in extreme cases, cause a panic attack. You can get that favorite drink, just don't get it multiple times a day.
8. Take time to be with friends
Even if you are studying with a group of friends, it is smart to go grab a meal with them and do not talk about anything school related. Laughter is good for your physical and mental health, and you can definitely find laughter with friends.
9. Netflix
I know, how could Netflix distress and get me focused back to studying? While Netflix could be a dangerous way to distress, you have to know how to limit yourself. After you have about three to four hours of studying, reward your self with only about an episode or two of that show you have been binge watching. I would say two if an episode is only 20 minutes, but only one episode if they are an hour long. I would suggest watching Friends, the episodes are short and funny, and you also get to hit the satisfying "next episode" button after the first episode is done. You just have to limit yourself.
Good luck on finals everyone, and let the odds be ever in your favor.
