Be you in community college, university, or graduate school, you've probably heard of the term "hell week". No, it's not the Hell Week for the NAVY Seals, which "consists of 5 1/2 days of cold, wet, brutally difficult operational training on fewer than four hours of sleep" (Kraus). Oddly enough, it is similar.
This term, my fellow academics, is the term used to define the week, before the end of each semester, that students spend preparing for cumulative finals/exams/final projects/etc. It's a week filled with wall-to-wall classes, scheduling, study sessions, [insert preferred source of caffeine here], and more all-nighters than at which you can shake a hypothetical stick. Students are pressured to do their absolute best for assignments that amount to a sizable percent of their final grade, which either accrues or diminishes their GPA. No pressure, right?
What's a student to do?
Go for 40 hours without sleep? Drink their weight in Red Bull and Krispy Kreme donuts? Multiple nervous breakdowns?
If you're feeling the Hell Week blues, here are a few tips that might help:
1) Talk to someone.
Be it your friends, your family, your therapist, your professor (even if they're causing your blues - if you communicate your concerns to them in a diplomatic way, they can help you!), your cousin twice-removed, your roommate...talk to someone. Keeping your concerns to yourself will only make things worse in the long run.Have a venting session with your friends and/or on your blog/nearest notebook. Let all of those negative feelings out. Don’t hold back. Then, once everything’s said and done…let it go.
2) Get some sleep.
Please. I'm begging you. I don't even know you and I'm begging you to sleep. The longer you go without sleep, the more your body, mind, and brain suffer. Even if it's just a 10-minute nap in between cram sessions, literally anything helps.
3) Eat and drink good things.
Eat more than just Monster and cheez-its. You need actual food. You need food that's good for you, that gives you nutrients, vitamins, and all that jazz.
4) Sing.
No, really. Sing your little heart out. Listen to some tunes. Heck, the holidays are around the corner: find some of your favorite songs and sing along. If you're in dire need of a break after staring at a computer screen for innumerable hours, singing is a good option. Singing activates different parts of the brain, and engages
5) Go outside.
Take some time out of your day just to sit anywhere that’s not a desk. Breathe in the fresh air; it'll clear your mind a bit.
Wherever you are in your academic career, I hope these reminders help you. Now go out and kick hell week's butt!
