The summer has come to an end and thousands of students have gone back to school. After the couple months of freedom and relaxation, it's important to understand and know that the changing tides and obligations are going to begin to bring more stress into your everyday life. As hard as coping with anxiety may be during the school year, there are four lifestyle choices that are extremely effective when it comes to reducing anxiety in a college environment.

Get Away from Caffeine

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Sure, it helps us to wake up and really get out days moving, but caffeine is a humongous instigator of anxiety. It incereases your heart rate, and can cause anxiety attacks because of it. Try switching to decaf, or even a decaffeinated tea.

Try to Start Eating Healthier

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This one is a whole lot easier said than done. However, eating healthier and moving away from processed foods has been known to increase overall mentality significantly. When I found I was struggling my fall semester with my increased anxiety, in the spring I began eating healthier by giving up processed foods and bread, and felt significantly better. The Paleo diet is a great example of an eating lifestyle that can improve your mood by a long run!

Meditation

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In my experience, meditation has never been a permanent solution to anxiety. However, it does really help in the moment when you're having a hard time. Great apps such as Headspace and Calm provide guided meditation lessons that a student can use every morning, implementing it into their daily routines. Meditation before you start your day or before you end your day is a great way to relax the mind and body to prepare yourself for future events.

Exercise

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This one is a no-brainer. Exercise is known to increase endorphins, and improve mentality and mood for human beings all around. Even if you're very busy, fitting a half an hour to an hour of exercise in every day is a great way to decrease anxiety and get yourself feeling focused and ready to move!

College is busy and rough and hard to swallow, especially at the beginning of the semester, but by making some changes to your lifestyle, it's wild to see just how much better you might feel.