These next few weeks are going to be hard for a lot of students. It's time for studying, late night snacks, and lots of things labeled as "final." It seems as though this might be the end of the world for some people because their grades are very important to them, which is not a bad thing, but this is also a good time to take a step back and breathe.
Your health is more important than your final grade. If you're skipping sleep, meals, or doing any other harm to your body in order to prepare for a final, you're not helping yourself in any way. It's very important to study, but it's more important to make sure that you're taking care of your body: mentally, physically, and emotionally.
The way you treat your body determines how successful you are in your daily life. If you're sick and stressed out, you probably won't have the determination to go to class and won't be able to focus as much as you would if you were in perfect health. Finals week is full of stress, but taking care of yourself should take priority over staying up past 2am to study.
Sleep seems like something that's okay to skip out on during these next couple of crazy weeks, but that's really not true. It's pretty important to make sure your body is getting enough sleep so that when you're spending all that time studying, you'll actually retain the information you need and can do well on all your tests.
Mental health is one of the most important parts of staying healthy. Stress is a main way that you might mentally harm yourself. It's so easy to let the pressures of finals take over your mind, which is why taking time to give yourself a break is also important when it comes to finals week. Setting aside time to eat, watch a little Netflix, and relax is key to establish a healthy brain for finals week.
Here's another key: it's okay to have a breakdown. Like I said before, there's a lot of stress that has been building over the semester and finals is where all that stress comes to a head. Basically, you've been working the whole semester to this point and most likely, you feel like laying on your floor and crying. This is 100% okay to do! Having a good cry can be a good way to get out all those negative emotions and helping your mind focus on studying after releasing those built up tears.
If you're having multiple breakdowns though, that's a good sign that you need to take better care of yourself. I'm talking about multiple breakdowns per day. This could be a sign that the stress is taking a serious toll on your body and you should make a change in your life to give yourself a break. Taking time out of your day to do something you enjoy is not silly, it's necessary. If all you do is study, I don't know how you would even function.
I know finals week is stressful. We've all been there. College is a whole new ball game, but that doesn't mean you should put your final grade over your health. Taking care of yourself in whatever way you need will always be more important than school. So eat that cupcake. Finish that Netflix series. You know you want to and you probably need to.
