You may be feeling like a dump truck just dropped off a semesters worth of work, all due in one week. Like me, if you are experiencing this, you are most likely about to enter finals week. A week filled with anxiety, stress, sleep deprivation, and other things that make you want to crawl into a hole and cry. Here are five ways you can avoid the stress, and remain a sane human.
1. Go to office hours
Your teachers are here to help you. One of the major concerns of students attending a big university is that there won’t be any opportunities for one-on-one help with your teachers. This is not the case, and in fact, students are encouraged to attend office hours to foster relationships with their teachers and get information that they are confused on or struggling with clarified.
2. Sleep
Although you may think that staying up all night to cram for your exam in a week is a good idea, you will feel sick, tired, and awful from staying up all night, and you will instantly regret it. Sleep not only improves your physical health, but it also is imperative in a healthy mental state. After a long day of studying, your body needs time to rest and reenergize itself. Without it, you are a car running on empty, waiting to break down.
3. Eat
If you’re in the library from 9 AM to 9 PM, there is a strong chance that at some point, you look at your phone, and realize it is almost 5 PM and all you have eaten that day is a granola bar. Around this time, you may also find yourself getting incredibly tired, light headed and exhausted.
This is what happens when you don’t eat; your body runs out of fuel and starts to slow down. In order to avoid this, make sure you bring snacks or prepare lunch or time to get lunch and work that into your schedule for the day.
4. Exercise
This is something my Mom and Dad always told me, but I never listened (sorry Mom and Dad, love you anyway.) Exercising isn’t just a way to lose weight, but it’s a way to clear your head, sweat and let out some endorphins. When feeling stressed about finals, it is easy to get overwhelmed. Going for a walk outside, or a run, or even taking an exercise class with your friend will distract you from your work, and leave you feeling energetic and ready to do more work.
5. Make time for things you enjoy
Whether it be watching one episode of your favorite Netflix show, cooking, or hanging with your friends, it is important to partake in activities that bring you happiness during a time of great stress. I try to take at least 30 minutes out of my busy study days, to go talk to my friends, and laugh with them. Just because you're stressed, does not mean you should deprive yourself of smiles and laughs.
So, keep these in mind when going into the dreaded week. Keep your head on your shoulders and remember, it'll be over before you know it.
