Welcome to Finals Week! Hope you all are ready to be stressed out, sleep deprived, delusional about your GPA, and practically living on Starbucks or Red bull for the next couple days. It's probably going to be some of your worst days of the semester, so here are ways you can make it through those tough times and get right back striving for that passing grade. Because praying that the curve will be big enough to save you is reaching a little too far so step away from those notes and do one of these:
1. Play some music.
If you are not someone who plays music while studying use it as a distraction while you take a break. It will help calm your mind from thinking about your tests and lighten your mood, especially if your jam comes on.
2. Sweat!
Be it going for a 20 minute run, quick gym session, or a couple jump jacks right next to your desk getting your blood pumping and endorphins flowing will keep you focused while pumping out those hours of studying.
3. Stretch.
Yes, I'm talking about doing some Dolphin and Downward Dog poses or if you're not that advanced you can just touch your toes. This like exercise just gets your body moving, the stiffness out of your joints, and hopefully a clear mind.
4. Social media break.
If you weren't already doing it every five minutes already, pull out your phone and flip through Facebook or Snapchat; just try not to get lost for hours and totally forget about studying.
5. Have a snack.
If you get hungry, stop and eat. The longer you wait, the more your become distracted about eating and food so let's stop that hangry monster in its tracks.
6. Talk to someone.
You're not the only one going through this! There are about thousands of other students experiencing the same exact thing. So talk out your anxiety and stress with friends, parents, roommates, or random person who you end up sharing a tissue box while crying in frustration about finals.
7. Catch some Z's.
20-minute power naps are essential during the semester whenever you get a chance so why wouldn't you take them while your studying. If not your going to crash and burn and probably fail your exam so get some sleep!
8. Change of scenery.
Don't be a hermit in the library or your room. Change what and who you see although make sure it's not too distracting of an area.
9. Switch subjects.
Don't spend time on one thing for six hours (unless of course that is the only final you have) because that alone is stressful to focus on one thing for so long. So take some aggression out on physics by throwing it in the corner and skip to kinesiology to give your mind a little break.
10. Meditate.
By taking a minute or two of not looking at your materials and focusing on your breathing your stress and anxiety levels will significantly decrease; so try it, it can't hurt!
I hope these help you through Finals Week, if not I hope you chuckled a little reading this while procrastinating instead of studying. Good luck!
