As college students, we have, put simply, a lot going on. I live what can be considered a fairly average college schedule: taking five or six classes a semester, being an active member of my sorority, being a member of a couple clubs, balancing a social life and working at an off-campus job.

Running around from class to meeting to chapter to coffee with a friend to work can sound hectic, and it often is. Busy schedules are usually beneficial though; they teach time management skills, prioritizing skills and organizational skills. All of that being said, it’s easy to neglect important things like sleep, hygiene and mental health as we scramble around to keep up with all of our commitments.

Running from task to task as we do, neglecting to take even five minutes a day for yourself can not only be seriously detrimental to your health, but to all the assignments that we strain ourselves over every day. As you make yourself busier and busier, overlooking the importance of self-care and resting your mind will begin to show in your work: careless mistakes begin to pop up on important exams and assignments, running a few minutes late to work because you mixed up your job schedule and your club meeting. Not to mention the effects that excess stress can have on your physical health, like migraines, fatigue and sleep problems.

How can you tell it’s time for a break, though? For me, it tends to go something like this: I push myself as hard as possible and it goes really well at first, I stop taking time for myself to relax, I begin feeling stress and anxiety creep on, eventually, I get overwhelmed and everything crashes down and the cycle restarts. Unfortunately, this isn’t an uncommon pattern for most people with busy schedules. The good news is that recognizing this pattern in your own life is the first step to fixing it.

Taking a break from any activity can be hard to do; a semester off could seriously put a dent in your well-thought-out graduation schedule. Breaks are still necessary though, but they have to be done the right way and with the right frequency. As I admitted earlier, I used to take an all-or-nothing approach: work myself half to death and then go into hibernation for a few days and do it all over again. After experiencing this cycle for the entire first year of my college career, at the beginning of this semester, I sat down and realized that this isn’t healthy or sustainable, not to mention the damage it does to my sleep schedule. There is a much more efficient way to get all of your work done and still make time for yourself.

In the morning, at night before bed, between classes, literally whenever is best for your schedule, pencil in about ten or fifteen minutes to make yourself relaxed and happy. What you do during this time doesn’t really matter, anything that centers you and gives your mind a little time to wander is best. Whether that’s watching a funny video, scrolling through a positive Tumblr page, flipping through your favorite book or even just cuddling into a blanket and shutting your eyes for fifteen minutes, taking a little chunk of time each day to breathe and enjoy some quality time with yourself can be extremely beneficial. At the very least, it’s got to be better than my old keep-going-until-you-crash method.

With finals week quickly approaching us, it’s growing harder to remember to even shower at the end of the day, much less take time to actually relax and enjoy ourselves. A week full of difficult exams and projects being due is stressful enough; instead of trying to absorb all of that stress and take care of ourselves later, maybe the answer to a successful college career or even just managing a hectic schedule lies in giving yourself a little R&R, even if that means a simple mug of hot cocoa and sitting still for ten minutes.