As finals week rolls around, there's a lot on every college student's mind: Finishing up last-minute projects, juggling homework, and trying to study for all 1083219238 finals. And sometimes, it might really seem that you won’t be able to breathe until you walk out of that last final (cue “What Time is it” from High School Musical).

But, there are some things that you can do to ease some of that tension and make finals week a bit more manageable.

This question sets the stage for my unpopular opinion: If finals week is when we need to be performing at our most optimal level, shouldn’t our mind and body be prepared for that?

Now the obvious answer is yes, but a lot of us tend to conveniently forget this when exams start piling up. For some reason, the majority of college students think it’s easier to go all or nothing... have little to no sleep and cram in every last bit of material before crashing for the summer. I completely get this because, psychologically, the greater the intensity of our work and time invested, the more we think we’re doing.

What we usually forget to take into account is the amount of time and energy (physical and mental) that it takes to gather and refocus our attention after surpassing the limit of our attention span.

So what’s the solution? Well, the great thing about this solution is that — amazingly — it will lead to greater productivity and make studying a little less arduous.

The answer? Breaks.

Science has shown that taking breaks allows your brain the breathing room it needs to be at its peak for all the different tasks you need to accomplish and material you need to study. Giving yourself that time to listen to a song, get up and stretch, or even just space out is beneficial to your school work and your mental health.

And even though it might be tempting to go hard and rush through everything, think about how you feel during that time versus how you would feel if you took care of yourself in between.

Don’t stress. You deserve those breaks.