Need to Know: Stress Relief for Finals

Finals time is a stressful time, as much of your grade rests on a final. Finals can be annoying because they require that you recall information in large amounts, and material you may not have covered in several months. However, with the right steps, final’s stress can be reduced, and your performance can improve. Here are some stress relieving tips for finals:
1. Maintain healthy habits. One of the best ways to help your body be capable of relieving stress on its own is to provide it with proper nutrition. Often during finals time, you eat junk food, and convenience food, rather than healthy meals and snacks. The problem with this is that it bogs your body down, and thus it becomes less effective at dealing with stress. You may get sick, or feel exhausted, etc. Help yourself have a fighting chance, by eating fresh, whole foods, and avoiding excesses of caffeine, candy, etc.

2. Get your heart rate up. Did you know that exercise can help your body eliminate stress and toxins? It does. In fact, if you are finding that your finals stress is extremely high, and that you are having difficulty dealing with it, go for a jog, hit the gym, or ride a bike for a while. A little bit of exercise can go a long way. In addition, it often leaves you more energized, which can be a huge plus when studying for long hours.

3. Join a study group. One of the reasons people stress during finals is that they fear they will miss an essential subject, or not understand something they should. A good study group will help you fill in the gaps, and keep you motivated to study, and learn the materials. Having good people to rely on helps reduce stress, and improve your finals scores.

4. Have a study plan. Eliminate stress from your finals studying and taking by having a plan for how you are going to cover all of the material, and prepare for the test. A good plan will help you feel like you can actually accomplish everything you have set out to accomplish, and give you a road map by which to do it. Instead of being overwhelmed by the volume of material you need to know, you will feel confident that you can get through it.

5. Take breaks. Just like a computer, car, or anything else must have some down time to perform well, so must your brain. If you want to be able to absorb more, and stress less, be sure to give yourself breaks every few hours to change your focus and have some fun.

6. Get sleep. Lack of sleep, staying up all night studying, and pulling an all-nighter cramming session is one of the worst things you can do during finals. This means your body is deprived of one of the natural ways it reduces stress, and your mind is deprived of the benefits of rest, namely sharp recall and clarity.