Finals week is just around the corner, and it can be a stressful time of year. Fortunately, there are many ways to cope with stress.
- Take a break
One strategy for managing stress is to take breaks from studying. Taking a break can help reduce stress levels and help you refocus when you return to studying.
Learning good time management skills can also reduce stress. Learning how to manage one’s time well is crucial because it reduces procrastination and increases productivity, which decreases stress levels because people will have less things to do at the last minute. Knowing when to take a break and when to push forward is an important factor in managing time and stress levels.
- Practice self-care
While it can be difficult to practice self-care while juggling classes, homework, extracurricular activities and a social life, incorporating self-care into your routine is an important part of living a happy and healthy life.
Ways to practice self-care include exercising, eating healthy, staying hydrated, getting enough sleep, setting goals and priorities, maintaining healthy relationships, doing a hobby or something relaxing and practicing gratitude.
- Journaling
Keeping a journal is another great way to relieve stress. This can help by prioritizing problems, fears and concerns. Tracking day-to-day symptoms allows you to recognize triggers and learn how to better control them or even eliminate them from your life completely if possible.
Writing down your thoughts also provides an opportunity for positive self-talk and identifying negative thoughts and behaviors. The way people talk to themselves impacts their self-esteem, stress management and overall wellbeing – so practicing constructive self-talk is integral to building a healthier mindset.
- Talk it out
Talking about problems can also help reduce stress. People can talk to friends, family members or even a doctor or therapist. Someone might benefit from therapy if the stress they are experiencing becomes overbearing and difficult to deal with; it can also be a good way to practice positive self-talk and learn other strategies for managing stress.
If you find yourself becoming stressed and overwhelmed from finals, take a step back and use some of these strategies to help manage the stress. No matter what, remember to be kind to yourself in these coming weeks.
Vanessa Werner can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @VanessaRWerner