It’s nearing the end of December and if you’re a fellow student this means January exams are coming up. Fast. Although Christmas is exciting, the looming dread often dampens my mood over the holidays. Sound familiar? Here’s my top tips on how to deal with stress before it overshadows the festive season:
Being stressed will always be worse when you’re not feeling your best self. In order for your body to be in the best health, both mentally and physically, you need to eat healthy. Yes, I know you’ve heard this all before but it’s true. You need all the healthy nutrients at the right time in order to feel like yourself. Eating poorly and skipping meals will just make you feel ‘eurgh’ which will increase stress. Eating healthy is also super important for you brain to retain information for exams! But, you can have sugar filled snacks to treat yourself within limits. Don’t eat too much or you’ll crash and feel lazy and unproductive.
Exercise is also important to keep yourself healthy, but endorphins that are released during exercise also combats stress. What type of exercise is up to you, it needs to be something you enjoy doing or you’ll view it as a chore. Yoga is a key form of exercise as it doubles up as being part of mindfulness. Getting mindful is great as it calms your mind and allows you to focus on yourself. Meditation is another way, but also having a steam or sauna, getting a massage, just any activity where you feel relaxed and can focus on yourself with no distractions!
Getting enough rest is also really important. Have you ever pulled an all-nighter on an assignment and felt even worse? Yeah that’s because your body is running on no sleep and you feel more stressed because you’re run down. Making sure you put time aside to rest fully to ensure you’re on your best form!
Spending time with others and discussing can often alleviate feelings on anxiety and stress about exams. Set time aside to do something together, whether its discussing your stresses or whether its just watching a film. Managing your time and prioritising activities is a main factor to how you deal with stress. Ensuring you’re giving yourself enough time for the important tasks, as well as what I’ve just discussed to help relax you can actually make you feel calmer as you know exactly whats going to happen!
How do you deal with stress?