Ways of overcoming stress
It’s 3 a.m. and you’re still studying. Sweaty fingers turn the pages of your textbook as your heart tries to bust out of its chest-jail. In a daze, you scan the same dull paragraph four times before you realize that you aren’t actually reading the text. Your head is pounding and you cannot concentrate as you count down the final hours, minutes and then seconds until you need to be relaying your knowledge on paper.
You’re stressed from studying, buddy.
Stress is a normal physical response to events that make you feel threatened or upset your balance in some way. When you sense danger, your body goes into “fight-or-flight” reaction mode in order to protect you. This is great for emergency situations, like slamming on your breaks to avoid an accident, but it is not so wonderful for studying. The symptoms of stress are numerous; below is a graph from rawfileking.blogspot.com highlighting many of the symptoms and warning signs of stress.
Stress occurs naturally in college students, who are overwhelmed balancing multiple classes with work schedules and extra activities. Studying proves another monster conducive to stress, and some students choose to turn to unhealthy ways of coping: alcohol, drugs, overeating. However, there exist many healthier (and cheaper) ways to beat stress. Instead of reaching for a bottle of beer to relax, relieve your tensions from studying in some of the following ways.
- Engage in a physical activity.
One of the greatest ways to relieve stress is through physical activity. Whether this is through a vigorous workout or by participating in sports, you will find that getting your body moving helps you to literally sweat off tension.
Relieve some stress with either a few minutes or hours of physical activity to get your blood pumping, and then go back to hitting the books.
- Get out of the house.
Leave the place where you are studying in order to re-energize. Take your dog for a walk or go alone and spend time in nature for a little while to relax your mind. Spend some time thinking about something other than your study materials. Talk it out with friends or just watch a movie. Stress studying is never good, so think about something else for a while to get your mind off of things; it makes things so much better.
Meet a friend for a quick cup of coffee (or for one of these six healthier options) to chat for half an hour about something other than your big exam or paper that is due, or go see a movie together. Get up and get out for a bit, but remember to come back; you have a test, after all.
- Write.
Writing when you are stressed out can help you figure out the things that are bothering you. While it may seem obvious that the act of studying itself is stressful, take a few minutes to write down a list of what aspects of your situation are causing you the most grief. Are you trying to study a lot of material in a small amount of time? Is there certain material that you don’t understand? Did you procrastinate? Once you figure out why you are stressed you can better address how to alleviate your woes.
You could also take some time away from studying and do some creative writing. Jot down a quick poem or short story to get your creative juices flowing; even if you don’t consider yourself a “writer” this will at least give you a much-needed break from studying.
- Do something you enjoy.
Hobbies can help you relax. Put aside the books and take a few minutes or up to an hour to put your stress towards an activity you enjoy. “I normally take a time out and do something completely different from the subject I’m studying, and, once I feel better, I get back to studying. “I’m a stress baker. When I bring cookies and cupcakes to my friends, they know I’m stressed.”
Get physical, watch half an hour of your favorite television show or YouTube channel or just listen to a few of your favorite songs; breaking up your study sessions with activities or hobbies you enjoy will help relieve some test tension and studying monotony.
- Relax your mind and muscles.
Do some yoga or Tai Chi. Give yourself a massage (or get a nice friend to give you one). Take a hot bubble bath. Imagine yourself elsewhere for ten minutes.
- Just breathe.
Take a deep breath in and hold it for five seconds. Now let it out. Tell yourself that everything will work out in the end. Take a second to focus on the present and just chill out. If deep breaths don’t help, you can check out some of these breathing exercises to help you get through your stress.
Stress is rough, but using any of these methods will help you to relax and to endure intense study sessions. If you have your own healthy methods for coping with stress, feel free to leave them in the comments below.
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