Five Ways to Help Prevent End of the Semester Stress

Group projects, studying for finals and those final assignments are upon us. If you’re anything like me, you have discovered that there are so many assignments and projects that need to be done that have somehow been brushed to the side all year. This can easily cause you to feel stressed out and like you’re drowning in a sea of work. My goal is to give you some ideas on how to deal with this stress and things you can do to help prevent it.

Plan Everything

It helps to write out a schedule for each day allotting time for each subject you need to work on. This causes you to not spend too much time on one subject and completely forget another one until it is too late. You will not have to rush through things because you will be able to schedule enough time to complete each task you must do. You can even go above and beyond and plan literally your whole day. Plan when you are going to wake up, when your breaks will be and when you are going to eat. This will keep you on top of things and will greatly decrease your stress.

Give Yourself Breaks

It’s easy to get so stressed and overwhelmed that you don’t leave yourself anytime to relax and recuperate. It is important to take short breaks for every 30 minutes or so of work that you do not over exhaust yourself. This will give your brain a chance to relax and prepare for the next round of work you will be doing. You must be careful not to take too long of breaks, however, because this causes you to be unproductive and not get much accomplished.

Exercise

Working out is a great way to cope with stress. Personally, I have been making myself work out a lot more recently and I have found that it is a great stress reliever. Working out lets me get out my frustration in a very healthy way, whether it be running as fast as I can on the treadmill, lifting weights or doing crunches. This combined with a healthy diet does wonders for how you feel throughout the day. I have found myself feeling very energized and much less stressed and overwhelmed.

Get a Good Night’s Sleep

Now let’s be real. Getting work done on zero sleep is nearly impossible. I feel like I am constantly holding my eyes open and purely running on caffeine. This makes me even more stressed and overwhelmed because I feel like I am behind on sleep on top of being behind on everything else. It is important to prioritize your tasks during the day so that you can get an adequate eight hours every night. You will wake up feeling rejuvenated and ready to knock out your to-do list.

Hide Your Phone

This is my downfall. I study with my phone next to me which is a constant distraction. I am constantly checking the countless notification and mindlessly scrolling through Instagram and Facebook before I notice I have wasted precious hours accomplishing nothing. This causes a lot of stress because it puts you way behind on all your work and causes you to have to rush to complete your assignments on time. Put your phone on “Do Not Disturb” and turn off your notifications on your computer to have a productive and uninterrupted study time.

I hope this helps, and good luck with finals Dukes. I know you will do great.