During finals weeks, many students study all day and night while ignoring symptoms of unnecessary stress.
Ashley Dierkhising
staff writer
As finals roll around the corner, our minds become busy trying to find space and energy to keep all the information. Stress is something many do not understand the symptoms of.
Your body is aching, your head is throbbing and you are staying up late to cram information in the night before that exam. You are stressed.
“You are not able to comprehend the information that you have studied for hours when you are stressed. You are simply wasting your time,” said psychology professor Laurie Wolfe.
An effective way to study is to do only a few hours a day, like early in the morning. Having a good night sleep is proven to be better than staying up all night and doing last minute studying.
One way to help reduce stress is to first check yourself. Think to yourself and see if you are tired, hungry, not feeling well or even bored. You need to make sure you are taking care of your body. Breathing is an excellent way to decompress stress.
“Just close your eyes, and only think about breathing. Empty your mind of everything expect breathing,” said Wolfe.
Exercise is as effective as taking anti-anxiety medication, like Prozac.
“There is no excuse not to exercise. Just get up and move,” said Wolfe.
Receiving a minimum of 20 minutes of exercise three times a week will improve your physical and mental ability to study more efficiently.
“When you are stressed, you have a physical response to danger, like you are going to fight a tiger, but you are just sitting there, looking at a book,” said Wolfe.
This happens when you have too much on your mind. Your anxiety takes you over. You become tense, developing headaches and noticing that you are not feeling right. That is the time to exercise and just breathe.
The UCLA Welln
ess Center provides meditation audio programs to reduce your stress level. Mixing exercise, meditation and breathing is what you should do to help your physical and mental status during finals week.