Wellness & End-of-Semester Stress

As most of us know, finals season is beginning. Not only is it time for finals, but winter is also beginning as well. With winter comes a lot of sickness and with finals comes stress. These two things don’t make a great combination so we’ve all got to take some precautionary measures to make sure we stay healthy and survive finals. 

@dmitterhofer on Giphy

Most people think that staying healthy means avoiding germs and sick people, but it’s much more than that. Getting enough sleep, eating right, staying hydrated, and managing stress levels all play major roles in staying healthy. Making sure you’re getting enough sleep is one of the biggest factors in whether you’ll get sick or not. Lack of sleep can lower your immune system, so you can get sick easier and faster. I know we all have the occasional all-nighter to get through our assignments, but making it a regular occurrence is not good. If you have to stay up really late one night, make sure you plan for getting more sleep the next night. 

Eating foods high in vitamins will help maintain your healthy immune system. If you’re eating fast food all day, every day in order to study more, you’ll be more likely to get sick. Make sure you’re eating enough fruits and vegetables in order to avoid getting sick. 

From Giphy

Along that same line, drinking enough water is crucial in staying healthy. Our body can go long periods of time without food and sleep, but when we lack water, everything goes downhill very quickly. My favorite thing to do to make sure I’m drinking enough is to carry a reusable water bottle with me everywhere I go. I also make it a challenge, that whenever I look at a clock or my phone to see what time it is, I take a certain number of seconds to drink the water. For example, if I look and see that it’s 5 o’clock, I’ll drink my water and count one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three… until I get to whatever the time is. This way, I’m always making sure I drink enough water, without making it feel like a chore. 

I know that the end of the semester is the most stressful time for most of us, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Time management is a big thing in dealing with stress. When I’m feeling overwhelmed by the amount of work I have to get done, I like to write out a list of the assignments that I have to do in order of the highest priority to the lowest priority. After that, I’ll schedule a day or a certain amount of time for each assignment and make sure that I stick to that. Having a plan and a schedule will help make everything a little bit more manageable and hopefully keep your stress levels down. 

@libbyvanderploeg on Giphy

Taking some time to relax, whether its ten minutes to watch a YouTube video, or read one chapter in your favorite book, will also help keep you sane during the end of the semester. Life can’t always be work, work, work. Take some time for a little bit of self-care. 

• finals
• lifestyle
• staying healthy