You might notice that your hair is falling out and creating art on your dorm floor. Maybe your eye bags are no longer crossbodies and are now heavy leather totes. If you are exhibiting the following symptoms, you are stressed out. You should really take some time out of your day to de-stress. Stop right there! I know what you’re going to say. I’m stressed because I’m so busy so I obviously don’t have time to de-stress. Well, did you know that de-stressing does not have to take hours out of your day? It’s better to do a little de-stressing everyday rather than crash on a Friday night and sleep until 4pm the next day. Trust me on this one because the latter has happened to me a few too many times…that is until I started spacing a 15-minute slot in my cramped planner for some self-care. Here are the 4 ways I de-stress myself throughout the school year.
Stroll around campus.
Get those headphones and chill Soundcloud playlist ready because we’re going on a walk. If you’re new to your school, this is a great chance to familiarize yourself with the campus. For those who only have a year or two left, you’ll already have an idea of the best route to walk without potentially getting hit by the campus shuttle. Taking a daily walk in the outdoors has several health benefits both physical and mental but you don’t need me to tell you that. Allow research to give you some answers.In a study by Jenny Roe and Peter Aspinall from the Health and Place Journal, 123 subjects were tested on stress levels before and after a guided outdoor walk. 40 of the subjects had poor mental health. There was a statistically significant drop in stress scores in both groups after the walk was completed but a larger drop in those with poor mental health (Roe & Aspinall, 2011). So go out and take a quick stroll around campus before your next class starts and you’ll feel much more relaxed.
Light Bedtime Stretches.
I know sleep is very important to the college student yet a lot of students are getting way less than the recommended amount of sleep young adults need to function properly. If stress is keeping you at four hours of sleep a night, try light stretching right before you hit the sack. Stretching not only helps loosen up your tensed muscles but also relaxes the mind. My daily stretch routine involves a few stretches called “static stretches” that don’t require very much movement which is a blessing for a lazy person like me. I try to hold my stretches for one minute. Here’s two examples of stretches I do before bedtime:​Quadricep Stretch- Bend your leg and bring your ankle towards your butt. Then grab your ankle and slowly lift your foot higher. You’ll look kind of like a flamingo. Don’t forget to switch legs
The Butterfly- Sit on the ground, touch the bottom of your feet together and slowly lean forward. Your legs are going to look like butterfly wings.
Make a Mood Board.
Hopefully you guys don’t get mad at me for this one since it’s technically not a 15-minute project to start. I bought a cork board for a few bucks at Walmart sometime during my high school years. Every year, the board has only been holding a calendar with my exam dates and a couple reminders but, this year, I tried something different. Every day, I try to pin a new photo, drawing, or quote that makes me feel…good! Strong, happy, playful, relaxed; anything positive is fair game for my mood board. Then, every week, I throw out some of the content I’m not be satisfied with anymore and replace those with new posts. After the board starts getting too cluttered, I remove everything and start fresh!
It’s pretty simple to make your own mood board and it does not necessarily have to be cork. Get posterboard and use double-sided tape to post your content. You could even use a magnetic whiteboard and recycle some fridge magnets from back home. Finding a spot to set-up your board and waiting for those command strips to stick is the time-consuming part. After that, it’ll only take 15 minutes to print, cut, and stick your findings onto your board. Try to add something new every day! I find that the search for content is the most relaxing part but others may find the crafting portion (cutting and positioning your content onto the board) the more relaxing part. Here’s my mood board for some inspiration:
Freewrite.
What? Writing…seriously!? Don’t you think I’m writing enough essays as it is? Don’t worry, this isn’t essay writing. Take a second and pull out your laptop or, if you want to be traditional, grab the old notepad and pen. I want you to set a timer for 15 minutes and just start writing about positive experiences. It could be about anything from when you got your first visit from the tooth fairy, to your first kiss, or even when you went to that crazy party last Friday. Try not to stop and think about if your writing is grammatically correct or if it’s well organized. Just write! After your 15 minutes are up, pull your hands back from your keyboard or drop your pen, even if your writing isn’t complete. Take a deep breath and analyze how you feel. I find I feel like the negativity in my body has been erased and overcome with bliss. Don’t believe me? Allow research to back me up!
A 2004 study conducted by Chad Burton and Laura King tested whether writing about positive experiences had a positive outcome on mood in undergraduate students (Burton & King, 2004). 90 students were asked to rank their mood prior to a short writing period. 48 were instructed to write about a positive experience while 42 were asked to write about specific, mundane topics. They wrote for a short period every day for three days and then asked to re-rank their mood. Researchers found that those who were instructed to write about positive topics expressed significantly more positive emotions after the three days meanwhile those who wrote about mundane topics showed almost no increase in mood. Start writing and, who knows, maybe you’ll end up writing a masterpiece you can submit to the school’s literary magazine!