Take a deep breath. Midterms have a way of making everything feel impossible at once. You’re stress eating dining hall snacks at midnight, staring at a study guide that somehow keeps getting longer. The thing is, running yourself into the ground does not actually make you more productive. It just makes you exhausted, miserable, and even worse at retaining information. So before you open another flashcard set, try working one (or all) of these self-care tips into your routine because you genuinely deserve to feel okay right now.
1. Protect Your Sleep
Pulling an all-nighter might feel like the only way to catch up, but sleep deprivation actively sabotages your memory consolidation and critical thinking. Without rest, your brain cannot physically “lock in” the information you spent hours reviewing. You need those hours of sleep for your nervous system to process and store your hard work, ensuring that what you learned actually stays with you when you sit down for the exam.
2. Move Your Body, Even Just for 10 Minutes
You do not need a full gym session to feel a difference in your cognitive functioning. Even a short walk around campus, a quick stretch between study blocks, or a 10-minute yoga flow can reset your nervous system and bring your cortisol levels back down enough that you can actually focus when you sit down to study. It is a reset button, and your work will still be there when you get back.
3. Eat Something Real
It is incredibly easy to survive on coffee and vending machine snacks during midterm week, but your brain runs on glucose, and it notices when you are not feeding it properly. Even something simple like a bowl of oatmeal, a sandwich, or some fruit and peanut butter can make a real difference in how clearly you are able to think and how long you can sustain your focus before hitting a wall.
4. Give Yourself a Hard Stop
Setting boundaries with your own schedule is one of the most underrated forms of self-care out there, and it is something a lot of people do not think about until they are already completely burnt out. The Pomodoro Technique, which involves 25 minutes of focused work followed by a 5 minute break, is popular for a reason because it keeps you from mentally exhausting yourself while still making real progress, and over time those small breaks add up to a much more sustainable study session overall.
5. Let Yourself Have a Moment of Fun
This one feels the most counterintuitive: intentionally scheduling something small and enjoyable during midterms can genuinely be what keeps you going when everything feels overwhelming. Whether it is calling a friend, watching an episode of something you love, or just sitting outside for a few minutes without your phone, giving yourself permission to experience something good is not a distraction from your work. It is what makes continuing to do the work actually possible.
Midterms will end because they always do, and when they are over you want to look back and know that you took care of yourself along the way. Be as kind to yourself as you are to your GPA because both of them need you to show up.