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How to be Productive While De-stressing During Finals Week

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at U Iowa chapter.

Finals are a time when everyone is collectively stressed out and also extremely unproductive with the promise of winter break so soon. We get caught in a web of needing to study but feeling so overwhelmed that the breaks are aplenty. Here are some alternatives to mindless social media scrolling or accidental Netflix binges that occur while trying to study.

Paint your nails 

What’s better than pampering yourself to destress? Plus, you’ll end up with a cute, put-together look on your fingers.

Do some sit ups, push-ups or jumping jacks 

Not only will this warm you up from the winter blues you’re feeling, but you can get a little bit of physical activity in to release endorphins and wake you up.

Make a pump up playlist

If you’re anything like me, making playlists is super fun. You can put one together of all of your favorite jams to keep you going through those late-night study seshes!

Plan a small get-together or trip for winter/spring/summer break

It could be anything from organizing a Secret Santa with your besties back home to a backpacking trip across Europe! Making set plans for something fun will not only give you something to look forward to, but will also motivate you to get stuff done so that those things can be stress-free.

Take a shower

It’s something everyone needs to do, and it can be a great stress-reliever. The warmth combined with the feeling of being clean is second to none.

Get some online Christmas shopping done

Not only does this check off something on your to-do list before you go home for break, but you’ll be happy to think of others instead of stressing over the grade you might get on your stats final.

Text a friend you haven’t caught up with in a while

Falling in with thinking of others, it will be nice for them to know you want to hear how they’re doing in the same tormentous time we all have to go through.

Hope these tips help you to get things done during your study breaks. Good luck on finals, collegiettes!

Paige Netzel is a senior at the University of Iowa, studying English and Creative Writing with a Cinema minor. Coffee, creating playlists, and gratitude are essential to keeping her going. Check her out on Twitter for some hecka funny tweets or on Spotify for those dope playlists.
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