So, you used Thanksgiving break as an excuse to eat all of the food you wanted, drink too much with your friends from home, completely abandon any semblance of a workout regimen, consume things like pumpkin pie and hot chocolate for breakfast and sleep through the afternoons with reckless abandon. Join the club.
Coming back to school after Thanksgiving break is no picnic; it’s a tease, really. You leave your home, your bed and your dog only to come back to school for three weeks of seemingly pure anxiety and torture complete with papers, exams, projects and presentations (disclaimer: this may be a mild exaggeration).
Before you go searching for a bag of leftover Halloween candy corn to console yourself, check out these 5 tips to bounce back from Thanksgiving break and finish strong in these last three weeks.
1. Stay hydrated. It’s guaranteed to almost always make you feel better. Headache? Stress? Nausea? Anxiety? Not only does water keep your body functioning (whether or not you’re counting candy corn and pumpkin pie as a food group this week), it keeps you alert and helps your body regulate—particularly helpful when you’re trying to adjust to Florida’s schizophrenic “winter” weather and the fluctuating AC in the library.
2. Take exercise breaks. Most of us tend to fall off the exercise bandwagon after Thanksgiving break, but exercise can be a crucial study break during the most stressful weeks of school. If you’re having trouble visualizing yourself at the gym these next few weeks—or “accidentally” left your sneakers at home over break—reward yourself after a few hours of writing or studying with a walk to the pub for a snack, a walk to a friend’s room, or even a quick ride on a yellow bike. The break is good for your body…and your sanity.
3. Buy a stress candle. Not only can soothing scents help curb your appetite (and encourage you to avoid stress eating with junk food), they can help you relax and focus. Buy a few (they’re only $3 at Walmart) and rotate them to keep your mind alert.
4. Eat some vegetables and fruits…seriously. After eating all of the starch, fat and sugar that’s in Thanksgiving meals—and leftovers—your body will be craving more. The more of it you consume, the more your body craves it. Stay strong and try to avoid simple carbs and white starches and sugars that will keep the holiday weight gain on and sabotage your body’s energy supply. Fruits also make a great study snack and can give you some sugar and a burst of energy right before that awful hour and a half class that, let’s face it, just needs to be done already.
5. Don’t compromise your sleep schedule. Cliché, but true; lack of sleep becomes compounded, it can take days to recover from just one night of little sleep. Instead of staying up and working at all hours of the night, set a bedtime and stick to it the next few weeks. Then, if you still haven’t finished your work, set your alarm a little earlier in the morning. Your body needs a routine sleep schedule and you’re more likely to do your best worker early in the morning after a restful sleep than in the middle of the night after a full day of classes.