This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Bentley chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.
If your schedule is anything like mine, some weeks you don’t even have an extra second to take a breath of air. For the last two days, I’ve left my dorm room and 7:30 AM and not had time to return until almost 11:00 PM. Days and weeks like these can be exhausting, and it is important to make sure you are still looking out for your mental and physical health during these challenging times. Here are a few ways you can make sure you are still taking care of yourself during a busy week:
- Get enough sleep – Set a cutoff for a time you have to go to bed. Without enough sleep, you won’t be productive anyways so staying up becomes pointless.
- Take a short break and set an alarm – When excessive studying and homework starts taking a toll on my mental health, I set a 10 minute alarm and scroll on Tik Tok or Instagram for that period of time. Ten minutes less spent working will not negatively affect your productivity, but it will surprisingly do wonders for your mental state.
- Get exercise – 30 minutes to an hour spent at the gym a couple hours a week is essential for your mental and physical health. It will reset your mind and make you happier and more productive.
- Avoid isolating yourself – Reach out to your friends and family for support when you are having a tough week. You never have to go through anything alone and talking to them will make you feel so much better.
- Take time to do something you actually enjoy at least once per day – Life is short and you 100% have enough time in each day to do at least one small thing to make yourself happy. Drive 5 minutes out of the way to get a coffee, play with your cat, go for a walk. You will thank yourself afterwards.
- Try to keep things in perspective – At the risk of sounding clichĂ©, one bad week does not mean you have a bad life. Most likely, the problems you are currently facing will be irrelevant to you a year from now. Keep going when things get challenging, and you will be okay.