Do you ever feel like exams sneak up you? One minute you’re carefree, watching TV and playing Candy Crush until you fall asleep, and the next you realise you have two 3000 word essays and a presentation due next week. I’m going to give you five tips to help you chill out and get your study brain on!
1) Breathe: It may sound silly but many people forget to breathe properly when they’re stressed, this can result in panic attacks and getting yourself in a bit of a pickle. Instead, do two or three breathing exercises, just so you get oxygen flowing around your body, particularly to your brain.
A good way to do this is to put one hand on your belly, the other on your chest and take a deep breath through the nose and back out again, if this is done 6-10 times, you should already feel reductions to heart rate and blood pressure which, as a result, will help you calm down.
2) Yoga: Once you have oxygenised your blood enough, you want to reduce the amount of stress and tension in your body. Although many of us can’t stretch in every direction, doing simple 5-10 minute yoga exercises will reduce all signs of physical stress and relax your body, thus relaxing your brain.
3) Take a warm shower: This is a simple way to again increase your blood flow and relax you. This in turn will reduce the pains and stresses within you. So jump in that boiling hot shower, sing Whitney Houston to your hearts content and get your blood flowing. Wash away that dirt and wash away that tension!
4) Cuddle a pet: This may sound strange but it has been scientifically proved that cuddling a kitty or dog can actually reduce blood pressure, who’d have known it? It turns out man’s best friend is especially helpful during times of stress.
If you don’t have a pet however, just grab a housemate and hug them for a minute or two. Just having physical contact with someone increases oxytocin levels and in turn reduces your blood pressure. This helps reduce stress and anxiety and can even reduce the risk of heart disease in the future. You never know, you could be helping relieve the stress of your housemate too!
5) Have a cup of tea: It tastes nice, it’s warm, it makes you feel better just hearing the kettle boil plus it contains caffeine which will help you stay awake for as long you need (all night if you’ve left your essay to last minute).
However, chamomile tea will do the opposite and help you get yourself a good night sleep before you’re due to present your work to the class the next day. It also acts as a relaxant and a nerve tonic which will calm you down.
So there we go, five simple and nice ways to help relax your mind and body. Now you’d better get a move on, you have 2 essays and a presentation due tomorrow and you haven’t even started!
GO GO GO!