The end of the spring semester is often the most stressful time of the year. Students everywhere — myself included — are looking in horror at the mountain of exams, projects and papers they have ahead of them. I typically find myself lost in all of this, neglecting my mental or physical health in the process of completing all of this work. This spring I want to change that, so here are three things I’ll be doing to keep myself accountable for my well-being this May.
Taking intentional study breaks
May is one of the nicest months of the year, and I tend to spend half of the month hunched over my desk for 11 hours straight. If I did take breaks, I was picking up my phone and scrolling through Instagram for 20 minutes before getting right back to work. This semester, I’m working to change both parts of my poor study habits. My plan is to take 15-30 minutes every couple of hours to destress without my phone. Using your phone during breaks will actually negatively impact your ability to focus, despite having taken a break, so I’ll be staying off. Instead, I’ll be going on short walks outside, listening to music or talking to a friend before I get back to work.
Adding variety to my FINALS study spaces
Speaking of sitting at my desk for 11 hours, I’ll also be switching up where I sit for my longer study sessions. At some point, looking at the same wall behind my laptop and sitting in the same chair starts to drive me a little crazy. I’m not forcing myself to run around campus from spot to spot, but I’ll at least be choosing a new spot in my room or my building every so often. A small change in background is enough to refresh my mind and help keep me focused, so this is something I’ll be prioritizing this spring.
Reducing caffeine intake
I have actually already implemented this one. I noticed that I felt jittery and anxious after having a coffee or an energy drink, so I started doing some research and found out some pretty interesting things. In smaller amounts, caffeine works great as a boost to your energy, but in larger amounts, it stops being so helpful. Both caffeine and stress are stimulants that affect your cortisol levels, so having large amounts of both in your system can negatively impact you more than having no caffeine at all. I’ve been off caffeine since January of this year, and I’ve been sleeping better, having less trouble waking up in the mornings and I find that my energy levels are more consistent throughout the day, so I’ll be continuing this throughout finals week. While this did work for me, I’ve been doing this for a while, and I wouldn’t recommend quitting cold turkey right before finals, but you might find reducing your intake to be helpful in the coming weeks.
While I wholeheartedly believe in the advice I give, the most important thing is to do what’s right for you. No one knows your health better than you, and during such a stressful time, the last thing you need to be doing is forcing yourself to do something that doesn’t work for you just for the sake of doing it. Remember that while finals are stressful, they aren’t everything, and better days are close ahead.