Stress Relieving Tips for School!

Hi there! Since finals are just around the corner, I wanted to give some awesome stress reliever tips. These stress reliever tips have always helped me focus and manage my time wisely without feeling like I am going to pull my hair out and just break down and cry. They have been incredibly useful this past week and helped me write 4, ten page papers!
1. Start early! I know that everyone likes to procrastinate, myself included, but seriously, do this. Starting early and accomplishing small chunks of a paper or project over the course of a few days makes everything way less stressful. No one likes pulling an all-nighter to punch out a paper that will end up being a disaster anyways, so do yourself a favor and start early!
2. Take breaks! Even if the breaks consist of you just grabbing something to eat, or taking a quick power nap, your brain really needs that time off. Without taking breaks, you are basically putting your brain into overdrive mode and by doing so, you will figure out that your best work will not come out of being in this situation.
3. Sleep on it! If you feel that you have hit a rough patch and are completely stuck while working on something, sleep on it. Surprisingly, sleeping on something always helps create new ideas and angles that you might not have thought of before. That being said, this goes along with starting early, because you will not have this option if you try to bust out a paper or project the night before.
4. Do not try all the energy drinks! Energy drinks are oh so tasty, redbull is something that I love, but they contain soooo much sugar and plenty of other things that your body does not need. All they do is give you a sugar rush for a few hours, and then you crash, hard. Zero work can be accomplished after this crash so instead, just drink plenty of water and eat healthy food such as apples with cheese, eggs, yogurt, or almonds.
5. Do it your own way! Follow your own creative process. If someone tells you that you need to make a million notecards for organic chemistry or have to write an outline for a paper, it does not mean that YOU have to, unless it’s for a grade of course. If notecards are not for you, don’t worry about it. I never write outlines for my papers because it is too constricting for me. Whatever works the best for you, roll with it.
6. Alternate! Only work on one thing for a couple of hours, then switch to something else. You can always come back to what you were working on first, but the alteration helps keep the brain fresh and it makes it less cumbersome for you.
7. Talk out loud! I know this sounds crazy, and I would not recommend it if you are on the quiet floor in the IC, but talking out loud for your notes, projects, and papers, really helps you focus on what you are currently doing. Everyone knows that you get distracted while thinking, so talking it out loud focuses your mind with your mouth.
8. Find the Right place! Some people work best at the library, others at their desks, other with other people, and others just like to be alone. I get distracted easily by other people, so the place I work best in is my bedroom on my bed. Find your right study environment and don’t ever give it up!
Hope these stress relieving tips work for you! They are a lifesaver for me, saving each little hair on my head.