Although the student years are said to be the best years of your life, they are not always as easy as they seem. Studying comes with lots of intellectual work and much responsibility. It is easy to get overwhelmed when you have many tasks to accomplish! And although stress can be exposed in many different ways, there are several symptoms students always share when life starts to feel tense:
- irritability;
- constant worry;
- sleep issues;
- uncommon tiredness;
- hard time concentrating and accomplishing tasks.
If you have noticed at least two of the above, you better review your approach to rest. Spending some quality time to restore your resources is vital for functioning well and performing your best at school or university. So, here are some ultimate tips for better brainwork and stable good grades.
Plan Your Routine
Eliminating chaos by creating a plan to follow is some trivial, yet effective way to forget about stress. When you know exactly what you are ought to do, and in what sequence, it brings peace to your mind, shutting up those racing anxious thoughts.
To create a proper plan, the best decision would be to use an app: it’s quite handy as long as your smartphone is with you most of the time in a day. You can visit the liven.com website to download a self-discovery companion that provides a special function for routine planning. What’s nice is that it gives you options to choose from, so building up your plan for the day is really fast and easy. And more, it provides some options for relaxation and rewiring, which already brings some pleasant to-dos to your list.
Get Quality Sleep
There is no better way to restore your energy than going natural and providing yourself with some good quality sleep. That’s something many of us neglect because of the fast pace of the modern world, where almost everyone has a FOMO (the fear of missing out) and try to squeeze the biggest amount of activities in their days.
Numerous researchers claim that women need more sleep than men, which would be around 9-10 hours, while men can function well on 7-8 hours of sleep. Consider this when planning your day, and try to go to bed before 11 pm—that is said to be the best time to fall asleep and go through every stage of sleep, which makes you have a full and healthy sleeping cycle.
Sleep deprivation, often popular among students, might cause the lack of focus, memory issues, and, with time, even lead to serious health problems. For example, scientists say that lack of sleep is associated with the development of cancer. So, having a proper rest at night is not a want, but a need.
Talk to Your Close Ones
If you can’t prevent stress, you can at least reduce it when you have already got it. The simple actions you can do on a daily basis often work best. For example, you can have a candid talk with someone from your closest circle. This way, you can really get things that bother you off your chest and be sure that no one will judge you.
As noted on womansworld.com – more information here – isolation can have a huge negative effect on your health, happiness, and studies, so finding a company is crucial. If you are not ready to confess any hardships you are going through, it is okay; consider studying together with a group of mates, or visit places like the library where there are people around, so you feel the active society right next to you.
If you start to notice any bothering symptoms, of course, you might want to turn to a mental health specialist for professional help.
Reduce Social Media Usage
Although sometimes comparing our success with others’ is a good way to find motivation, more often it brings negative consequences like self-doubt. Social media is a source of constant anxiety, so cutting down on endless scrolling is a nice way to relax and finally concentrate on what really matters to us. Besides, getting rid of the habit of staying online 24/7 frees a lot of spare time we can spend on anything.
You will be pleasantly surprised by how much you can accomplish without having to check your Facebook, Instagram and others.
There are a few options for reducing social media usage:
- deleting the apps from your phone for a certain period of time;
- turning off the notifications on the apps you use most;
- settling for gadget-free weekends to unwind.
Select what suits you more, or try each one to see what works best for you.
Take Breaks
When the deadline is coming, we tend to work long hours to get on well. But, it is not always a good strategy. If you notice you are starting to feel overwhelmed or anxious, break your studying session into smaller, manageable sessions. The Pomodoro technique can be your key to success. Usually, it means that you work for 25 minutes, rest for 5, and then repeat the sequence, but you can pick the time periods that suit you more, like 50 minutes of active study paired up with 10 minutes of rest.
Consider Active Rest
Knowledge work, indeed, can be hard and tiring, but it doesn’t always mean we have to lay down idly while resting from it. Try taking a break for a short simple workout session and move your body. It can either be a walk around the campus, some pushups in your room, a short yoga session, or even a dance workout, if you prefer. Listen to your body—it always knows what it needs most!
All of the methods listed above are simple to perform and rather easy to implement into your study routine, so dare to try some of them and take good care of yourself even in the tough times.