Sophie Williams 14 March 2018 Education & Training
Stress is often an inseparable element that’s associated with student life. Be it sitting for exams or preparing an assignment, sooner or later stress or anxiety tend to catch up. So listed below are some methods on how to cope with this stress.
1. Avoid Caffeinated Beverages
Stay away from or at least reduce your consumption of drinks consisting of caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant, and it tends to raise your level of stress rather than minimizing it. Swap caffeinated drinks for water, natural fruit juices, or herbal tea and ensure that you are always hydrated as this will allow your body to deal with the stress in a much better way.
2. Move Around
Stressful scenarios raise the levels of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline in your body. These are known as the “fight or flight” hormones that are present in our brains and are created to save us from impending hazards when we are under some threat. However, in today's time's stress cannot be healed through the fight or flight response, and so participating in physical activities can be beneficial to metabolize the excessive stress hormones and help you to attain a calmer, and a more relaxed state of mind.
When you feel anxious or perplexed, you can take a brisk walk in the fresh air. Try to include some form of physical activity into your daily schedule, either before or after work. Indulging in physical activities regularly will also boost the quality of your sleep.
3. Get Plenty of Sleep
Sufficient sleep time is a significant reason for stress. However, sadly though, stress can also hinder our sleep as different thoughts keep popping into your minds, preventing you from being calm enough to fall asleep.
But instead of depending on the medication, your objective should be to be relaxed before hitting the bed. Always ensure your bedroom doesn't consist of the very things that trigger the stress. Avoid drinking coffee during the evening, as that could result in disturbed sleep. Try not to do any mentally strenuous work a few hours before going to sleep so that you spare your brain with enough time to relax. Take a hot water bath or reading a book for a few minutes to get your body to a relaxed state and just tire your eyes and don't focus on the things that burden you. You should also go to bed at the same time each day so that your mind and body is accustomed to a certain bedtime schedule.
4. Practicing Relaxation Techniques
Every day, try to practice techniques to calm your mind. In fact, there are many recognized ways to eliminate stress such as meditation and breathing exercises. So you can try them out and notice if they make a difference.
5. Manage Your Time
At times, we all feel weighed down by our "to-do" list, and this is a prevalent reason for stress. First, understand that you cannot do all at once and start to prioritize your assignments.
Prepare a list of all the things you need to accomplish and list them on a priority basis. See which assignment needs to be done immediately, or in the coming week, or month.
Also by editing what might have begun as an intimidating and unmanageable list of assignments, you can divide it into smaller, more doable assignments that can be done over a span of time.
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