Most teenagers have a pretty good idea of just how stressful finals week is and while most of the younger kids wish they had them, so they could get out of doing work, it’s one of the hardest weeks for high schoolers. The amount of stress and focus that takes place while taking and studying for finals is enough to overload someone’s brain. The first thing that most people resort to when getting stressed is something they enjoy that takes their mind off of it.
Even though certain things/activities work for certain people, such as watching TV or working out, it doesn’t mean it will work for everyone else too. Just because one person uses sleep as a way to deal with any stress that is building up, another person may like being busy and trying to work on new projects. Some individuals might not even have a way to deal with their stress, so they just keep studying until they reach the breaking point. Even if you don’t, there are several ways to take your mind off of Finals Week and all the tests that come before winter break starts.
One of the simplest ways to reduce stress is by writing down your thoughts or journaling. If you get down anything you have on your mind at that moment, it can greatly help any built-up stress or anxiety towards finals or whatever happens to be going on. Journaling can benefit anyone who does it because it causes your brain to focus on what is being written on the pages and what you will write rather than an upcoming test. According to WebMD, “Writing can help you break away from…obsessively thinking” which just goes to show that writing can help take your mind off of any stress and reduce it. Even though not everyone likes the idea of writing their thoughts down on paper, anything you feel can also be written down on a laptop or in a notes app.
Another way to help take a break from studying for finals is to pick up a new hobby or do something that involves the creative side of your brain. Since trying out a new hobby can take up your entire attention to try and learn about it, it does the job it needs to. Since it will take most of your attention, your brain won’t be as worried about anything else that is going on. The American Psychiatric Association explains that “[people] who rate their mental health as very good…engage in creative activities more [often] than those who rate their mental health as poor.” When a person tends to be more focused on a project, such as art or learning an instrument, it will cancel out any other thoughts they had before the activity because it’s what seems most important.
Finally, one last way to decrease stress is listening to music. Almost everyone has a favorite song, songs that they can relate to, a favorite artist, or even just a genre of music that can help them drift away from any of their problems. Music can help in a lot of ways because if a certain song relates to how you’re feeling, it’ll probably help you think about and deal with it, but if there’s a song that just distracts you from any issue that might be going on (like the stress of finals), it can make you forget about the whole thing. WebMD shares how not only is music good for normal days but it can also “decrease your blood pressure [and] lower your levels of the stress hormone.” In the end, music is a pretty good way to relieve any stress or negative feelings.
A few simple ways to destress and take a break from studying can also be going for a walk, exercising/yoga, baking, reading, thinking about the holidays, studying with a group of friends who can help with any issues you run into, and even just asking what the final is about to kill any nerves. Not all of these can work for everyone but, sometimes it helps to just do something you enjoy even if you feel like it isn’t going to help.
