20 Anti-Stress Tips For College Students

College life can be stressful in so many ways. In fact, studies are only one of many challenges college students face. Besides the need to attend lectures and to complete writing assignments, they also need to learn how to take care of themselves (and while it’s easy for some of them, for others it could be a real challenge), how to manage their finances, how to make new friends, and so on. The homesickness can strike any moment too, making the whole situation even more complicated.

So while the college years can be one of the best in many peoples’ lives, they can also be very stressful. And while there’s actually a healthy amount of stress that motivates us and helps us do more, move forward, overcome the obstacles, and so on, too much stress can affect your life in not so pleasant ways; making you less productive and more tired. Moreover, too much stress can also cause various diseases, making your life even more difficult.

The good news is that you don’t have to take medication or stimulators to decrease the level of stress in your life – there are much healthier and more effective ways to cope with it. Here are 20 anti-stress tips you should remember to make your college years easier.

1. Get enough sleep

For some of us enough means 8 hours of sleep a day. For some, however, the number can be different – from 6 to 9 hours in most cases. Try to find out the right amount of sleep for you and stick to it. It isn’t always simple in college, but it’s one of the easiest and simplest ways to reduce stress.

2. Eat healthily

A healthy diet isn’t simply a way to lose weight effectively. It also supplies your body with the necessary amount of vitamins and nutrients, making you more energized and productive. Moreover, many unhealthy, sugar-rich products actually make you feel worse and more tired, so excluding them from your ration can already make a big difference.

3. Exercise

Physical exercises boost endorphin levels in your body (and endorphin is called the hormone of happiness for a reason). Not only they make you feel happier right after the workout ends – they also help cope with stress effectively.

4. Take a walk

Walks have the same effect as exercises do – however, they don’t require any specific equipment, enough space, and a certain level of physical training.

5. Breathe

You’ve probably heard about it so many times but deep breathing actually is one of the most effective ways to decrease the level of stress instantly.

6. Relax your body

When we’re stressed, we tend to strain some parts of our bodies, which leads to us feeling more stressed. Just like smiling makes you feel better, relaxing your body makes you feel less stressed on a spot.

7. Reduce coffee

While it might seem impossible to survive a sleepless night without a coffee, you should remember that every person has a different tolerance level when it comes to caffeine consumption. If you drink more than you should, your anxiety will increase.

8. Reduce energy drinks

They work the same way coffee does – and have the same consequences as well.

9. Avoid alcohol

Alcohol might ease your anxiety and tension a bit, but it works badly in long run. In fact, alcohol is one of the most famous depressants, so there’s a huge chance you’ll start feeling even worse after drinking it.

10. Practice meditation

Meditation indeed reduces stress. Moreover, it also improves your ability to concentrate, which could be a great bonus for many college students who have problems with focusing.

11. Organise your workplace (and keep it this way)

When you put your pens in order instead of studying, that’s procrastination. When you do it in your free time, however, you make things much easier for your future self. This way you’ll be able to find everything you need quickly during your studies and won’t stress much about it.

Try organising your workplace (and preferably your room) once and finding some time every day to keep it this way. Putting things where they belong doesn’t take much time when you do it daily, while the need to clean the whole room once a week can stress you even more.

12. Avoid the drama

Sometimes it’s not you who’s the main source of stress – it’s the people around. If you feel already stressed too much, try stepping away from the people who increase the level of drama in your life.

Sometimes, however, it’s your thoughts that make your life stressful. While this would be much more challenging, try stepping away from them too. As soon as you notice you’re thinking the same stressful thoughts, try to distract yourself and think of something else.

13. Write a journal

Maybe you have one problem that your thoughts keep returning to. Maybe you feel like you have too many things over your head. No matter what the case is, journaling can help you with that. When you put your thoughts on a paper daily, you get them out of your head even if for a bit. Moreover, during writing, you can also find a solution to a certain problem that has been bothering you.

14. Know your limits

When you bite off more than you can chew, this leads to stress. Of course, not all college students are able to understand how much they can handle right away, but anyone can do it with time. If you find it hard, try tracking how much time it takes for you to complete a certain task, and keeping this in mind during planning.

15. Keep a schedule

Yes, planning is a must. Not only does it help you visualise your schedule and easily see where you can add something and when you cannot. It also helps you to ensure that you won’t forget about something and won’t find yourself facing an unexpected deadline.

16. Complete tasks as early as you can

Even if a deadline isn’t close, try to finish a task as soon as you can. Chances are that some other activities and tasks would add before that deadline – and so if you don’t complete this one early, you might find yourself struggling to finish everything on time.

Moreover, finishing your assignments as early as possible gives you more time to polish them and to receive better grades for them as the result.

17. Plan your rest

Planning your rest means that you will get no rest no matter how busy your schedule is. The rest is crucial if you want to remain productive and avoid stress.

18. Try to make your rest effective

Sure, you can spend an evening watching Netflix and it would be effective in some cases (especially if you socialised with people a lot during previous days). However, in many cases spending quality time with friends and indulging in some activities will be much more effective for reducing stress.

19. Make a list of your own healthy stress-relievers

Maybe drawing calms you? Or you like to take a bath? You probably know what relaxes you the most – and you might still struggle to remember about it at the moment. That’s why come up with the list of healthy-stress relievers and turn to it each time when you feel overwhelmed. Not only this will help you reduce stress – it will also prevent you turning to unhealthy things like cigarettes and alcohol.

Another important thing here is to include both short-time and long-time activities in the list. This way you’ll ensure that you’ll be able to relieve stress a bit even if you don’t have much time available.

20. Talk to people who understand

Being a student, you might stress over a lot of things. However, there are plenty of other college students around you who overcome the same obstacles and feel the same about many things. If you feel too stressed, tired or anxious, don’t hesitate to talk to your friends and fellow college students. It doesn’t matter what the cause of your stress is – the need to come up with essay topics for high school or the need to find a job immediately. Your friends will understand and give you the support you need so much.

Hopefully, these tips will make your life easier and less stressful!

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