Being a college student brings out many significant adjustments in one’s life, including time management, and eating and sleeping habits. Extra-curricular projects, balancing classes, as well as feeling overwhelmed when final exams’ schedule is near, could trigger stress.
Having stress is unavoidable, but as they say: too much of anything could be bad. A constant state of stress could yield sleepless nights, which in turn, could affect your overall physical, mental, and emotional health.
But do not be bothered. Without relying on medicines, here are 7 amazing ways to reduce and beat stress in surviving college life:
1. Get enough sleep
It is no secret that losing sleep could make a person feel more agitated, anxious, and less focused. That is why a good night’s rest is vital in one’s health.
Being in college, with its fast-paced lifestyle, could push the body into producing an elevated level of stress hormones. How do you prevent this? Deep and regular sleep could help.
Many people are creating their own pre-sleep routines for relaxation. Such relaxation techniques could improve sleep quality, as well as treat insomnia. Before your sleep time, you can take a hot bath, do deep-breathing exercises, listen to mellow music, or do meditation.
Another tip to help you sleep easily is by increasing bright light exposure during the day and reducing blue light exposure at night. Blue light brought by smartphones and computers, especially when emitted in large amounts, is the worst. Turn off any bright-light devices, even the television, at least two hours before going to bed.
2. Eat well
There are so many written pieces about this matter already: the right diet is the key to good health. As a college student, eating well could help your body in battling stress.
Eating at least five portions of different fruits and vegetables is recommended. You can put small pieces of banana slices in your breakfast cereal, and even snack on fresh fruits throughout your day.
Besides fruits and vegetables, eating more fish is great for your body. Oily fish like mackerel, salmon, and sardines, contain omega-3 fats which could help prevent heart diseases.
You should also remember that food with too much salt can raise your body’s blood pressure. Use food labels to cut down your salt intake.
Above all, you should always stay hydrated. As the dieticians would say, besides the liquid we get from the food we eat, we should drink six to eight glasses of water each day.
3. Avoid unnatural energy boosters
Do you reach for caffeine or sugar, whenever you are sleep-deprived and under too much stress? You will still feel depleted later if you rely on quick fixes like them.
Next time that you feel a slump, drink more water instead. If you crave for tasty drinks, you can add lemon slices to your H2O.
Feeling sedentary could also lower your energy level. The power of movement could combat it. Talking a walk around the university could boost your mood, get your blood pumping, and wake you up.
4. Exercise
Having an active lifestyle is vital in one’s health. And as a college student, you can benefit from it too.
Doing exercise is not just about fitting into your skinny jeans. It helps your body to function better, which is what you need the most, in your college years.
Being active improves muscle fitness. It also relieves depression symptoms, as well as lower down your chances of anxiety. Studies also show that exercise can improve sleep.
5. Listen to music
The ‘Mozart Effect’, coined from a study, suggests that listening to music could enhance one’s intelligence. A lot of people had refuted this, but you can still enjoy listening to music while studying, due to its other benefits.
This might not apply to all, but most people say they can focus more on the task at hand, while having music in their ears. Music yields mood improvement, so it can also relieve anxiety and stress while studying. In other cases, some students also say that they can memorize well due to music. Positive mood indirectly affects memory formation.
6. Get a massage
Ah, the power of massage! College students can take a break from their chaotic lives by getting massages.
A message session can give you an hour or two to rest your body and mind. That time can be spent without thinking about any strenuous deadlines and tasks. You can even do it with your friends!
7. Connect with someone who cares
You might get very lonely in college, and it is totally normal. Add the stressful activities and you might isolate yourself. But this should not be the case!
How about doing once-a-week call to your friends back home? Talk to your parents, as well as your sibling(s) (if you have any), so you can also be updated with what they are currently doing. Those few minutes would have a big impact to boost your mood, definitely.
Have you tried any of these 7 tips to beat stress in college? Tell us which works for you!
Author: Marquis Matson
Marquis is as free as the statue of liberty. She is now a part-time writer who loves to write an article based on surviving college and a professional blogger whose work revolves around blogging, managing websites, web content, social media
