Oy. Finals week. Aside from group projects, finals are the most stressful thing about the college experience.
“Wait,” you ask, “if it’s finals week, why are you wasting your time writing this post?”
Oh, well, thank you for asking. The simple answer is that if I have to look at one more question regarding the concept of drug addiction as a disease and how addicts can improve their recovery process, I will literally start pulling hairs out of my head.
Throughout my five years as a college student (super-senior ftw!), I have learned a few tricks when it comes to finals week. I intend to share them with you with the enormous disclaimer that it is entirely possible that these tricks don’t work for anyone who isn’t me.
1. Do not spend hours upon hours studying with no break. From a purely cognitive psych perspective, you are setting yourself up for failure if you study like this. Studying for that long with no breaks in between basically guarantees that you will not retain most of the knowledge you are attempting to soak in. On average, it’s best to study for about 15-20 minute increments with small breaks in between. You’re active enough to retain information, but not completely overloading the system.
2. Stress eating be damned – if you want the pizza, eat the pizza. Ok, this one likely doesn’t have any legitimate reason or research behind it, but this is a personal strategy of my own. I happen to be a horrible stress eater. During times of unusual stress, I find myself craving junk food. That actually does have a bit of science behind it, which deals with the release of cortisol and its effects on the parts of your brain that control hunger. However, because I typically eat pretty healthy, I always feel a little bit of guilt when I crave junk food like that. Except during finals week. Case in point: tonight, I wanted a pizza with pepperoni & jalapeno with a side of chicken wings. So I ordered it…and ate half the pizza. Does the fact that it was a small 10″ pizza help? No, but who cares? I fell a hell of a lot less stressed now.
3. At some point during your studying, take a longer than usual break to do something relaxing. This is important in order to avoid burnout. Burnout typically comes along with those marathon studying sessions, and it destroys any learning you’re trying to enhance. Take a walk, go for a run, do some yoga, meditate, take a bath, listen to some music, watch your favorite tv show – anything that does not involve you staring at a book or computer screen for 20-30 minutes.
4. Remember – finals will eventually end. This is something I constantly struggle with. While consumed with studying every single night for finals, it feels as though the levels of stress I’m under will never end. However, it’s important to remember that there is definitely a light at the end of the tunnel…and that light will be coming with some hot-ass days and beers on the patio. Score.
5. Drink plenty of water. I can see how this might seem silly because most of studying for finals involves sitting and not moving for extended periods of time. Because most of those study sessions are intense and focused, it’s easy to forget the simple things like staying hydrated. This will not only improve your focus and keep you more alert, but it will also help stave off illness once the stress & cortisol levels in your body drop off completely, leaving you vulnerable to illness.
I feel like there were more I wanted to include, but clearly, I have “finals brain”. Things are definitely not in 100% working order up there. To anyone else working on finals this week, the best of luck to you! Any other helpful tricks you would like to share for surviving finals week are welcome in the comment section below.
Happy studying!
Twenty-Something 