It is about to be that time of the school year again, finals week. This is the time in the school year that has many students stressing out whether you are currently in high school, college or even middle school. There is a type of good stress that motivates you to get things done and keeps you on task. Unfortunately though, many students’ stress levels go far beyond that point.

Too much stress leads to a weaker immune system, high blood sugar, fatigue, depression, anxiety and heart disease. As you can see, being too stressed-out is terrible for your health. Students often have so much on their mind in terms of friends, dating, school work, and their home life that they often get overwhelmed by it all. The last thing a student needs is to get worried about their health, especially since many high school and college students do not have enough money to be paying for extra medical bills. It is so important that students cope with stress correctly; therefore, I have come up with five ways that you can improve the way you handle stress.

#1- Exercising. The reason this helps is because when you exercise, the brain produces endorphins. Endorphins act as a natural painkiller and they are what makes you happy. I know that during finals week, students are very busy. So they may think that they do not have time to do this, but they are wrong. Students do not have to exercise for hours in order to feel the positive effects of it, as it only takes about ten to twenty minutes of your day.

#2-Do not procrastinate. There are so many students that have the habit of procrastinating and it causes them to stress about their school work a lot more than they actually have to. When students procrastinate, they get more stressed as their deadline get closer and then stress a lot the night before because of how much they have to get done. If students give themselves an appropriate amount of time, then they will not stress because they can do things little by little, step by step.

#3- Prioritize your tasks. If you have a big paper due in a week, do not spend all of your days in that week with friends and push your paper to the side. If you do not prioritize, you will find yourself messing up the things you actually care a lot about, and if you find yourself messing up things that you care deeply about, then that will definitely bring you stress and it will affect how successful you are on your finals.

#4- Stay organized. Staying organized makes it a lot easier to keep up with all of the things you have to do. For example, by staying organized and using a planner, you can write down due dates, plan out when you are going to make time to do your assignments, and when it’s time to study, etc. This will make sure that you do not forget about anything important and that you are prepared for all tests and presentations which will cause you to have less stress.

#5- Stay hydrated. Studies have shown that dehydration leads to higher stress hormone levels which make it even harder to deal with activities that must be done throughout the day. Students are already going through a lot that may affect them throughout their day and if drinking water can make life at least a little bit better, I think they should hydrate themselves. With so much work on your mind, it may be difficult to remember to drink water every day but the benefits are very much needed, and so it should become a good habit.