Fight  academic stress-Do you have several exams in the same week? Do you think that time will not reach you to study everything? Are you afraid to disapprove? Do you feel nervous and tired? If your answers were affirmative. In the following article we give you techniques to fight against academic stress and get out of the battle unscathed.
The exam period causes, in the majority of the university students , the suffering of a high level of stress. This is how anxiety can affect your performance and qualifications. But the fact of being evaluated is not the only factor. But the lack of time to perform other activities. For example work, would cause stress to appear more intense in that period.
In the exam situation, the student experiences anxiety and low self-esteem. His thoughts become negative and destructive, due to the terror he feels to disapprove. And he is convinced that this will be the result and that any effort would be in vain.
The worry, the feeling of failure and insecurity produces that the student surrenders before trying it. You may not study at all or even having studied will be absent from the exam. Because of the fear of being postponed. The funny thing is that those who suffer this disorder are good students. Because they are too perfectionists. And believe that they do not meet the expectations that they imposed on themselves.
Anxiety and academic stress affect both men and women. According to experts, between 15% and 25% of students suffer. Neither do they distinguish by age, students of fear level can be harmed by this disorder.
The best way to prevent and cope with stress is to recognize when our stress levels increase and to which stimuli or situations.
How to identify academic stress?
The symptoms are usually the following, check if you suffer any of them:
- I am worried.
- My heart beats very fast and / or I lack air and my breathing is agitated.
- I perform repetitive movements with some part of my body, I am paralyzed or my movements are clumsy.
- I am scared.
- I feel discomfort in my stomach.
- I smoke, eat or drink too much.
- I have negative thoughts or feelings.
- My hands or legs tremble.
- I find it difficult to express myself verbally or sometimes stutter.
- I feel insecure about myself.
- My mouth dries and I have trouble swallowing.
- I feel like crying.
If you meet the vast majority of these points, you probably suffer a stress picture. Do not worry, here are some strategies to reduce stress.
Tricks to fight academic stress
Make a cut of 5 or 10 minutes for each hour of study. Anxiety can cause you not to concentrate well and can not retain new knowledge. The little rest will help your mind and body to relax.
- Do physical exercise. The amount of hours you spend sitting and studying can cause contractual. And lower back pain. Walking, running, playing sports or swimming are some of the many options for dealing with stress. In addition you can do stretching exercises to relax your back and shoulders. Moderate exercise (such as taking a walk) stimulates the brain’s memory and energy.
- Do yoga exercises and breathing control. These can help you improve your levels of concentration and imagination by increasing your memory and controlling your nerves. Try this exercise: lie on your back, with your arms to your side, following the breathing process for 3 minutes. Then place your hands around the navel and continue breathing another 5 minutes.
- Sleep well. Many decide to stay awake the night before the exam, which is a big mistake. The dream helps your brain assimilate the information. And enter it into your long-term memory so that you can remember it when the test day arrives.
- Have a good diet. Avoid self-medication and abuse of substances such as caffeine and alcohol.
- Organize your time Establish priorities and structure your activities. And expectations. Learn to say “no” . Suspend the less relevant activities. And as for expectations, these should be realistic. To demand too much perfectionism only brings frustration.
- Order your personal space. Clean and fix your room and study table. Change your physical environment in a way that helps you work. And rest better.
How to reduce academic stress during the exam?
Anxiety and nerves do not only appear in the instance prior to the exam. Therefore, we also advise you what to do during the exam so that the tension goes away:
- Review the test and manage time: By reviewing the test, the student can avoid any unexpected surprise (and anxiety). It will also give you the opportunity to manage your time so you do not spend too much time on just one section.
- Make notes: Taking short notes right away can help the student feel less anxious about forgetting important facts or key information.
- Read all instructions: Some students are so eager to attack the test that they forget to read the instructions.
- Answer the easy questions first: Getting rid of the easiest questions allows you to concentrate energy and time on the difficult parts.
- Rethink the difficult questions: Rethinking difficult questions in simpler words can help the student relax and think better about the problem. But you should pay attention not to change the meaning of the questions by rethinking them.
- Organize thoughts before writing: The student should organize his answers for short questions and essay questions before answering them extensively. By having a plan you will feel more confident as you write.
- Think positively: Negative thoughts during a test (“It’s going to go wrong”) can destroy the student’s confidence. Help him discard negative thoughts and replace them with positives (“I have studied hard and I know the answers, I will do well in the test”).
- Relax: If the student begins to feel stress during a test, you should try quick relaxation techniques, such as: take a deep breath and draw tension when exhaling; tense the muscles for five seconds and relax them (repeat this exercise three times); visualize a peaceful and relaxing image.
The techniques offered do not guarantee the complete elimination of anxiety. The important thing here is to know which situations cause us academic stress. And these tips will allow us to be able to control it so that it does not harm us in our academic performance.
