Studying, Stress and College Midterms -- separating myth from fact

Some strategies students have been employing for -- ahem -- centuries (I'd venture to guess) are actually not effective and may cause the already-present school stress to compound itself. According to about.com, the following strategies may trick you into thinking you're a good student, but in fact, cause more problems than they alleviate. Here's the highlights that do not work:

• Studying in an "all nighter" fashion
• Drinking excessive amounts of caffeine
• Cramming at the last minute
• Studying with friends you normally hang out with (duh)

Not only do the above-named strategies cause more stress sometimes, but also, the information you think you're getting into your head may only be short-term. This means you may end up either forgetting the information or having to learn it again at some point in the future. (For all you naysayers that implore: "I'll never need to learn quadratic equations again!" -- most people end up at least taking "one more math class" at some point in their college career.)

This led me to explore what stress "looks" like. Here's just a portion of the list I found on the University of Buffalo site:

• feeling anxious, scared, irritable or moody
• Inability to concentrate
• Worrying about the future
• Preoccupation with thoughts/tasks
• Forgetfulness (this is a big one for me)
• Crying for no apparent reason
• Acting impulsively
• Tiring easily
• Urinating frequently (yep)
• Sleeping Problems
• Loss of appetite or overeating
• Susceptibility to illness

While we can't necessarily avoid stress, there are some things we can do about it. Proper self-care is a concept I've been trying to teach myself for quite some time. It's not easy. You need to make your health (mental, physical and spiritual, if you will) a priority, and this means that sometimes, not everything will get done. Time management is essential -- whatever form this takes, there are some things you can do to alleviate the stress. Here's my main ones and some others I picked up off another web site:

• Exercise regularly
• Get regular sleep and sleep enough hours per night
• Eat healthfully
• Journal about what is stressing you (or life in general)
• Meditation
• Yoga
• Deep Breathing
• REDUCE caffeine intake

There's plenty more things you can do to take care of yourself. It's especially important to make yourself a priority and to schedule in down-time to your day. It makes the busy times more productive and encourages positive mood! So, go out there, and tackle the world! Or, at least, your homework.