In the last stretch of the first semester, 3 more weeks of school are left before final exams and the stress brought on as a result is catching up to everyone. The balance between home life and school life is starting to become a struggle for many. 

While the stress of a school workload gets too substantial, creating a well-balanced schedule and feeding time to your mental health is a key factor in creating a healthy work environment.

There are multiple key factors to help with this such as mindful practices, nourishing the body, feeding the spirit and creating healthy study habits.

Mindfulness Practice 

The mind is an extremely important factor in staying calm in stressful situations but also in our everyday life. 

“Mindfulness practice is really important, and so really just working to ground ourselves through stressful situations such as finals is important,” Smoky Counselor Molly Mugge-Cozza said.

The stress of one’s school day can be overwhelming which is why taking time to unwind is important. 

This is why many students will free up time in their busy schedules to do the activities they enjoy.

“I honestly spend my free time keeping my mind off the things that stress me out, which is why I like to hang out with my friends or play games,” Ariel Suoo (10) said.

There are other ways that many students find are extremely beneficial to help relax the mind.

“For me listening to music is really great, whenever I get to stressed I put on my headphones,” Maya Stacy Gates (11) said.

Mindfulness becomes key to a better mindset with more practice as time goes on.

According to The National Center of Complementary and Integrative Health, “14.2 percent of all Americans use mindful practice.” 

Keeping a healthy mindset is not set on constantly being happy, but keeping an optimistic point of view. 

Nourishing the Body 

While the mind is a very powerful aspect of your mental health, the body is proven to be just as important. 

“The body is a passageway, the body is what connects to your mind. Feeding your body feeds your mind and vice versa,” Counselor Morgan Watts said.

 This is why making sure to nourish the body is a key feature.

“If we’re hungry then [we] eat, we’re not going to be doing anything well without eating well, and if you want a sweet [treat], just make sure you’re balancing it all out,” Muggle-Coza added.

Having a fair balance in not only your diet but your sleep schedule also plays a huge role in keeping yourself on track throughout the day. 

“What’s really important in finals is sleep,” Mugge-Coza said, “It’s not good to sacrifice sleep for studying because, without that sleep, you won’t retain any information you’ve learned.”

Taking time for yourself is also a large part of nourishing your body.

“Personally, I make it a point to have [a] ‘Self-care Sunday’, where I do a bunch of skincare, yoga and make myself a hot chocolate,” Emily Fuina (10) said.

The more time taken to nourish the body, the more it will help to continue going on throughout the day.

Creating Healthy Study Habits 

Creating healthy study habits can be of assistance to not only your schedule but also your well-being.  

There are multiple techniques that have different impacts on the way people study. Some may work differently for others which is how Watts feels while explaining her favorite way to study. 

“It’s a little strange but using a song to memorize stuff,” Watts said, “If you put what you’re trying to learn to a melody it helps your brain memorize it.”

For others, managing their time in a certain way is the most serviceable.

“Taking 30-minute chunks to do work, so starting with one subject, spending 30 minutes on that, then working on another subject,” Mugge-Coza said.

Making time to study is extremely important but how you spend that time studying is also important. 

“I make it a point to study on my offs, or I will do a study group with my friends whenever I have time,” Gates said.

Feeding the ‘Spirit’

Initially, ‘feeding the spirit’ is extremely helpful in stressful environments. 

“Doing things as simple as meditating or taking time to take a couple of deep breaths is extremely important,” Watts said.

There are also ways to destress during the school day, such as Zen Den which is a new weekly practice during third period, and lunches at Smoky this year. 

“Zen Den is a daily activity to help center and relax you. I know it’s hard to sacrifice lunch time but if you’re struggling and need a change-up, it might be really great,” Mugge-Coza said.

For those who are in IB, the IB counselors invite students to come during their lunch periods to join the meetings provided for IB Diploma Program and Middle Years Program students.

Talking to someone can also be extremely helpful when in a place of stress.

“Students are always welcome to come by and see me or any of the other counselors,” Mugge-Cozza said.

Many of these ways can help students destress and feed their spirit.

The ways to destress yourself are endless, using the body and the mind to calm down are useful ways to help deal with the pre-final exams season stress.