Managing stress is an important part of life; especially high school life which can be pretty stressful with exams, homework and other extra curricular actitivties. I don’t think there is even one person who has not suffered from some form of stress at least once in their lives. In this day and age, stress is part of everyday living and it seems if you are not stressed out about something then you are not pushing yourself hard enough.

With year 12 and college/university exams looming there is more to stress about.

Have I studied everything? Will a pass? Or will I fail and have to repeat a subject? I hope the questions are on what I have studied?

These are probably the questions you have asked yourself time and again before every exam. And afterwards, there is the stress of wondering whether you have passed because there was one question that you forgot to answer.

So how do you go about managing stress in a stress filled world?

There are a few things you could do to help manage the stress in your life, at least for exams.

  1. Do not leave your study until the night before and do some last minute cramming. Many people have said that you do better after a good night sleep. This does not mean staying up all night studying the night before. You will forget all the information you crammed in your head.
  2. Manage your study time wisely. If you know an exam is coming, make sure you study for it all through the semester. This is why exam dates come out so early. To give you time to study.
  3. Take a break. Yes, in between studying you are allowed to take a break. Go out for a walk, enjoy the sunshine, but just step away from your study for a few hours. Why? If you sit down to do all your study all at once, you will get bogged down in lecture notes and past exams which is not healthy for your brain and it will become confused! Taking a break will help to recharge your brain so you can come back at your study with a clear mind.
  4. Physical exercise. This will help you to calm your body and mind and get rid of those stress hormones!
  5. Have a good night’s sleep. It is important that you have a really good sleep the night before an exam. This will help you to feel less stressed and helps your brain calm down so you can go into the exam relaxed and ready to face the day.
  6. Avoid alcohol or caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant and alcohol can be too in small doses. This means they will just add to your stress levels so it is important, that during exams you keep consumption of these to a minimum as well as sugar. Instead, keep hydrated with water or fruit juices as this will help you to feel less stressed.

Hopefully this has helped you in managing stress particularly for exams. We can’t escape stress in this world, but we can manage it so that we feel calm and collected. If you need any more information there are plenty of websites to help you and one is: http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ps/stress-tips.html