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Midterm season is one of the most stressful times in a college student's life. And it’s unfortunately something that takes place several times before you can finally graduate. Every semester, you have to study frantically, lose sleep, and stress out while you wait for your grades to come in. You probably dread this time period far in advance and get anxious just thinking about it.

While this time in the semester might feel like some form of torture, midterm season doesn’t have to be so bad. Studying is definitely a must, but going overboard can end up causing you far more harm than it does good.

When midterm season comes around, self care should be one of your top priorities. Even though your main concern is likely passing, and hopefully with high grades, prioritizing your mental health can go a long way towards making sure that can actually happen. Even though you may think that staying up all night, skipping meals, and stressing yourself out will lead to the best results, that is not actually the case. You’d be surprised at the positive effect that slowing down and taking care of yourself can have on your exam scores.

Rather than spend all your time just focusing on your studies, there are a few things that you should do just to make sure that you’re taking care of yourself. Don’t let midterm week completely wear you out. Take some time out to feed yourself, take breaks, and get good restful nights of sleep. Anything that can make you feel relaxed during midterm week is worth spending some of your time on. If you’re not sure about all the ways that you can take care of yourself during exam week, we’ve got you covered! Here is a list of the things you can do to make midterm week a lot easier on yourself.

Get Some Exercise

Exercise can improve your mood as well as your body.

Exercise has long been known as a mood booster. It can improve a person’s mood, release their stress, and improve their focus. You might be surprised to find that staring at your textbooks and agonizing over every word isn’t the ideal way to retain information. Hyperfocusing on your studies for long periods of time can contribute to stress, which is not something that is ideal for your memory’s function. Exercise on the other hand, will help your memory function better.

Exercise releases endorphins, which are known as the body’s natural pain killers. Your body bumps up the production of endorphins by a lot whenever it experiences the physical exertion that exercise brings. You will feel better after a good workout even when you are in the midst of a stressful week. Serotonin is another feel good hormone that is released during exercise. It can certainly be more valuable to either wake up and get some exercise before you start studying for the day, or to take a break sometime in between your studying for some exercise. It will put you in a calmer mood, which is the ideal state for your brain to be in when you need to study and retain information.

You can choose to do any kind of exercise that makes you feel good. You can go running, do yoga, or even hit your campus’s gym. Just talking a bit of a walk will even help calm you down and feel a lot better throughout the day. It doesn’t have to take up too much of your time. Even just a few minutes of exercise can bring you the benefits you need.

Eat Full Meals

Neglecting meals is not a great idea during exam week.

When you’re worried about classes and test scores, food may not be the most prominent thing on your mind, but keeping your hunger satisfied is important when it comes to self care. You shouldn’t go hungry during exam week. It will only make you feel worse. Hunger exacerbates all the issues that are caused by stress. You will be more irritable, unfocused, and in an overall worse mood.

You should make sure to eat regularly even though it is a hectic week. Plan to eat when you get up, before your study sessions, and before your exams. Studies have shown that eating before studying helps students focus, which in turn helps them earn higher test scores. Food provides fuel for your brain, which helps it to function better. Your brain needs adequate nutrients in order to do its job well. If you think that taking time out to eat instead of studying is a waste of time this week, you certainly have the wrong impression. Eating nourishes your body, which includes your mind. Skipping it can only hurt you in the end.

Making sure you eat will keep your mind happy, and will even help you with passing your exams. If you’re stuck thinking about your hunger all day, you will lose focus and won’t retain as much information as you would like to. You are also more likely to be irritable, which can cause impatience with the whole studying process. You might end up eager to be done with studying and rushing through it just to get done with it rather than actually learning. This will not bode well for your test scores.

You can easily be distracted by your empty stomach. Think of eating as a necessary break. Take your time to really savor your food so that you can really enjoy yourself as you nourish yourself. And when you’re hungry in between meals, OCM has got your back! Try any one of our snack packs to get you through the week.

Talk With a Friend

Your friends can bring you peace in the midst of a tough time.

When you’re feeling stressed, you know how calming it can be to speak to someone about it. Speaking to a friend happens to be even better. Rather than sit around and stress out on your own, call a friend so you can talk it out with them. If your friend is going through a similar experience, it can calm you down to have someone to relate to. You can help talk each other down from your intense feelings of stress. Even if the friend you speak to isn’t also suffering through a midterm week, they can definitely give you some comfort while you’re having a rough time.

When you talk, laugh, and share memories with your friends, you end up feeling a lot better emotionally than you would have if you had just kept yourself isolated and completely focused on your studies. Laughter is something you are bound to experience a lot of when you are speaking with a friend, and laughter releases endorphins. These feel good hormones will help keep you calm.

Meet up with your friends in public, video chat, share phone calls, or even just text them. Whichever way works best for keeping in touch will work to keep you content. Even if you just exchange memes and TikToks back and forth, your mood will be significantly improved.

Take Study Breaks

Taking breaks is necessary when it comes to studying.

It can be tempting to spend every waking hour studying, but it would actually help you a lot more to take breaks every once in a while. You can do anything during these breaks, but the important thing is that you are giving your brain some time away from reading and memorizing information. Taking breaks from studying will give you time to focus on yourself during the day, and has the added benefit of refreshing your brain and therefore your ability to focus. When you get back to studying, you will feel a lot better than if you had studied straight through without a break.

You can schedule your breaks or simply take them whenever you feel that it is necessary. Once in a while, it would be helpful to take some long breaks, but sometimes it can be beneficial to take a few short breaks from time to time. As long as you are not neglecting your sense of peace to drill information into your head at all times, you will be a lot better off. Your mental and physical health should be your top priority even though you are in the midst of difficult exams.

Take a Long Shower or Bath

Spending a long time in warm water will relax your entire body.

Taking long, hot showers and baths are a good way to destress your body when you’re going through a difficult time. While most of us bathe on a regular basis, taking a quick shower to get yourself clean and taking a long drawn out one to relax is totally different. Taking a hot shower relaxes your muscles. The hot water cascading over your body for long periods of time will have your body feeling loose and comfortable. The steam from a hot shower can help clear your pores and nasal passageways and stimulate the release of oxytocin.

Oxytocin is a hormone that is linked to anti stress and relaxation. A long hot shower is a very easy way to get your body to release this hormone. Hot water is incredibly therapeutic for a person and can keep away all the harmful stress that is likely plaguing you during midterm week. Whether you choose to take a long shower or a long bath, the warm water will have similar effects on your body. It is always worth it to slow down and enjoy some hot water on your skin in times of stress. We have got you covered with bath items that will make your showers as comfortable as possible.

Get a Full Night’s Rest

Getting adequate rest is one of the best things you can do for yourself.

Since it’s midterm week, you might be tempted to want to pull all nighters, but that is not actually the best course of action. Getting more study time is not going to help you, especially when it comes at the expense of your sleep time. Getting a good amount of sleep is something that helps out a lot more with an exam than losing sleep will. You might think that the information will be more fresh in your mind when you spend all night learning it, but your brain may actually be too tired to recall everything you’ve just reviewed when it comes time to take the exam.

Your brain isn’t designed to absorb tons of information with no sleep and still retain it well. When you pull an all-nighter, you’re relying on your short-term memory which can last anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. You’ll have an easier time trusting that you’ve retained the right information during the past few weeks rather than trying to cram it all in at once at the last minute. As long as you’ve paid attention to your lessons, it is actually much more beneficial for you to enjoy several hours of sleep at night rather than skip them to study. Your body and your mind will thank you for this choice.

Losing sleep can only hurt your test scores. When you’re sleep deprived, you will have a tougher time concentrating than if you had gotten rest. You don’t want to feel sleepy during your exams. The best thing you can do for yourself every night is to get your rest. The right comforter can make your bed even more comfortable than it already is.

You might think that studying should be your top priority during your midterm exams, but your personal health is actually a lot more important. Taking care of yourself is even more crucial during difficult times than it is during the average week. You will love going through your midterms feeling relaxed for once, and it can even help you do a better job on your exams.