Once January hits, the thought that comes straight to your head is midterms. Midterms week can cause a huge amount of stress on students for many reasons. Students can feel unprepared, not be good test takers, or just the stress completely takes over them. From personal experience, I can definitely relate when saying stress takes over me. But also having this personal experience allows me to share what I think are the best tips to unwinding from all that stress! Unwinding can really be beneficial to many during midterms week, here are some suggestions on how to help you unwind:

1.  Self-Care

Self-care can be such a game changer for unwinding during midterms! Self-care can literally be the smallest thing to the biggest thing, as long as you are doing something that is good for your well being and will make you happy! Some of my recommendations for helping your self-care can be doing a face mask or just washing your face, take a long shower to help you relax, journaling some thoughts down, or even organizing your backpack.

2. Meditate

I know meditating can sound like such a weird thing but sitting down, closing your eyes and only focusing on your breathing can really help you go into a relaxing state of mind. Meditation can really guide you away from stressful thoughts and even reduce levels of anxiety! I totally think meditation can be a crucial essential when unwinding during midterms stress.

3. Get Out of The House

For me personally studying in my house/ bedroom is the worst decision to make! I bet it is for many others too and that’s why it’s so important to go study in a different environment. Trying to get any work done in your home allows you to stress more because you will easily become distracted from the comfort of being in your home and most likely not get anything done. You will feel the need to take a nap, watch another episode of the show you are currently watching, or just continue putting off studying. Spending at least an hour at Starbucks or a cafe to study can be really helpful towards your stress of finals because this in a way forces you to study and actually get so much done!

4. Turn Off Social Media

Unwinding from your phone for a while can be so helpful when trying to study. You won’t have to worry about every constant text message or notification distracting you or messing you up from your focus time. As hard as it probably sounds, I can trust you that you won’t regret it! All your social media won’t go anywhere and it definitely can wait for at least an hour!

5. Get a Good Night’s Sleep

Going to bed at a reasonable time during midterms week is probably the most important thing on this list! Getting your sleep is so so so important. You shouldn’t be staying up crazy late studying or just sitting on your phone because not getting enough sleep will just allow you to go into your test feeling groggy. Feeling tired during midterms can be such a horrible feeling so make sure you allow your body to rest and get as much sleep as you need during the week!