You may be reading this with baggy eyes, hyped up on caffeine, and feeling consumed with biology or humanities or whatever. You’re filled with test anxiety, because you may have parents to please or dreams to catch or, a big one, money to make once you’re done.
All that thinking can wreak havoc on your body. One study revealed
how stress can greatly impair cognitive activity. As you cope with test anxiety,
there are three ways to keep your mental health in check:
1. Breathe
Deeply
It’s
so simple yet so effective in resetting your mind to focus. The science behind
deep breathing says doing this slows your heart rate, allowing your body and
mind to relax.
Breathing is an everyday thing we do all the time. But it can be
a real game changer if we are more mindful in how we do it.
One study
conducted in 2013 surveyed 84 people to see how the practice of Pranayama, an
ancient strategic breathing exercise from India, affected their overall stress
levels. They found deep breathing was “beneficial for cognitive function.”
In other words, to memorize all the concepts, terms, and facts
you need for an exam, you have to give your body what it needs – oxygen.
Looking back, I WISH I would have practiced this on the reg
before each exam.
The only time I remember applying this was in my ethics course
when my professor, someone who actually cared about our wellbeing, guided the
class through mindful breathing before taking the test.
What a difference in how I saw the empty desk in front of me and managed my
test anxiety. [1] [ML2] My
focus went from 0-100, making it more feasible to read each question before me.
Unfortunately, I didn’t
take careful note to continue this practice. I know, without a doubt, that I
would have performed a heck of a lot better.
On that note, during the morning of your exam, just take 10
minutes to close your eyes and breathe.
2. Study Well
Before the Exam
I beg you. Don’t
leave class and abandon your notes in your backpack until midterms roll around
the corner. Don’t
decide to browse through TikTok on your bed or say “screw it” to the rest
of the semester.
My freshman experience in a history class:
I sat and stared at the TON of notes on Alexander Hamilton and
other important 18th century figures in my green notebook. It was
8:00 PM and the test was the following morning.
I glanced back and forth from the clock on my laptop screen to
the 53 pages of notes on my lap.
11:00 PM came around, and my chest ached badly with panic.
I only slept for four and a half hours before waking up at 5:00
AM, eating nothing for breakfast, and frantically flipping through
chicken-scratched pages of notes one last time.
I trudged to class,
panicked and sleep-deprived, ready for the exam to just be over.
The moral of the story:
If I had just put my phone down for one hour a day, preparing for
the exam would have taken a much less severe toll on my body.
Fast-forward to my junior year, where I, fortunately, did things
differently.
My midterm’s coming up for my English class. Okay,
let me just ask my class buddy (we’ll
call him Jeremy) if he wants to study over coffee that weekend. He says yes and
we get to work.
Let me tell you - what a difference!
Test day came and I was not panicking, glancing at the clock,
worrying about cramming each fact in my brain.
I only felt pre-test jitters, as I always did, because I’m a perfectionist. But,
at least, I was confident knowing I had a really good chance of getting an A.
3. Create a
Self-Care System
Taking four to five classes a semester, while working to make
ends meet or doing other things life asks from students, is D A U N T I N G. I
remember feeling hungry, irritable, and sleepy 80% of the time.
During midterms and finals, that number skyrocketed to 1000%. I
put eating breakfast on hold many times, starving myself of the energy I needed
to study properly.
Not setting a time to sleep well, eat when I’m supposed to, and sitting in my room all day staring at
a computer caused major burn out.
One study
on sleep health show your memory worsens without the sleep you need. When this happens, blood flow to the brain is restricted,
which “could affect their ability to work properly.” The more you sleep,
the more you’ll be able to focus on studying for the test.
An article,
written by Dr. Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, explains how certain nutrients improve
your cognitive health. “Vitamin B12, folate, and thiamin are important for
neural pathways, and deficiency has been linked to impaired episodic memory and
language issues.” I cannot emphasize enough how important eating the right
stuff is for your brain.
With this in mind, I made the most daring and best choice I made
in my academic career.
A year ago, I lived alone while COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the
world. My last semester was, to put it concisely,
hell. My health was in turmoil, and finals during my last semester at FSU were
not helping at all.
So, for the first time in my academic career, I skipped a final exam all together to
pass the class with a “C.” Yes. I got a “C” on purpose. I ended up graduating with cum laude
instead of magna cum laude.
Why did I do this, especially when I had plans to apply for grad
school in two years?
Luckily, I have healthy and caring friends who helped me realize my
mental health is more important than my grades. After listening to them, I don’t
regret my decision.
Just Remember
Now, I’m
not saying to skip your finals and drop out of school (unless you absolutely
have to, because, you know, life happens). You may have people you want to make proud. I
get that. You should do what you have to do to take those exams. Being mentally
sound doesn’t mean to avoid studying anything.
But in the process, don’t
abandon your wellbeing. Remember that you need to breathe, eat and sleep, too.
I challenge you to whatever it takes to put your mental and physical wellbeing first when midterms or finals arrive. A counselor once said, “Taking mental breaks is good once in a while. If you don’t have gas in the tank, you can’t move forward.” If you want to ask me for more tips, you can find me on my blog. 😊
No comments:
Post a Comment