Reducing stress is important during college. It’s important to take the time at least once a week to de-stress. At the end of the day, taking time for yourself will make you more productive. Overall it will improve your time at school.  If you find yourself stressed out try of a few of these techniques.

1. Exercise: A lot of people use yoga to reduce stress. In my opinion it doesn’t matter what kind of exercise you do. You just need to exercise. Take a walk, do some yoga, go to the gym, find a youtube exercise video, or even go to a exercise class. It doesn’t matter what you do–just get active for at least 30 minutes. Sitting at a desk studying day after day without moving is not good for your body or your mind.

2. Meditation: Sometimes you just need a quick moment to destress and think about life. There are many free resources on sites like Youtube that show you how to meditate or have meditation music. Relax and let your mind pause for a minute. We are often overwhelmed by our to-do-lists and all of our electronic gadgets. Sometimes you need to just sit still. Remember, while you are meditating don’t just think of all the things you need to do, that will not help with your stress levels. Those ideas are bound to come up. Just let them go. If you are really anxious try guided meditation with the Insight Timer App. Having someone talk you through meditation can be helpful.

3. Read a book: So often in college it’s hard to actually read for leisure. During the summer I am able to read a lot more, but as soon as the school year hits it seems like every piece of fun reading is tossed to the wayside. Take some time for yourself and read a good book, or at least a few chapters.

4. Catch up on your rest: College students often don’t get the recommended amount of sleep. College students should be getting at least 6 hours of sleep–and hopefully around the 7-8 hour mark. Most college students go to sleep late and wake up. Your body needs sleep so you can process information. One of the easiest ways to destress is to take a nap or catch up on sleep. Don’t let sleep become something you put off.

5. Write out your feelings: I have blogged throughout my whole college experience.  It has really helped me in many ways, but mainly it is a stress relief mechanism. I can depend on my readers to get my stance on things and listen to me when I have something to say. Don’t want to write your thoughts on a public outlet? You don’t have to. Personal journals can help you release information that is stuck inside you. Having a journal to write out your feelings will help you process the complications that come with life. Writing is a great coping mechanism and you will be able to look back at what you wrote and remember your college years.

6. Talk with a friend: If you aren’t one for writing–talking things out with your friends can also help with stress relief. They may be able to see something your clouded judgement wasn’t able to see. For instance, a friend of mine was stressed out about an outline she had to do for a class. She was talking with me about the outline and when I looked at the outline I was able to critically look at an example outline she received from her professor. Where she saw thick blocks of text, I was able to look into that text and show her how much of the text was just copy and pasted quotes from other sources. This made her feel better because she was no longer writing a 10+ page outline with just her words, but incorporating other sources.

7. Work on your planning: Sometimes, just working on how you plan or schedule is a big stress reliever. When it comes down to it, sometimes you really have to observe where your time is being spent and how you can rearrange that time so that you are getting more done in a shorter period of time. The more you are getting done in less time, the more time you have to spend with friends and family.

8. Don’t be afraid to say no: Feeling like you have to say yes to everything your friends want can be really stressful. You have to learn to say no to things you don’t want to do. This will help you make room for the things you actually want to do.

I hope these tips have helped you relieve stress in your life and that you are able to become a more productive individual as a result.