Although I was one of the fortunate few who did not have any real midterms (I had two open book tests), I am still finding myself really stressed out at this time of the year.

Like junior year of high school, junior year of college is one of the most stressful yet. As juniors, we are at the very heart of the classes for our majors and some of us are still trying to pinpoint exactly what we want to do. Dealing with midterms on top of the course load can seem impossible at times.

In an ideal world, we could just use a vacation pass to rest up. But, sometimes it seems impossible to slow down.

Catching up on sleep seems to help many of my friends. For me, I find myself even more stressed out about the time I wasted when I take a nap.

For the past week, I took the time to look up methods to reduce stress. Yoga ranked pretty high up there, but it can be time consuming. If you have the time to spare in your day, I would strongly recommend trying some yoga.

The other option that I found was so simple that I am surprised I didn’t think of it myself. It is breathing. By simply focusing your breath, you can relieve some of your stress.

For the past week, I have woken up 15 minutes earlier than usual. I stretch for 3 minutes and then sit cross-legged on the floor. I inhale for 5 seconds and exhale for 5 more seconds while raising my arms over my head.

There are many other positions and techniques that you can find online, but this one worked best for me. You can also dedicate as much time as you want to his.

While breathing does help, sometimes going home to recharge can help. If you live far away and can’t make it home, spend a weekend just to yourself.