Source: Sara Madden/Pixabay
There’s no denying that exam season is extremely stressful. But you don’t have to surrender to your anxiety. The following are specific action items that you can follow to mitigate exam-related stress, organized under the mnemonic acronym GO FISSH.
Goal Setting
- Create a schedule or a to-do list. Even if you normally resist keeping to a strict schedule, having a set routine during stressful times can help improve your focus and productivity. Organize and prioritize upcoming tasks according to their importance and deadlines.
- Break up larger tasks into smaller tasks. Setting more manageable steps to achieve decreases the chances of feeling overwhelmed.
- Include rest periods. Make sure that your schedule or to-do list includes both study-related entries and breaks (more on that later).
Outlook
- Practice turning negative thinking into positive thinking. Rationally evaluate negative thoughts and respond with positive affirmations of what is good about you or things you’re thankful for. Write down a few affirmations and keep them handy, either to counter specific negative thoughts or to repeat to yourself throughout the day. You can also try keeping a gratitude journal.
- “Stop and swap” negative thoughts. Another way to turn negative thoughts into positive ones is to train yourself to recognize when negative thoughts or worries arise and to mentally stop yourself and swap in a positive thought to focus on instead.
- Limit or avoid exposure to negative people. Negative people increase your stress level and make it harder for you to manage stress in healthy ways. Try to surround yourself with positive, supportive people and limit or avoid exposure to negative people.
- Resist comparisons. It is a natural tendency to compare yourself to others, and that tendency is often exacerbated by social and institutional norms. Some strategies for decreasing comparative thinking include limiting social media use, trying to avoid listening to others talking about how they did, and focusing on things you can change instead of what you can’t.
Friends and Family
- Avoid isolating yourself. During stressful times you need the help and support of those who care about you the most. Talking with friends and family can validate your feelings and concerns or provide a different perspective.
- Maintain your social support network. In addition to keeping in contact with friends and family, stay active in civic groups, faith-based communities, or other organizations that provide social support.
Interests
- Maintain your hobbies. Hobbies and fun activities are essential for creative thinking and well-being. Not only do they provide an opportunity to recharge, they can help you to keep things in perspective.
Source: Adrian Malec/Pixabay
Studying
- Create a study plan. Within your schedule or to-do list, plan out a study routine so that each class gets an appropriate amount of study time. Prioritize topics based on their weight in the exam and your level of comfort with each subject.
- Include rest periods as part of your study plan. These rest periods are not a reward, they are absolutely necessary for your brain to properly process and store the information you’re studying. If you were training for a marathon, you wouldn’t run 16 hours a day for weeks leading up to the race. Rest and recovery time is as important for preparation as training time.
Stress Management
- Practice mindfulness. Mindfulness is a mental state of focusing on the present moment without judgment. Practicing mindfulness reduces activity in a part of your brain called the amygdala, which is responsible for activating your body’s stress response. Mindfulness can also help you to control racing thoughts and build resilience to enable you to better tolerate stressful situations. One of the simplest ways to practice mindfulness is to focus on your breathing, though there are many other approaches, such as performing a mental scan of your body to notice and relax areas of tension, yoga, journaling, and prayer.
- Practice meditation. Meditation is an intentional practice of focusing your attention on one thing (e.g., an object, word, phrase, or breathing) in order to minimize distracting or stressful thoughts or feelings. Meditation involves mindfulness, but mindfulness doesn’t require meditation. There are different ways to meditate, some of which may be more suited to particular personality types. The key is to find the approach that works best for you to find some calmness and clarity.
- Practice diaphragmatic breathing exercises. When your body’s stress response has been triggered, breathing exercises can help your mind and body to calm down—particularly diaphragmatic breathing, which involves deep breaths from the diaphragm. Diaphragmatic breathing helps stimulate your vagus nerve, which is the main component of the parasympathetic nervous system that is responsible for returning the body to a resting state. There are many variations of breathing exercises, including the 4-7-8 breathing technique and the box breathing technique used by Navy SEALs.
- Shock your system with cold water. Another way to stimulate your vagus nerve is through exposure to cold water. When you are submerged in cold water, your body’s physiological response includes a slowing of breathing and heart rate. This can be achieved by stepping into a cold shower or bath or, less drastically, by immersing your face in icy cold water for several seconds. You may also try placing a plastic bag of ice on your face for 15 seconds.
- Practice visualization. Imagining peaceful and calming scenes, places, or experiences can help you to focus and relax.
- Learn to set boundaries. Learn to say “no” when a social event or extra responsibility will negatively impact your energy and focus.
Source: Thomeck/Pixabay
Health
- Adopt healthy eating, exercising, and sleeping habits. Proper nutrition, sleep, and exercise provide the energy and resilience to deal with the stress of exams. For example, ultra-processed foods have been linked to higher rates of depression and anxiety, while those who regularly eat fruit have lower levels of depression and higher levels of well-being. Sleep, in particular, is incredibly important for your brain to properly process and store the information you’re studying.
- Avoid negative outlets for managing stress. Negative outlets for managing stress include the use and misuse of alcohol, drugs, or other substances. Focus on giving your body resources to manage stress instead of seeking to eliminate the feeling of stress altogether.
- Spend time in nature. Living near and/or maintaining regular contact with nature has been shown to have a positive association with a variety of health and well-being measures. Nature-based experiences that involve interaction with your environment may offer the best results (e.g., birdwatching has been shown to provide greater gains in subjective well-being and stress reduction than nature walks).
- Spend time with animals. Interacting with animals decreases levels of the stress hormone cortisol, lowers blood pressure, reduces loneliness, increases feelings of social support, and boosts mood. There’s even evidence that dogs can lower your anxiety and improve your mood better than your friends or your romantic partner.
Conclusion
Follow these GO FISSH action items to help manage your anxiety leading up to and during exams. However, if you or a colleague experience a mental health crisis, help is available through your university’s counseling center, the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline.
To find a therapist, please visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory.