27 Oct 2022 | 4 mins

Final exams are a crazy stressful time. The countless hours of study, caffeine ingestion and brain exercise can sometimes feel like there’s a giant cloud forming around you. This cloud can be foggy and blinding, sometimes to the point of claustrophobia. Your logical side knows that the cloud-blanket will eventually recede, but it still freaks you out. You need to study but you’ve also got to free yourself, unwind and relax.

It’s pretty obvious that people perform best in exams when they’re prepared and relaxed, rather than stressed out of their brains. You’ll need to study hard—nothing’s going to get you out of that—but it’s also a good idea to equip yourself with some techniques to de-stress.

1. Do some exercise

Sometimes you just need to sweat it out – in the most literal sense. Hit the gym, go for a surf or run around the block a few times. Give your eyes a rest from the computer screen, it’s sure to do you some good and, with any luck, will leave you too tired to stress.

2. Eat some junk food

Contrary to point #1, bingeing on a feast of sugary, artery-clogging treats could well be your ticket to a less stressful time. Nothing says “I’m feeling relaxed” like six blocks of Cadbury, a family pizza and some chips with gravy.

3. Get of the house

Whether you’re studying outdoors, unwinding on a long walk or getting your tan on at your local beach, vitamin D is definitely beneficial to brainpower. So get outside, every single day.

4. Watch some trashy TV

No documentaries, no subtitled films and no deep thinking sci-fi stuff. Think cartoons, cat videos, sport and trashy reality TV. Take a moment to watch the stuff that will help you completely unwind. Ideally, you want to be thinking about nothing or, if possible, less than nothing.

5. Meditate

Chia seeds and yoga poses aren’t for everyone, but breathing is straight up good for you, especially when you’re stressed out. You don’t need yoga pants or a tie-dye tee to get down with meditative breathing either. If you’re not really versed in that side of things (and let’s face it, most of us aren’t) just close your eyes, inhale, exhale and see what happens.

6. Have an existential crisis with your bestie

Nothing helps you put things in perspective like having a deep discussion about the notion of space and time, then deciding that, scientifically, we’re all just microscopic pieces of dust, floating randomly along the earth’s surface without purpose. Nothing matters, but you might as well try your best, or something.

These techniques are pretty much guaranteed to help you chill when times get tough. Especially the junk food. And if you’re really stressing, just remember that in less than a month, high school will be nothing more than a fond memory to look back and laugh about.