As January draws to a close, the impending doom of two hour finals begins to loom frighteningly in your near future. After almost five months of projects, essays, and math assignments done, you find your grade teetering on the borderline, not solid enough to offer you the luxury of neglecting the final. You wait anxiously in your plastic static producing chair, the chair that’s been faithfully beneath you through times of joy and pain. The moment has arrived, the moment that will send either a surprise in your mailbox or scar your transcript for life. The opportunity is right before your eyes; it’s up to only you to seize it. Stressed out? Losing hope for reaching that coveted A? Here are a few ways for you to calm your nerves so you can face finals week with newfound confidence and peace of mind.
Give in to your dark side Infused with tryptophan, dark chocolate is the perfect remedy to a stressed mind. Tryptophan is a vital amino acid that triggers the production of serotonin, a neuro-chemical that relaxes the mind and body. To avoid sugar rushes and burnouts, select chocolates rich in cocoa solid but low in sugar to maximize healthiness while still maintaining deliciousness. The slight bitterness of chocolate complemented with its heavenly sweetness will surely bring you relaxation. Other tryptophan-rich foods include nuts, cheddar cheese, and the beloved turkey.
Pick up a broom. Cleaning has been known to reduce stress levels simply because it serves as a creative outlet for frustration. Though seeing papers scattered all over the floor and the midnight snack from two days ago sitting nauseatingly on your desk do seem to cause more stress, cleaning the clutter will not only distract you from the anxieties of reality but also will make a difference you can recognize immediately. Furthermore, cleaning morphs into scavenging for hidden objects that you lost days, weeks, or months back. It’s always a pleasant surprise when your iPod turns up from beneath the heap of clothes you’ve been meaning to wash for days, or was it weeks? The end results of cleaning will definitely leave you with satisfaction and peace.
Massage your scalp. When snacks are out of reach and you find yourself glued to a certain spot, scalp massages are one of the best relaxation techniques. Head massages not only rejuvenate inactive brain cells that make you alert but are also known to relieve a person from stress and headaches at rapid speed. The best technique to perform a relaxing massage is to place your thumbs on your head behind your ears while moving your scalp with the palm of your hands. Some people, with practice, find massages absolutely necessary on a daily basis. Scalp massages are great methods if you’re waiting in line, stuck in traffic, or simply too lazy to get off your chair. (No worries, we’ve all been there.)
Pet a furry friend. The therapeutic use of petting animals as a stress-relieving technique has grown increasingly popular. Petting a cat or dog for ten minutes can lower blood pressure and calm your inner being. Pets help combat loneliness and depression and appreciate you unconditionally, unlike your parents if you did fail that last quiz. Similar to cleaning, playing with pets can also serve as emotional outlets to your daily frustrations. Unlike people who are often capricious in actions, pets will wholeheartedly devote their attention to you. Colleges nationwide provide therapeutic dogs for students to pet before finals week to aid in relaxation. Quality bonding time with your special friend will not only relieve your stress, but also make their day as well.
Though the anxieties of school are often overwhelming, there are always the little things you can do to make your day flow a little more smoothly. So clean your room and take your dog for a walk to prepare yourself for finals. Then afterwards, you can reward yourself with a relaxing scalp massage. With the right tricks, the week will go by just as smoothly as the melted chocolate sliding down your throat.

Anti-Stress Diet, Just Gotta Try It!
Anti-Stress Success

It’s the start of a brand new year. One of your New Year’s resolutions is to stop being so lazy and not to procrastinate anymore. Yeah right, like that will ever happen. You begin to slack off in all your classes again. You might as well be nocturnal since you spend so much time awake at night working on schoolwork and all day sleeping in classes. Homework and projects start piling up and you begin to wonder if you will ever have a moment where you are not stressed out about your life.

Sound familiar? Stress can be overwhelmingly unhealthy to your lifestyle if not properly monitored. According to studies, the more stressed out you are, the more vulnerable you are to colds and diseases. And it doesn’t help your mental or your physical health that you aren’t eating the right foods to help deal with the stress of AP classes, clubs, extracurricular activities, finals, grades, sports, teams, and everything else in between. To help ease the stress, here are some food tips to keep you on your toes and keeps the stress away:
Watch what you drink. Try avoiding high caffeine drinks such as coffee, certain types of tea, energy drinks, and soda. Even though they may give you an initial energy rush, drinking too much may result in an energy crash soon afterwards, leaving you more energy-less than you started with. Herbal tea, milk, water, and juice are healthy replacements because they provide bodies with nutrients that stress depletes.

Vitamins are a definite in. Being stressful can eat up your body’s vitamins so eating foods high in vitamin will keep your body running. Fruits such as blueberries, cantaloupe, and different kinds of citrus and also vegetables like broccoli and potatoes are especially stocked with vitamin C. Vitamin B is found plentiful in foods including, but not limited to, cereal, yogurt, pasta, berries, bread, beef, and fish.

Subway. Eat fresh Supplying your body with fresh foods allows your liver to function with greater efficiency, which helps your body maintain its balance. Again, fresh fruits and vegetables would be suitable. Salads are an excellent choice as they are an abundant source of all things fresh and are also rich in magnesium and fiber.

Stay away from the fats and junks. Though at the moment, a slice of pizza or fries may seem like a fast and reasonable choice for a quick meal and energy restorer, the amounts of saturated fats are highly unhealthful towards your body. Once in a while is alright, but eating junk food daily will build up an unhealthily lifestyle which only leads to more stress.

In essence, it is important to regulate your day-to-day diet because like everything else in life, you get out what you put in. Eating large amounts of junk foods and unhealthy snacks will decrease your productivity and only work against you. But eating smart will, in due course, reap beneficial results. Make food your friend, not your enemy!