Recommendations for students during the sessional period to prevent stress and anxiety

Exam stress is a common type of stress. During exams almost half of the students lose weight and their blood pressure rises. The causes of exam stress are not only active mental activity, with changes in sleep and rest, but also negative experiences. After all, exams are a test for the entire nervous system.
So how to reduce worry and anxiety and increase control over your emotions? 
1. Remember that it is natural to feel anxious before an exam. This state increases the mobilization of the body, which helps to increase the intensity of mental work.
2. Affirmations: “everything is fine”, “I will be able to pass the exam”, “I can do it”, “I can do it”, “I can do it”.
3. Every night before going to bed, praise yourself for the work you have done. This will help to consolidate the positive result about your real preparation.

4. avoid panic. It is not worth painting pictures of failure in the exam, it is better to set yourself up for a clear answer and confidence.
When negative thoughts arise, tell yourself “stop” and switch your attention to some useful activity.
5. A quick and effective way to overcome stress and panic is to shift your attention to deep breathing, which calms the nervous system and lowers the heart rate. At the same time you can say “I'm relaxing, I'm calming down, everything will be fine”.
6. Share your worries with loved ones and relatives. This will help reduce anxiety and worry.

7. Believe in your strength, seek support from people who believe in your success. Focus your attention on preparation and self-testing.
8. Be sure to take breaks to rest, relieve mental stress, during breaks you should move around, do some homework, sing, etc. It will be useful to do some physical activity that will help relieve tension. You can even draw an image of your negative emotion.
9. When anxiety persists, it is helpful to shift your attention to something else, such as finding five green-colored objects, or finding five wooden objects, or describing an object in detail.
10. It is important to maintain a regimen of daily routines and nutritious meals. The best resource replenisher is sleep, which should be at least 8 hours. Stress will be relieved by such foods as dark chocolate, bananas, dates, nuts, strawberries.

Mild and moderate stress has a favorable effect on exam preparation, while severe and prolonged stress lowers the body's resources, which affects the physiological systems and cognitive processes of a person. In such cases, it is useful to seek psychological help.