“Success is not final, failure is not fatal:

It is the courage to continue that counts” Winston Churchill.

Exam time can be stressful. You can’t stop the pressure, it is how you respond that matters.

Life’s a balance: It’s striking the balance between what you do with your body, what you put in your mouth and your attitude.

Body

1. Move your body. Get outside, play a sport or just go for a walk every day. This helps to clear your head and dispel anxiety.

2. Sleep Sleep Sleep: The average teen needs between 8-10 hours of sleep a night. Sleep helps rejuvenate your body and is the time when you consolidated all your study.1

3. Get organised: This is a constant activity, not just an afternoons endeavour the week before an exam. Making time to write notes will consolidate your knowledge. Keep up to date with your notes so that revising is simplified.

4. Downtime. Yes you’ve got to work but find some time every day to chill.

Brain Food

5. Get great whole foods. Include a variety of colourful foods and choose foods as close to their original source as possible.

This includes drinking water to hydrate your body as dehydration leads to brain fog, tiredness and fatigue.2

If water is not really your pick me up drink and you would rather reach for a coffee or energy drink there are other options.

A fresh vegie or fruit juice combining cucumber, celery, carrot, apple and ginger will give you needed vitamins, minerals and a quick burst of sugars that you can easily absorb and use.

Try going for a smoothie with blended frozen banana, honey, peanut butter and the type of milk you like with a tablespoon of protein powder. This will give you energy over a more sustained period of time.

Attitude

6. Environment:  Make your environment as conducive to study as possible. Recognise when you begin to feel overwhelmed and ask for help from those around you. Listen to their response. This doesn’t mean that you have to do exactly as they have said but evaluate which part is reasonable for you and if there is a problem solve it together.

7. Don’t become isolated: Spending time with others is a great way to relieve stress. Humour can help change your perception of things. “To the extent you can use humour to change your perspective on things, to see something that is potentially threatening as less threatening, that allows you to be more efficient in your coping,” says Arnie Cann, a professor of psychology at the University of North Carolina. Freud also pointed out that humour offers us a healthy way to cope with our stress.

8. Self-talk: Catch yourself thinking. Is your personal mantra a positive or negative one? If you say things like “I can’t do this?” or “I’m no good at this?”, make a conscience effort to exchange those thoughts with a positive mantra. One example might be:

“Even though I sometimes feel… (fill in your blank, like “I’m no good at this”) I still profoundly love, accept, respect and appreciate myself”

Above all else these are profound feelings that will help you to rewire how you feel about yourself and when you know you have done your best then you are on the way to reducing your anxiety so you can cruise through the exam period.

Leora Katranski Kinesiology Melbourne

Need some help managing anxiety or stress?

Kinesiology is gentle and non-invasive.

Check out my page: www.lkkinesiology.com.au

1. www.sleepfoundation.org

2. www.webmd.com