Natalie

December 21, 2022 | Read time: 8 min

How to Keep School Stress From Ruining Your Life

Picture this. You stayed up all night studying for another final exam until finally, at 5:30 am, you decided to sleep for just a few hours. The exam is at 9 am, and you set four different alarms. But you wake up suddenly, feeling like the sun in your room is too bright and you’ve forgotten something. You look at the clock—10:27!

As you realize you’ve overslept, ice runs through your veins, and you leap into panicked action, hoping to somehow run to class and take the exam before time is up.

Even if you haven’t had this exact experience (it’s a true story from my first year of university, and I survived), if you are a student, you are probably familiar with the stress of academic pressures. Between difficult class material, overlapping deadlines, and trying to balance working and having a social life, being a student is hard!

How can you handle stress and still make the most of your experience? Today we have tips for making the most of your studies while maintaining your sanity.

1. Establish and Maintain a Routine

University—whether you’re an undergraduate or a Ph.D. student—is usually a time of uncertainty and change. Whether you are just starting your university studies or working towards a career change or promotion, pursuing higher education means odd class times and several unstructured hours during which you are expected to complete self-directed work. Being a student requires self-discipline; however, most students don’t enter university adequately prepared.

Maintaining a routine can be the key to managing your workload and stress. With a routine, you can easily set aside time to exercise, study, socialize, and sleep. The best routine will prioritize your health first, followed by your studies. Why aren’t studies on top of this list? Simple–you can’t learn well if you’re sick!

University is a great time to try a new sport or join a gym (many schools offer free or discounted facilities) and learn to cook simple, healthy food. By taking care of your health and maintaining a routine, you’ll have a much easier time maintaining self-discipline and managing whatever difficulties are thrown your way.

2. Find a Study Buddy

Even the best students benefit from studying with others. Finding a study buddy or forming a study group is a great way to learn the material and make friends. In fact, study buddies offer numerous advantages that make them an indispensable tool in managing stress and staying on top of your workload, including:

Helping you stay on track. Since you’ll make regular appointments to study, it will be easier to arrange your schedule. This can also be a big help with maintaining a routine since you’ll be designating specific times to get work done.
Your study buddy can help you take notes, and as you share ideas, you can learn from each other.
A study buddy keeps you accountable. You can’t skip studying if someone is waiting for you.

3. Talk to Your Professors

This advice can be challenging for students to take. After all, school is undoubtedly overwhelming enough without feeling like you have to discuss your personal problems with your professor. So what if you can’t sleep, or your boyfriend broke up with you, or you just can’t seem to understand differential equations? Will your professor really care? Don’t they hear the same stories from students begging for sympathy and exceptions all day, every day?

The answer is yes, they do, but you should absolutely still talk to them. When you feel stressed, you might feel ashamed or anxious to talk about your problems. Shame and anxiety can add to the existing fear of confrontation. It’s easy to imagine your professors dismissing or, worse, mocking your concerns. Don’t let fear hold you back. It would be best if you talked to your professors about your mental struggles because:

They can’t help you if they don’t know you need help. If you disappear from class or stop turning in assignments, they might assume you dropped the class or dropped out of school.
They can offer accommodations to ensure you turn in all your work, including deadline extensions.
They can empathize and help you realize that struggling is normal and nothing to be ashamed of. Often just talking about your problems can make you feel better.

Professors are people just like you, and they understand that life happens! And they can also probably recommend some resources on campus to help you, which brings us to our next tip!

4. Take Advantage of the Resources Available

Maybe it's 3 am, and you’re staring at the ceiling, thinking you should drop out of school and live on a boat. Perhaps it’s just another Tuesday, and you’re feeling exhausted juggling all of the responsibilities of study, work, and friendships. That feeling of defeated exhaustion is familiar to most students, and it can be hard to know where to turn.

Fortunately, universities and colleges have a ton of resources to help students who are stressed. Whether it’s counseling, group activities, or study centers, chances are you can get some help managing your difficulties if you know where to look. Ask your professors, classmates, and the administration what kind of resources are available for students who need help.

But don’t feel limited to looking for help on campus. We live in a highly connected world, meaning anyone with the internet has a whole world of resources available at their fingertips. If your university writing center isn’t helpful, look for editing and proofreading services online. Spending time on social media forums can help you find other students in similar situations who have tips for how to cope. They can also empathize when you’re having a hard time.

5. Be Kind to Yourself

Above all, be kind to yourself. Studying is a challenging endeavor, and studying at a higher level has a whole unique set of challenges you must overcome to be successful. It is normal to feel like you are not doing as well as those around you.

Whether you struggle with complex material in your classes, writer’s block on your thesis/dissertation, or time management, you’re not alone. Our top tip for getting through school is to be kind to yourself and don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it. Asking for help is how we learn and grow; university studies are no exception.

As the saying goes, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. Even if you can’t see it now, you are well on your way already. Sometimes the only way forward is to keep putting one foot in front of the other. So don’t give up, and know that you aren’t alone!