(Courtesy/The Blue Diamond Gallery)

Exams! Talking with your friends about how much you studied over the past week, how tired you are and how badly you’ll do on the upcoming mid-terms doesn’t benefit anyone involved.

Although students’ sleep levels can run low during this time of the year, there’s no need to turn these factors into a competition.

It’s more productive to focus on yourself by creating a personalized study plan that takes into account the difficulty of your classes, the dates of your exams and what you need to do to get ready. If your friends are struggling, try to provide them with some optimistic words of encouragement rather than commiserating.

To get to a headspace where you can study effectively and have a positive attitude towards requires stress management and self care. “Self care” has become a buzzword as the industry based around it grows, but it’s far from a cliche. There’s no one size fits all for dealing with the stress that exams bring. There are, however,  many options that you can try and figure out what works best for you.

Ways to take care of yourself physically include staying hydrated, eating breakfast, and doing some light exercise like going for a walk, stretching, taking a bike ride or practicing yoga.

Activities that give your mind a break from all the hard work of studying are important too, such as coloring, deep breathing, video games or anything else that will allow you to stop focusing on exams for a few minutes.

While physical and mental breaks are important, it’s also worth noting that if they are too long, you might just wind up stressed again about your lack of remaining time. To ensure that this doesn’t happen, set a timer for the duration of the break, and keep your phone away from your study space once you return.

Good luck to everyone on midterms. You’ll all do well. And remember: Winter Break is just around the corner!