Don’t stress, even though it’s tenth week

Stress and caffeine levels are at their all-time highs. Beach
trips and social events are at their all-time lows. And our
beautiful Powell Library has transformed itself into the infamous,
overly packed, “Club Powell” (ID’s are required
““ VIP entry only after 10 p.m.). You all know what I’m
talking about. It’s that feeling in the air every time finals
come around.

The strangest thing about this time of the quarter is that so
many students get so stressed out. There is a time and place for
stress in one’s life; As far as school goes, there is no way
unwarranted stress can help you. Field studies and laboratory tests
have shown time and again that excessive stress is harmful to
students’ academic performances.

Our goal in school is twofold; we want to get good grades and we
want to learn something useful. I know some students subscribe to
only one of the two, but, either way, stress hinders both.

For example, when it’s the night before a test and you
haven’t studied at all, your knee-jerk reaction is to let
stress take over. Instead of concentrating on the required
material, you focus on why you didn’t start studying earlier.
You begin to think that there is too much material to cover, or you
think about what you should have done differently in order to avoid
your current situation. But the stress only obstructs your goal of
learning the material, which in turn affects your ability to get a
good grade.

Another common time for encountering stress is during the exam
itself. This is the most absurd of all times to let stress affect
you. You have already gained all the knowledge you could possibly
attain for the exam. Stressing out will not give you any new
knowledge or any advantage over anyone else. In fact, it will do
the exact opposite; stressing out will impede your ability to think
clearly. Your ability to solve problems and your capacity to
remember information is drastically hindered.

Luckily, contrary to popular belief, stress is not
uncontrollable. When thought about in the proper manner, most
people can have a great deal of control over their stress
levels.

Doctors suggest plenty of methods to help prevent stress from
coming on: keep a healthy diet, get a good amount of sleep,
exercise regularly, and set aside a sufficient amount of time for
recreational activities. Obviously, learning how to avoid stressful
situations is beneficial as well. If you know that cramming the
night before the exam will cause you to experience excessive
stress, simply crack the books open earlier.

When already enmeshed in a stressful situation, some doctors
suggest specific breathing techniques. The secret behind these
techniques is that they help shift your focus from the thoughts
which are causing the anxiety.

The most important way to avoid unnecessary stress is knowing
that stress will do you no good. Consciously thinking about the
fact that stress is harmful to your ultimate goals will help you
determine ways to avoid it.

All that being said, I figured I should let you all in on a
little secret that can further aid you in coping with stress. You
know that little voice in your head that tells you what
you’re thinking about? Well, that little voice is in complete
control over the mood you are in. You are the sole determinator of
your moods.

When you feel a stressful situation coming on and the little
voice begins to run amok in your head, just tell it to shut up. If
it helps, begin to think about the beautiful things in life to
divert your attention. Most importantly, remember that your
academic goals are obstructed by stress ““ an obstacle which
you alone can overcome.

So, don’t worry about these silly finals. Allowing
excessive stress to affect you is irrational at best and harmful at
worst. Besides, if you avoided the stress by studying earlier,
maybe I would have somewhere to sit in Powell during finals
week.

Levy is a fourth-year computer science and engineering student.
E-mail him your comments at [email protected].