After today’s workout, I was feeling particularly energized and happy. So happy in fact that I was going to create a post on the benefits of exercise and healthy eating from the perspective of a student. However, in another bit of serendipity, I came across a post from College and Finance that describes the top 5 college student stressors and the top 5 ways to relieve them.
 
While the list isn’t so revolutionary, it is important to remember these little tips to break stress, because we can always use help on all fronts. His tips, in order, are the following:

1. Working out
2. Sleeping
3. Listening to music
4. Eating right
5. Management

While Scott has commented nicely on all of these, I’d like to throw in my two cents for each.
 
Working out
 
Now I am a true believer in short workouts. Preferably 30 minutes, an hour as an absolute maximum. I say this for two reasons: 1) Thirty minutes to an hour is the optimum workout length for muscle growth, 2) We have better things to do than live in the gym. After a workout, run or real sport (sorry beer pong), I always feel physically drained but mentally and emotionally invigorated. I feel good about my body, and those endorphins give me a nice buzz for a couple hours afterwards. Personally, I feel that working out is a stress reliever because you can work out some emotional tension in a physical way, but also provides some mental clarity as it gets you out of that sluggish or “blah” feeling. Any sort of activity is fine, but my personal preference is weight lifting. I know it’s silly, but I like the idea that I can lift up heavy things. (Oh and open jars, if you ladies are looking… Sorry dudes, nothing personal.)
 
Sleeping
 
Did I even tell you guys about the time I slept through my anatomy exam? Not explicitly, but I did allude to it. Yeah, that was some serious bad-news-bears. Sleep helps solidify memories and gives you a break from the pressures of your day, If that isn’t enticing enough, this is one of the only ways that we can easily enter an unconscious state; sleep is a pretty weird phenomenon when you think about it. Some people describe sleep as a waste of time, but sleep is a necessity. In the Bourne Identity, sleep is described as a tool that should be used when one can (in the book at least). Most of us don’t live such tumultuous lives, so we should be able to manage to use this tool as often as we need. Try not to think of sleep as a waste, but instead a time for recharging yourself and reorganizing thoughts.
 
Listening to music
 
As I have been posting a lot on Zen Buddhism, this thought on music will fit in nicely. Stress is often caused by thinking about all the things we should have done in the past, or what we have to do in the future. However when you are really listening to a piece of music that moves you, that permeates your being, you become a part of that music and are aware only of the sounds and emotions you feel. Music has the power to evoke that present moment awareness that helps us escape from stress. While I enjoy music ranging from Tchaikovsky’s Pathetique Symphony (first movement) to Tupac’s Hit ‘em Up, the importance is that the music easily drives you to the present moment. By the way, as a personal preference, I think if you play it louder, you can catch those nuances that really make a song. Put on some headphones though, because not everyone will be interested in hearing your Chinese pop.
 
Eating right
 
I have undergone a drastic change in diet over the past 5 years: from crap to healthy to vegetarian. While the most noticeable effect has been my dramatic improvement in health (I’ve lost around 50 pounds), a subtler affect has been on my thinking. I find that you feel more mentally quick, more apt think a little bit more and a little bit harder when you are eating healthier cleaner food. Although we all love playing the poor student card, your health and mental clarity are worth while investments. I’m sure 10 heads of broccoli will serve you better than the forty of gin. That being said, you should enjoy eating as well. If you are going to eat some crap, relish in it. (Like that little pun there? Eh? Eh?) There’s no sense in eating a whole pizza, then beating yourself up over it for an eternity. Scott describes how it eats a tub of ice cream between exams. Frankly I can’t take that much ice cream, but I do eat out a lot during exams. It’s a good chance to relax and not have to cook. This and the tastiness of the food is worth the hit in the wallet to me.
 
Management
 
I can’t emphasize the importance of a good time management system for reducing stress. The main benefit is that you don’t have to keep a whole bunch of crap in your head, you can just put it down on a piece of paper/agenda/PDA. You have enough to remember with school and/or work, why should you have to remember all your small errands and events? Just write that stuff down and stop worrying about it. There are services that will email you when an appointment is coming up (Google Calendar and others I’m sure). Or you could just use an agenda. A helpful tip I’ve heard is to even write in a little reminder a week ahead to remind you that an appointment is coming up. Incidentally, I have my G2 exit test in roughly two weeks (Ontario driving test). Thanks Google Calendar!
 

Stress relief, or rather, living without stress deserves a lot more respect than it gets now. Even if it takes a little more time or money (not that it needs too), your sanity is priceless.