Managing Exam Stress and Anxiety

Stress is a feeling of being overwhelmed and under a lot of pressure, which everybody experiences in their lives. You may get feelings like everything is getting too much and that you cannot cope. It can be in response to pressure you have put upon yourself, or to your environment. These feelings can often stem from worries about your performance.

Stress is a normal survival mechanism that evolved to help keep us alive. Think back to our ancient ancestors. When coming upon a threat, such as a lion, we would rely on stress to escape and run away from the lion to avoid getting eaten. This is called the “fight or flight” response, either telling our bodies to attack (fight), or run away (flight) from the threat. Despite not coming into much contact with lions in modern society, this mechanism still exists within us. However, now there are few things we can literally run away from. 

Many students experience stress in the lead up to and during exam periods. This is normal, and a little bit of stress can be beneficial. Imagine you have a really important exam in a week, feelings of stress will help motivate you to revise more, so you can perform well. However, high levels of stress can cause irritability, anxiety and a freeze response, reducing your productivity. It’s important to find the right stress-balance. We have put together some tips to help manage exam stress in healthy ways.

1) Taking care of your body helps to take care of your mind:

• Exercise – Exercising regularly can be really helpful for your mind-set and can boost your mood. Through regular exercise, you can reduce your body’s natural stress hormones (including adrenaline and cortisol).
• Nutrition– Eating a balanced diet can help reduce adrenaline and cortisol levels. Foods high in magnesium, B vitamins, and Vitamin C can be particularly beneficial as they support a specific part of the brain (the adrenal gland) which releases stress related hormones. Examples sources of these nutrients include:
• B vitamins – meat, eggs, and leafy green vegetables
• Vitamin C – fruit and vegetables
• Sleep – Getting a good night’s sleep can help increase concentration, regulate your mood, and improve your judgement. It is recommended that you get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. However, many teenagers need even more
• Self-care – Taking some time for yourself can help maintain a healthy mind-set and protect you from the stresses and strains of life, particularly around exam time. Make sure to take time to sit and read a book (that you enjoy!) or go out and do a hobby.

2) Managing your time can help manage your stress levels:

• To Do Lists – Can help you organise your time, and have a visual representation of how much work you have to get through.
• Realistic Deadlines – Don’t overwhelm yourself by thinking you can revise every single lesson in a short period of time. Set realistic deadlines that you know you will be able to achieve.
• Prioritisation – Prioritise the tasks on your to do list based on urgency and importance, and complete these tasks first.
• Manage Your Environment – By minimising distractions, you will have less opportunities to procrastinate. This could involve revising at the library, where you know you will concentrate.
• Take Regular Breaks – Our brains cannot concentrate for long periods of time without a break. Taking regular and consistent breaks regulates this with a structure, allowing us to take breaks without spending hours getting distracted.
• Complete Harder Tasks First – This way everything will seem easier as you go along, and will limit you putting off the difficult tasks. Starting them first will also mean you are starting the harder tasks with a clearer headspace.

3) Practice switching off the ‘fight or flight’ stress response:

• Slow, deep breathing – When we are stressed our breathing becomes fast and shallow, preparing our bodies to face or flee the danger. Changing our breathing to slow and deep, exhaling for longer than we inhale, can trigger a relaxation response and turn off the stress response. However, we need to practice this a couple of times a day when we are feeling calm for it to be effective when we feel stressed.
• Progressive muscle relaxation – When we are feeling stress our muscles tense up, though many people do not realise this is happening. Progressive muscle relaxation is a technique that trains us to consciously relax our tense muscles and trigger the relaxation response. It can also teach us to recognise the signs of stress before it overwhelms us, so that we can intervene early, and not be carried away by the stress.