How to Master Managing Stress

With your postgraduate studies well underway and assessment deadlines getting shorter and the workload growing, managing stress levels is essential to your success and wellbeing.

We’ve compiled a few handy and simple tips you can use to stay on top of stress as you head into assessment mode.

Accept your stress

The best way to tackle your stress is to recognise it and accept it. Once recognised, you’ll be able to redefine its meaning - and rather than seeing it as a difficulty in your life you will see stress as a goal. 

Post stressful times, it’s always important to ask yourself what you learnt about yourself. For instance, if you’ve learnt that your anxiety intensifies during stressful times, you might create a chart that lists calming reminders and personalised tactics to help support you when you need it the most. Only when you start accepting your stress, will you be able to really start managing it using personal tools.     
 

Get organised

If your study area is messy and unused - get organised. There’s nothing better for stress than a clean and organised working space. Neuroscience researchers have found that reducing mess helps with focusing and gives you the ability to pay more attention to the task ahead. This simple change could dramatically change your stress levels and help you get work done faster.
 

Use different senses

Whilst your academic attention requires a lot from your eyes, help relieve them while listening to music. A study conducted by Malaysian researchers found that people who listened to music with 60 beats per minute (classical music) had lower stress levels. 

Taking short breaks from your studies will help you increase productivity. Whether it’s watching an online video, going for a walk or having a meal with friends these engagements will help give your brain a break from the stress and tasks at hand.    

Put these simple tips into place and breeze through assessments.