How helpful is stress?

Everyone stresses. Without fail, by the time you finish year 12, you will find that either you have been stressed about HSC® Exam prep or some form of exam prep. Who knows, your stress might not even be academic and more directed towards uni applications. Either way, the question always becomes: how helpful is this stress? Is there a purpose to feeling those weak knees and sweaty palms? Many studies have been conducted on this and it might surprise to know that stress is not always a bad thing! However, the answer does not lie in the extremes. There are disadvantages to not feeling stress just as there are disadvantages to feeling too much stress.
 
That being said, there is such thing as too much stress and for most of you, this will be the problem. You can see from the graph that there is an optimal amount of stress. What the graph doesn’t tell you is that this level of stress can be different for each individual. It’s up to you to figure out at what point your stress is just decreasing your performance. It takes a clear head and a plan to figure out when you are dropping productivity. A telltale sign that you are stressing too much is when you study for hours, yet at the end you can't remember anything you just read.
 
So let’s focus on some tips that can help you alleviate or manage your stress. Some of these might not be for you so just pick and choose the ones you can implement.
 
Don't forget your hobbies:

In year 12, people have a tendency to forget about the things they normally enjoy. Often these things are a great stress relief and should be continued. Of course maybe modify the amount of time you spend on your hobbies. Nonetheless, I would strongly encourage you to remember to take some time for yourself!
 
HSC® Exam Preparation courses:

HSC® Exam preparation courses can provide much needed structure and progress tracking for your study. This means that you know exactly where you stand and what you should be doing. Automatically obtaining clarity and peace of mind is a great way to relieve stress. Often stress is a result of anxiety regarding the unknown.
 
Stay physical:
Being physically active increases the endorphin release in your body and chemically reduces the amount of stress you will feel, so make sure you get away from that laptop and desk enough times in a day and go for a run, go to the gym or go shoot some hoops!
 
Breathe:
Whenever you feel stressed, take three breaths and thank me later!
 
Of course there are many more different methods of stress relief and release, these are just ones that I found worked for me!

As always, good luck and happy studying!