Managing HSC stress

7 Tips for Managing HSC Stress

It's coming up to HSC time and you're feeling the pressure mount. You try to keep calm and focused but inside you're feeling stressed.

You actually need a certain amount of stress to help keep you motivated but when it gets overwhelming it starts to affect your capacity to study and to get good marks. It's important that you manage your stress or anxiety levels so that you stay in that zone of peak performance.

Here's a few ideas to help you cope with the increased study load and with the exams themselves.

1. Remember that there are other pathways into many careers. It's not the end of the world if you don't get the marks you want. Investigate other ways of getting into the course you want to do so that you know you have other options. A T.A.F.E. course may give you credits towards a university course or gaining work experience in the field for a year can also help.

2. Best-case scenario - too often when we think about the future we start thinking about what will happen if we fail. We picture the worst-case scenario or we hear a voice saying we can't do it or we feel that we're going to fail. Then we start feeling stressed or anxious. As soon as you notice yourself doing that, STOP and start focusing on the best-case scenario. Picture yourself getting the marks you want, hear other people congratulating you, get in touch with that feeling of achievement. When doing this exercise, the mental image should be as real as possible, as if the event has already happened.

If you do this regularly, you'll notice that your feeling of confidence in yourself grows. And as you feel more confident, the feeling of stress lessens. Practise this every day or as often as you can for the best results.

3. Exercise helps the flow of blood to your brain. You'll find that if you do some exercise daily, you'll be able to concentrate more and get more studying done!

Aerobic exercise is very effective at relieving stress and depression. Even a short burst of exercise will have some beneficial effect. The crucial element seems to be that the exercise has to be enough to get your heart pumping and to get you starting to sweat.

Walk in a place of nature as natural surroundings seem to trigger relaxation responses deep in the brain. Exposure to daylight also has positive effects on mood – another benefit of exercising outdoors!

Stretching exercises are also good for relieving stress as they stimulate receptors in the nervous system that decrease the production of stress hormones. Stretching also relaxes tight, tense muscles and increases the blood supply to the muscles.

4. Avoid caffeine - I know this sounds boring but drinks like coffee and coke give you a quick hit of blood sugar but then your blood sugar levels actually drop further than they were before you had the drink! So caffeine really prevents you from studying better. If you are feeling tired, have a break and do some exercise!

5.Have regular breaks - put down your books or get up from the computer for ten minutes every hour. Moving around gets the blood flowing and eases tired, cramped muscles. Your mind will be clearer and you'll study more effectively afterwards.

6. When the feeling of stress or anxiety starts to build, imagine yourself somewhere relaxing. Where do you go to unwind? What do you do there? Who are you with? Just imagine yourself there. Be inside your body. looking through your own eyes. What do you see? What do you hear? What do you feel? What do you smell and taste? Use all your senses to construct the scene and then feel yourself relaxing, just as you would if you were really there.

7. This is a great process for when the feeling of stress is so strong that it is difficult to relax.

Begin by relaxing yourself as much as you can.Then think about the HSC or whatever is causing the stress.

Get in touch with the feeling of stress or anxiety in your body. Where is it? Is it in your stomach, your chest, shoulders or head? Or it may be that you feel your stress somewhere else.

If that feeling had a colour, what colour would it be?

If it had a shape, what shape would it be?

If it made a sound, what sound would it make?

Does it have a vibration or a movement?

Is it hot or cold or somewhere in between?

Does it have a pressure? Is it heavy or light?

Once you have given the feeling those characteristics, recognise that you are separate from the feeling. Then start to move the feeling around your body. Take it to your shoulders and then move it down one of your arms to your hand. Feel the weight or pressure in your hand and then decide that you are going to be free of this feeling. Open your hand and then shake the feeling off. Or blow it away. As the feeling leaves your body, it is replaced with a feeling of calm and relaxation.

Alternatively, once you have given the feeling all the characteristics that you can, start to feel it draining down your body. Washing down your body to your feet where it simply flows out of your toes and into the ground – soaking into the ground. And it is replaced with that wonderful feeling of calm and relaxation.

If any of the feeling remains, then you can repeat the process.

Linda is well known for helping students to cope with stress or anxiety and to improve their results in the HSC. Last year Linda was interviewed on TripleJ about how to let go of the stress after the exams.

Benefits of Linda's techniques: