According to Mayo Clinic staff, yoga’s postures, poses, breathing and relaxation exercises not only help with stress, but are also “beneficial for improved fitness and management of chronic conditions.”

This makes yoga perfect for students dealing with the strain of finals. According to Mayo Clinic staff, yoga may help you achieve peacefulness of mind and body.

According to active.com, “If we practice specific breathing patterns (called pranayama in yoga), we can slip ourselves into that ‘rest and digest’ state and allow our minds and bodies to get some relief.”

Even other, less rigorous exercise routines may be helpful, as well. Mayo Clinic’s staff says, “If you are not an athlete or even if you are out of shape, you can still make a little exercise go a long way towards stress management.”

According to Harvard Health Publications, “the mental benefits of aerobic exercise have a neurochemical basis. Exercise reduces levels of the body’s stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. It also stimulates the production of endorphins, chemicals in the brain that are the body’s natural painkillers and mood elevators.”

Students can also try walking and enjoying the outdoors. According to Huffington Post, walking can put your brain in a meditative state.

If outdoors, the environment can reduce stress. Walking boosts energy and reduces fatigue. Huffington post states that brisk walking boosts endorphins, thus reducing stress hormones an alleviating mild depression.

Walking also allows time to think and process ideas.

For students who are feeling stressed, IVCC has many resources to help alleviate this stress.

Every year at the end of April, Project Success holds a workshop on ways to deal with stress.

The workshop is conducted by a massage therapist who will give tips on how students can combat stress before finals.

Students can talk to IVCC counselors if they are feeling overly stressed. If the student feels they need further help, the counselor is able to refer them to any additional resources they need.