Finals week makes students weak

The Wellness Resource Center offers free help for this stressful time.

By Lyndsey Garza

Published Dec. 4, 2009

The weeks before finals have long caused problems for students not just related to grades. The stress brought on by finals also opens the door for sickness by weakening immune systems.

"Down to the cellular level, stress creates all these hormonal changes in the body, but physically it makes you more tired and fatigued and more susceptible to getting sick, especially during finals," said Alison Hays, health fitness specialist and wellness coach. "It just makes life that much more difficult."

The majority of students become sick during finals week due to the large amount of mounting pressure and anxiety, Hays said.

To help students deal with finals and the struggle to stay healthy, the Wellness Resource Center is providing free wellness coaching in 30-minute sessions to provide organizational strategies to help students prepare for finals with a low stress approach. The sessions also encompass fitness and nutritional strategies to maintain good health.

Hays said the goal of the center's 10 wellness coaches, who are primarily graduate students, is to provide strategies tailored to each person to address time management in order to sleep, exercise and eat regularly while rigorously studying.

"When they make the appointment and come in, we'll sit down one on one and have a conversation about what kind of time obligations they have and what things really cause them the most stress," Hays said. "Then we'll come up with solutions together on how we can decrease their stress and make them more successful in a whole well being."

The coaching is divided into general wellness, fitness and nutrition consultations. Julie Tobias, a dietician and nutrition consultant for the program, helps clients establish their own personal nutrition and health goals and suggests ways to help sustain a healthy weight, diet and condition.

"Unfortunately there's isn't a magic food that will protect you from stress," Tobias said. "But really getting good plant based foods, fruits and vegetables, whole grains and those types of foods provide more than just vitamins and minerals. They provide vital chemicals that fight of cancer or heart disease or fight off some of the stress related effects your body can send."

During a fitness consultation, Hays will measure clients' body mass index, body fat percentage, blood pressure and heart rate and will instruct basic exercises, such as squats and push-ups. Hays will create a fitness schedule and guide personalized to each client's body, habits, goals and lifestyle.

One really easy way to decrease stress during finals is to just go exercise, Hays said. A level of satisfaction and deviation of stress can result from exercise, allowing students to become more focused and energized for studying.

"Whenever they're feeling really overwhelmed with studying, or cramming for their tests, just take a break and go for a 10 minute walk," Hays said. "Even if it's even just up and down the stairs of their dorm or something like that. Just take a break and then go back to studying. That's a great way to really refocus."

Wellness coaching is not only for the struggling student. The resource center also opens the coaching to faculty and staff.

Hays said students interested in wellness coaching should schedule appointments as soon as possible. The organization and structure will be intact so the stress will not be, come finals week.

"Get started early, and have an understanding of what things are expected, what are the expectations and what the requirements are," wellness coach Jeremy Mims said. "And then set a plan of action of how you want to achieve and get those things down. Sometimes it's just about breaking it down into smaller pieces so it's not so overwhelming looking at the whole thing."