Fixated on Finals

The fuss that comes with finals is at an all time high and tensions and stress levels are soaring throughout campus

Feeling anxious and uneasy?

Are the palms of your hands starting to sweat as

your heart beat rises to an all time high?

Here's some news that might put your stress to ease, some news to uplift your spirits and to excite you for whats to come. Finals start Monday! Put you at ease? Oh well, it was worth a try.

The week before finals is inevitably stressful, possibly even more stressful than the week of finals. Papers are due and students are getting all their last minute work situated. For all those procastinators out there, the week before finals, otherwise referred to as the "week of hell" is of equal or greater stress than that of the night before the SATs.

The stress is overwhelming and different students have different ways of coping with said stressors. Freshman Skye Bernardo says, "this week [the week leading up to finals] has been so incredibly overwhelming. I've lost so much sleep cramming and finishing all my work that I feel as if I'm almost going to be more exhausted come exam time next week, than well rested as I should be going into a final exam."

With stress comes anxiety and an overall feeling of uneasiness which has let suicide rates on campus to drastically increase over the years. In 1990 suicide rates on college campuses were roughly 80 deaths per year according to a study done at Edinburgh University. In 1999 the suicide death toll sky rocketed to approximately 140 deaths per year. It is now 2011 and the suicide death rate has reached 350 deaths per year.

Stress is undeniable but here at the University of Mississippi there are many reasonable ways one might go about coping with anxiety and stress leading up to final exams. Here are some examples of stress relief available on campus:

1) The university counseling center is available Monday - Friday 8 AM - 5 PM to help students work through stress. During finals week and the week leading up to finals the counseling center offers as much help as possible.

2) START STUDYING EARLY TO AVOID CRAMMING

3) Try to taking a break and exercise to relieve built up stress and clear your head

4) START STUDYING EARLY TO AVOID CRAMMING. I'm not sure if I've had yet to mention that one yet.

As the "week from hell" comes to a close I leave you with one thought, a sense of optimism if you will and hope for the future, a bit of a pep talk: GOOD LUCK.