How to Boost Mental Energy Levels before your Exam?

Exam season is stressful for students as they try to figure out ways to keep their energy up and achieve their goals. Unfortunately, while they think all-nighters and coffee are all they need. But contrary to popular belief, these quickly drain mental and physical energy and cause dehydration.

Besides this, there are many other practices that students unknowingly indulge in while preparing for their exams that pull them down. If you are a student preparing for exams, you must know the proper ways to relax before a test and boost your mental energy to perform well. Running low on power before your exam can be a significant risk, and there are chances you might go blank when the exam day arrives.

Here are a few before-exam tips to ace your assessments and make the most of this opportunity:

Maintain a Sleeping Schedule

A study found that one-third of Australian university students suffer from insufficient sleep, a phenomenon that is directly linked to physical and mental strain. Many students stay up at night to study for exams and snooze past noon, thinking they might be able to absorb their topics better at night.

However, sleep deprivation can only make you inefficient and decrease your mental energy. You might feel low, drowsy, stressed, and confused when you haven't slept well, negatively affecting your performance.

To maintain balanced health and mental energy levels, you need to stick to a sleep routine – especially on your exam days. If you want to achieve academic excellence with your maximum potential, you must have a good night's sleep before your exam.

When you have an exam the next day, make sure you know when to close your books and sleep. Adequate sleep lets your brain rest and gives it the time to compartmentalize and consolidate what you have learned while awake. This prepares you to give your best in the exam the next day.

Adopt Relaxing Hobbies

You can adapt activities as your exam-time hobbies to help you stay calm and increase positive mental energy levels – one such hobby is colouring. It is one of the most effective study techniques as it has the same effect on your brain as meditation.

However, everyone can have a different activity that may help them relax—some people even like to cook, draw, paint, etc., to help their brain relax and learn. You can get creative while picking up your exam hobby – go for anything that helps your brain stay calm and happy.

Spend Time in the Sun

A regulator of our circadian rhythm is light exposure, which means sunlight is the primary need of our body. A good amount of sun exposure is beneficial for health for several reasons, and all of those reasons contribute to kickstarting your mental energy level. Getting exposed to the sun can potentially increase the release of a hormone from the brain called serotonin. This hormone helps in keeping individuals calm and focused while boosting their mood.

Make it a habit to spend 10 minutes in the sun, especially in the morning, and it will help you boost your mental energy levels for the day. It would be best if you didn't forget to practice that on the morning of your exam. Take your morning tea or coffee outside in the sun while you revise with the fresh air boosting your positive energy. The touch of nature is an excellent way to start your day, and it will give you just the motivation you need.

Avoid Using Technology Before Bed

When done right, light exposure can boost your energy level. But there's a time and place for everything, and it goes for lights as well.

Young ones must avoid exposure to blue light emitted through the screens of our phones, laptops, TVs, etc. It affects your mood and sleep cycle and causes your eyes to fatigue, none of which can help you boost your energy levels; instead, they might deteriorate.

So, it's best to stop using all kinds of technology before going to bed the night of your exam. This will help you have a good night's sleep and wake up relaxed the following day without fatigue or exhaustion. If you can't manage technology, you can install an app to adjust the light emission after dark. Almost all phones and laptops come with this feature; if not, you can install an application that can do it for you.

Control Caffeine Intake

Many students increase their caffeine intake when preparing for exams to stay energized and consider it one of the best ways to relax before a test. However, if you look at what you're doing to your body by drinking coffee, you will know it brings down your efficiency.

Developing a habit of drinking more coffee than you usually do and relying on caffeine during exams to ensure sleepless nights can cause an increase in exam anxiety. Don't overdose on coffee.

On the other hand, if you increase your caffeine consumption during exams in the hope of getting more energy and buying more time to study, you will end up having exam anxiety. As a result, caffeine can build up restlessness and heart palpitations in your body, lowering your efficiency.

Maintain a Healthy Diet

Students usually load their drawers and cupboards with snacks like crisps and chocolates or order fast food more often when the exam season arrives. The reason being that they find them easy to access and eat. Moreover, they can also give you a quick sugar high which will feel like an energy boost. However, according to studies, eating unhealthy snacks and fast food can cause more stress in exams.

Besides this, you might even get used to overeating and establishing a poor diet which can affect you long-term. Instead, you can opt for food that has complex carbohydrates and healthy fats. Snacking on nutritious food can help you study, boost your mood and energy levels, and prevent you from overeating. So keep some healthy snacks at hand; we suggest stocking up on mixed nuts, greek yogurt, apple slices, and dark chocolate.

Regular Exercise

Students tend to sit in their beds or chairs for hours and not move an inch. This is an unhealthy habit that's doing you more harm than good. Studying for exams does not mean giving up on all your physical activities and just focusing on your books. That's why you need to ensure that you exercise or at least walk around regularly enough.

Sitting or lying in one place throughout the day can decrease your energy levels, and you will get lazier and lazier. This may even make you feel drowsy, and you may even lose motivation to study.

If you don't have time to follow your gym routine, you can search for online workout videos for exam season. You'll find plenty of them, pick a few of them and add them to your routine. Do not forget to exercise the night and morning you are revising. It will revitalize your mind and body and kick up your energy levels.

Conclusion

It is necessary to prepare your mind before going to an exam, knowledge-wise, and boost your mental energy levels. If you're already drained before the exam, how can you expect to perform well on your test? You can practice any or all of the before exam tips mentioned to perform outstandingly in your exam.

You can find more trendy study tips here to help you perform at your maximum in your exams.

All the best!