5 healthy ways to relax after exams

Many students find it difficult to calm down after a stressful exam season. If you feel unsettled, you may not be able to set your university troubles aside and finally let yourself relax. The month of exams is a mental marathon, with an ever-expanding to-do list. After all those sleepless nights and days accompanied by anxiety, you might start looking for self-help books at UNYP’s library or asking friends from the psychology department for stress management techniques and other tricks. While we’ve all survived our own university years, some of us could have done it with less risk to our mental and physical health. This is why it’s essential to know how to move on from crunch mode and start enjoying life again. 

Learn how to re-charge after exams with these easy tips.

1. Have a good laugh! 

Laughter is great for relaxation. It reduces stress hormones and causes the brain to release endorphins. Just as importantly, focusing on whatever is making you laugh distracts you from your stressful thoughts. Grab a friend or partner, and visit one of Prague’s stand-up comedy or improv shows. 

2. Get a haircut

A new hairstyle or a change to your wardrobe can be a very liberating experience when you’re stressed out. Your look symbolizes your identity, so changing it can jumpstart your mood and move on with your thoughts.

3. Reconnect with nature

After spending the past few months confined to your room and the UNYP campus, it might be a good idea to spend some time in nature and give your mind and body a much-needed break from all that screen time. Every neighborhood in Prague has its own beautiful, quiet parks. Out of town, you can reach many areas of natural beauty within a few hours’ drive, such as Krkonoše National Park, Punkva Caves, or the Rešov Waterfalls. 

4. Challenge yourself with an escape room game! 

Missing your UNYP friends now that school’s out? Why not try something new one evening, instead of the same old bars and clubs that you went to all semester? Prague offers a wonderful range of escape room games, and you can choose the perfect scenario and level of scariness for your team. Cracking the puzzle will be the perfect challenge to replace your post-exam stress!

5. Sleep in!

Don’t try to compensate all at once for all those weekends you spent studying. It’s impossible to function well without a good night’s sleep, and you must have learned this the hard way already by trying to memorize lectures after pulling all-nighters. Now that you have the luxury of time, get some quality sleep, do some relaxing yoga, take a nice bath, spray your pillows with lavender, and enjoy the rest that you deserve.