Finals stress leads to harmful habits

Every night at 9 p.m., freshman Nina Shin grabs her pillow, toothbrush, cranberry juice, Krispy Kreme donuts and three Starbucks Double Shots and heads to the place she's called home all week -- Odegaard Library.

With final exams just around the corner, many students agree their lifestyles have taken a turn for the worse.

According to a 2005 survey by the Princeton Review, 85 percent of college students said increased stress during final exams leads to a considerable increase in caffeine consumption, high-calorie snacking and loss of sleep.

Shin, a pre-engineering major, has made personal sacrifices to study -- including trading a full night of sleep in her bed in Lander Hall for two hours of rest on library couches.

"I know I sound crazy, but it feels good to know that I've done everything I can possibly do," she said. "I torture myself. I'm not getting as much done as I would if I studied during the day, but I feel like I'm successful because I'm giving up so much."

The Princeton Review also reported that 76 percent of students turn to high-calorie, unhealthy snacking while studying for exams.

Freshman Carson Hoffman said he constantly eats to distract himself and relieve boredom.

"I love overindulging when I'm studying," the Terry Hall resident said. "Since I live right above Eleven-01, I never seem to stop snacking. Whenever I get sick of working, I just head downstairs. I think my studying habits are just fine. Nothing bad has come from them yet."

After pulling all-nighters and receiving mediocre grades in college, senior lecturer Stanley Chernicoff, the program director of CLUE, said he discovered the secret to academic success: distributed learning.

"Psychologists tell us that if we want academic success, we should study regularly and distribute the learning over a wide period of time," the City University of New York graduate said. "We retain more and feel far less stress than trying to read seven chapters on the night before the final."

According to The Princeton Review, 62 percent of students admit to drinking caffeine to focus and stay awake while cramming for tests.

Studying is a time to curb caffeine consumption, not increase it, Chernicoff said.

"Stimulants such as caffeine are a double-edged sword," he said. "If you don't sustain the stimulation, you will invariably crash."

Junior Nels Carroll, a peer health educator for UHELP, said students may not realize unhealthy habits have a significant impact on their scholastic performance.

"When studying for finals, it's important to keep the body in mind," the psychology major said. "Nutrition is very important since you need protein to maintain basic biological processes and carbohydrates to keep your energy up. Students need to be mindful of what they're eating during late-night snack sessions."

Taking a study break to exercise is one of the best ways to combat stress, Carroll said.

"Thirty minutes of exercise will provide a healthy outlet for stress," he said. "If you're working with a study group, try meeting at the IMA for some group exercise before studying. You'll see a real improvement in the study sessions that follow."

Taking time to start studying early is the only way to avoid the unhealthy behavior that comes with late-night cramming, said Chernicoff, whose GPA jumped from a 2.3 to a 4.0 in college.

"There is only one danger in so much studying: Your friends will think you're a geek," he said. "But that's okay. I could live with that."