FollowWith dead week fast approaching, some of us are taking a long-awaited breath of fresh air, emerging from the depths of Main Stacks to greet a week of no classes or homework. Meanwhile others will be moving out of their apartments and into the libraries. Whether you’re tempted to blow off your responsibilities or study until your eyes bleed, there is a wrong way to spend Dead Week. Here’s some tips I’ve gathered from two years at Cal:
1. It’s good to leave the Berkeley Bubble.
Although Dead Week allows us time to prepare for finals, there also needs to a balance for you to recuperate from all those midterms and papers. Choose a night during Dead Week, and put down your problem set in exchange for a trip to the city. Try something new and adventurous: see a show, spend the day walking around Haight-Ashbury, find a favorite art mural or coffee spot in the Mission. Reward yourself for an entire semester of hard work.
2. Devote enough time to your academics.
Sure, have some fun, but don’t pull the first-semester-freshman move and go out every night to get drunk. Catch up on the readings you procrastinated on. That essay you have due the day of your final? Start early – the more time you give yourself, the less stressed out you’ll be.
3. Eat well!
So many people fall into the whole, “I don’t have time to cook a meal” mentality or stress eat endless supplies of junk food. The former is silly. You do have time to eat something substantial and nutritious, it just means cutting out maybe half an hour of procrastinating on Facebook or Buzzfeed. Food is fuel, and your brain will not function as well without it. As for the latter, I get it – finals makes me want to grind my teeth to ashes too, and sometimes junk foods are the only snacks that will suffice your cravings. The snack attack is inevitable, so swap out your sugar bomb snacks for healthy ones. Fill your refrigerator with nutritious snacks like carrots and other crunchy veggies easily fulfill the stress-eater’s needs, and sweet mandarin oranges are good sources of vitamins that will curb the sugar cravings.
4. Put down the coffee and go for a walk
Blasphemous, I know. Everyone loves coffee, it’s God’s gift to college students! However, you really can’t expect to down a pot of black brew and cram your studying into one session. Your mind and body both need breaks. When your focus is drifting, stand up and walk around for 5 minutes. This simple step will clear your head and get your blood circulating. Pro-tip: Try tea instead of coffee. It has enough caffeine to keep you awake, but spares you the horrible sickly feeling that inevitably invades your body after the fourth cup of coffee.
5. Sleep
Your brain cannot function without it. Studying continuously on 3-5 hours of sleep per night is not productive, because your memory will be shot, your anxiety will heighten, and your mood will foul. Not to mention, your retention rate will be woefully low. It’s been known for a while that sleep is necessary to help your memory, but scientists had been unclear as to why. A study published in the journal Science explains that new connections between synapses are created during sleep, and more synaptic connections means improved cognitive performance.
Berkeley is the number one public university for a reason. Everyone is on top of their study game, putting the pressure on each other to keep pace. Yet remember that an A is worthless if you ruin your physical and mental health getting there. So go walk someone’s dog, have some ice cream, or sunbathe on the Glade. Most importantly, amidst the competition and rigorous academics, don’t forget that we are all here together, working toward mutual goals. Be kind to each other and make sure everyone comes out of Dead Week alive and well.
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