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"I don't wait for moods. You accomplish nothing if you do that. Your mind must know that it has to get down to earth."--Pearl Buck One of the major factors that affect a students performance is their stress level. If it is high they become overwhelmed and are unable to concentrate at the task at hand, procrastinate starting the assignment, or they give up altogether. Stress is caused by many factors in a student's life. Here are some helpful tips that the experts say to decrease stress in your life, helping you to become a successful student.

Keep track of assignments: Many students go from class to class without looking at the syllabus that their professors gave them and then do not realize that assignments and exams are coming up, until all of a sudden they realize, "Oh my Gosh, there is an exam on Thursday!," giving them only two days to study. By following your syllabus you will know when exams are coming up and you will be more aware of when you need to start studying, without cramming and stressing that there is no time to successfully study.

Keep time on your side: Besides not keeping track of assignments, students do not manage their time wisely causing an imbalance of academic and social time. By not managing time, such as using daytime hours wisely they end up staying up late and cramming for exams and finishing assignments late into the night. If you balance your time between academic responsibilities and social activities there should be no problem with not getting enough of both worlds and your stress level will stay down; relaxing with friends is a necessity to keep stress down, but academics need to be taken care of too, or life will become overwhelming.

Listen to your mind and body: Many students run themselves into the ground by, (1) partying too much, (2) not getting enough sleep, (3) procrastinating work, (4) running their minds and bodies on alcohol, non-prescription drugs, caffeine, nicotine, and junk food. Students do not exercise enough, leaving little outlet for excess energy and stress which has built up. Since they are living this way they come down with colds or more serious illnesses (mononucleosis). It is very important to keep your mind and body in tip-top shape so you are able to perform at your highest level. Watch what you ingest. When you ingest alcohol and non-prescription drugs you are poisoning your body, decreasing it's ability to function in a healthy balanced state. This decreases the quality of your performance and increases your stress level. The other aspect that was mentioned was exercise. Exercise is very important to maintain a healthy body. In past decades work was physical labor and people were able to rid themselves of excess energy by accomplishing their work. Today where we live more of a sedentary life it is harder to get rid of excess energy and clear your body of stress, Daily exercise will help clear your mind so you are able to concentrate on academics later.

Attitude and Mood: Many students say, "I'll work later when I am in a better mood," or "when I am in the mood to sit down and work." The problem of this is students tend to procrastinate and end up sitting down when they are out of excuses, tired and stressed. Do you think their performance on assignments will be at their highest, or if studying for an exam will be fully concentrating on the material? As the quote says at the top of the page, your mind must realize it has to get down to earth, meaning get down to work now, not later when your mood is different. Waiting until your mood or attitude changes will not help get your work done anymore. The longer you wait to sit down and start working the longer it will take to actually get to your work, causing you to procrastinate more, never accomplishing anything, making your mood and attitude even worse. This combination will increase your stress level and then you will become overwhelmed and your performance will be poor and unsuccessful. Experts say the best thing to do is sit down and do it, not wait until you get around to it.

Hopefully these tips will help you manage your stress level and be on your way to a stress-free life and to be a successful student. Visit the website next week and find out how to use stress managementskills while you study, or working on assignments, and performing in class, (taking an exam or presenting a paper).