5 Tips to Stay Healthy While Preparing for the SAT

5 Tips to Stay Healthy While Preparing for the SAT

Preparing for a big exam, such as the SAT, can be a stressful experience. The enormous pressure can have a negative impact on your mental and emotional health. When you are feeling stressed out, your immune’s ability to fight is reduced; making you more susceptible to frequent headaches, colds, and flu. If you study well into the night every day, lack of sleep will further compromise your immune system; making you more likely to get sick. Getting sick is the last thing you want to happen when you are preparing for the SAT. Worse feeling sick during the actual exam day. Feeling under the weather will affect your concentration while studying and during the test. You won’t be able to do well on your exam. All the effort you put into preparing for the exam which includes taking the SAT diagnostic test and reviewing for it for months; will just go down the drain. So, here are 5 tips to stay healthy while preparing for the SAT.

Maintaining a Healthy Body Before Your SAT

Being in your best form is both important in your preparation for the SAT and your performance during the exam. Below are some tips that can help you stay healthy during these crucial times:

1.    Eat well

Having a balanced diet is an important part of staying healthy, whether you are preparing for an exam or not.

Eat more protein-rich foods such as nuts, cheese, and lean meat; these will fuel your body longer and give your brain a boost. Also, make sure you eat plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables high in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other nutrients daily.

The nutrients that you get from these foods will go a long way in helping you stay fit and focused. It’s important to eat healthy meals and snacks at home. Ask or help your parents to prepare them.

For snacks, eat nuts, seeds, berries, fresh fruits and vegetables; these can satiate your hunger and stimulate your memory at the same time.

Reviewing for a big exam, though, often means binging on chips, cookies, chocolates, burgers, and other snacks. If you want to indulge in these as a treat, do so but only occasionally.  Do not eat these as snacks since they’ll cause your blood sugar levels to spike; which can prevent you from concentrating.

Last, when doing your revision, you will benefit from eating small but frequent meals. It’ll give you a steady energy supply and help you avoid the energy dip associated with eating heavy meals.

2.    Drink plenty of water

Water is the healthiest beverage you can fill up on when studying for a huge exam. Drinking it ensures you stay hydrated, which will help you focus on your task at hand.

Staying hydrated can also keep your energy up and prevent you from feeling sluggish and sleepy. Thereby allowing you to put in more time studying.

And when studying, avoid drinking too much coffee and energy drinks. Although these can give you an energy boost, it is only temporary. Moreover, you will likely experience an energy crash after consuming these beverages.

3.    Exercise regularly

Although you may need to spend all your free time studying and doing other schoolwork. If you want to stay fit and healthy while doing your revisions, you have to exercise regularly.

Regular exercise helps maintain a healthy weight,  stronger bones and muscles, and can improve your mental faculty. This is because exercise improves blood flow around the body, including your brain.

Moreover, exercise enhances your mood and boosts your energy, which is important for your review sessions.

Exercising doesn’t necessarily mean spending an hour at the gym every day. Walking or cycling to and from school daily is already an excellent workout. Climbing and jogging are also great physical activities that give your body plenty of health benefits.

4.    Get plenty of sleep and rest

When you have numerous materials to learn, you may find yourself studying way past midnight to finish them.  Keep in mind that getting enough rest is critical for maintaining optimal brain function. Avoid staying up too late every night. Get at least eight hours of sleep every day. To ensure you follow this, set a time at which you should go to bed.

Don’t forget to take some breaks in between your revisions as well. Take a 30-minute break every three or four hours of studying and do something that will help you relax.

5.    Learn to manage stress

Reviewing for a big exam, such as the SAT, and wanting to get the highest score possible; is one of the most stressful experiences you can go through.

Whether you are dealing with real or perceived pressure, you have to know how to manage your stress effectively. Doing so will help you focus on your studies.

More importantly, you will be able to stave off the unhealthy effects of stress.

If you are having difficulty dealing with stress, here are some tips that can help you out:

Set realistic, achievable goals

Whether the SAT is several months or weeks away; establishing objectives that you can achieve can help you put everything into perspective. Accepting your situation and working with what you have allows you to maximise your productivity without the additional pressure.

Stay organised

Once you have set your goals, create a study plan and follow it. After all, you still have to work hard if you want to get high SAT scores.

Avoid comparing yourself with your friends and classmates

Do not ask how many hours they use to study every day. If someone spends more time reviewing than you, you will end up feeling inferior and more pressured. As long as you are on track with your study plan and goals; you don’t need to feel bad and stress yourself unnecessarily.

Spend time with people who are not preparing for the SAT

These can include your older or younger siblings, close relatives or neighbours. Or anyone you can talk to about anything except the exam. Doing so allows you to forget about your worries even for a while.

De-stress every week

Last, do something that you like at least once a week to reduce your stress levels. This can be something as simple as; watching a movie, enjoying a long bath, or hanging out with your friends (but without any discussions about revisions).

Although you need to study hard to get a good SAT score, you also have to look after your health. Follow these tips and you will stay physically and mentally fit as you do your revisions.

Featured photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash