“Stressed and Sleepless”: Should Health Take a Backseat During Exams?

Did it ever strike your mind that if you fell ill during a final exam, how would you study and revise and double revise? Well, I have.

At present, my exams are going on and I feel sick. But, instead of taking at least 8 hours of sleep, recovering by eating healthy and not exerting myself, I am functioning on 4 hours of sleep everyday. Because, exams!

During the exam season, when under pressure, our body activates the sympathetic nervous system, releasing stress hormones like cortisol. While short bursts of stress can improve alertness and focus (a concept called eustress), chronic stress—like that experienced during prolonged exam periods —can impair memory, decision-making, and emotional regulation.

Due to this, our health gets worse and as a result, we are neither able to cope during the exam season nor able to maintain our health.

In my opinion, the students should not be pressured about scoring good marks in general, but specifically when they are laid up otherwise, they would blame themselves, and their ability if they were unsuccessful in that one exam for the rest of their academic session.

There are some students who validate their self esteem through academics and cannot handle the after stress if they were not able to score well, even if it was for just one exam. Therefore, it is essential for students to have a strong sense of self esteem to cope with any failure, downfall or rejection.

Remember, your academic achievements, learnings and success in your academic path is not defined by a single test.

It is absolutely alright to take breaks and give yourself sometime to recover even during the exam season, because will come and go but the grades are not important at the cost of your health and mental peace.