Destress from midterms

By Sarah LeBoeuf - The Daily Reveille

October 12, 2015

LUSH bath bombs on display at the Mall of Louisiana on October 12, 2015.

Midterms week is here with a vengeance, and students are melting into a pool of stress on the Middleton Library floor. But, no matter how many exams and essays you have staring at you from your planner, it’s important to take some time to decompress. Here are a few simple ways to relieve stress:
1- Pamper yourself
Turn your bathroom into a relaxing spa for a study break.
Mall of Louisiana LUSH Cosmetics floor leader Hoda Essa recommends products with lavender and chamomile to create a calming bath or shower experience.
Pop a Twilight Bath Bomb from LUSH Cosmetics into warm water for a fizzy, violet-colored, lavender-scented bath. If you live in the dorms and don’t have access to a bathtub, exfoliate skin in the shower with LUSH Cosmetics’ Rub Rub Rub Body Scrub, Essa said.
She suggests rubbing Peace Massage Bar into skin to moisturize and decompress. Essa said she recommends wearing LUSH Cosmetics’ BB Seaweed Fresh Face Mask while studying to soothe skin.
2- Become a yogi
Relax with calming meditation and an endorphin-pumping workout by practicing yoga.
Chemical engineering and French sophomore Rachel Nguyen teaches yoga at the UREC and uses the workout to relieve her stress from school.
“Everything is 100 percent connected to your breath, and so with that focus on your breath, you don’t have time [to stress about school],” she said.
Yoga classes range in complexity, allowing anyone to experience the relaxing benefits.
“The thing about yoga is it’s really, really accessible to everyone. So even if you’ve had two knee replacements, and you can’t go running or can’t lift weights, you can do yoga,” Nguyen said.
Class participants often return to share their testimonies with Nguyen because the practice plays such an important role in relieving their stress, she said.
3- Release your creativity
According to The Huffington Post’s article “Why Coloring Could Be The New Alternative To Meditation,” psychologists recommend coloring as a form of relaxation and meditation. Coloring books that specialize in relaxing themes, like mandalas, are sold at craft stores and have even placed in Amazon’s top 20 best-selling books.
Spend your next study break coloring in Creative Haven’s “Groovy Mandalas Coloring Book.” The book’s back cover states, “Coloring books offer an escape to a world of inspiration and artistic fulfillment.”