5 Steps to Clearer Skin During Final Exams

Finals week is synonymous with three things: all-night study sessions, boatloads of coffee, and breakouts.

Even people with seemingly perfect skin tend to get breakouts when under stress. And if you’ve ever had to endure final exams, you know that it’s one of the most stressful weeks of the year.

The skin is the largest organ of the body — and keeping it clear and acne-free (especially during finals week) can be a challenge. But it can be done!

If you want to keep your face looking perfect for your FB posts and Instagram stories, here are our 5 steps to clearer skin during final exams.

Find Time to De-Stress

Stress is just one of the many factors that cause breakouts. It releases hormones that produce oil, causing all sorts of unsightly bumps, redness, and inflammation on the skin.

Everyone wants to ace their final exams — but you simply cannot study every minute of the day. So if you’re going to combat finals week acne, you must find ways to relax.

Take an afternoon nap. Unwind with friends over dinner or coffee. Go for a run. Meditate. Put on your headphones and zone out to some music.

Whatever relaxes you, do it. The less stressed out you feel, the less stressed-out your skin will look.

 Get Plenty of Sleep

The human body cannot function without sleep. Good sleep habits are key to living a happy and healthy life.

A lack of sleep can cause you to lose focus, have trouble concentrating, and experience anxiety.

And do you know what these things lead to? More stress — and you already know what stress can do to your skin!

Pulling an all-nighter to re-read those notes from class may seem like a good idea at the time. But in the long run, you’ll be better off getting a good night’s sleep and feeling refreshed in the morning. Come sunrise, you’ll be able to skim those notes and retain more info than if you’d tried to absorb them while you were exhausted.

 

Maintain a Healthy Diet

Eating right keeps your body healthy, and a healthy body has healthy skin. We’re not going to give you a whole lecture on the food groups or how many servings of vegetables you should have each day. But we are going to stress the importance of eating right — whether it’s finals week or not.

When you’re busy studying for finals, it can be really tempting to order a pizza, chow down on chips and candy bars, or skip meals altogether. But if you want to ace your finals and have great-looking skin, prepare ahead of time by having lots of healthy snacks on hand.

There are lots of foods that help contribute to healthy skin.

Avocados, walnuts, sunflower seeds, broccoli, and dark chocolate are great snacks to have on hand. They help fuel your body, stimulate your brain, and keep your skin as clear as possible. Win-win-win.

So when a late-night snack craving kicks in, have some of these yummy options on hand so you’re not tempted to reach for the bad stuff.

 

Drink Lots of Water

Hydrate. Hydrate. Hydrate.

We can’t say it enough.

Keeping the body and skin hydrated is a must if you want to have clear, healthy, acne-free skin. No matter how tired you may be of drinking bottle after bottle of water, remember this: hydrated skin cells are healthy skin cells.

Whether it’s finals week or not, you should always have a bottle of water by your side.

During finals, it may seem smarter to drink coffee and soda to give you a caffeine boost — but you can’t live on those alone. We’re not suggesting that you give up your coffee or Coke altogether, but you do need to mix it up with plenty of H2O.

If you need your coffee or soda fix, alternate one bottle of water with every other thing you drink. In other words, if you have a cup of joe, follow it up with a bottle of water — not another cup of coffee.

Keep Up With Your Hygiene

It’s so easy to want to skip a shower so you can devote more time to studying.

But poor hygiene is just about the quickest way to cause acne and breakouts on the skin.

It’s important that everyone have a skincare routine. So if you don’t have one, finish this article and create one. NOW. But having a routine isn’t enough. You actually have to keep up with it every single day — all year long.

Is taking ten minutes to shower or five minutes to wash your face really going to cause you to fail tomorrow’s test? The answer is no. Devote a few minutes every day to wash your face and keep up with your hygiene.

And don’t forget to do your laundry. It’s not like you have to go to the river and wash it over stones.

So just head to the laundry room and throw your favorites in — especially those sweatshirts you live in and your pillowcases and sheets. Sleeping on dirty pillowcases is a great way to cause breakouts.

You unwillingly expose your face to zit potential all day long — with your hands.

Break the habit of touching your face. Bacteria grows on laptop keys and smartphone screens with ease, so make sure you clean those surfaces on a regular basis. If you’re not in the habit of cleaning them, at least avoid touching your face after you’ve used them.

 

Keeping your skin clear during final exams isn’t that hard to do — as long as you adopt a few healthy habits and stick to them:

• Find some time to de-stress.
• Make sure you’re eating right and drinking plenty of water.
• Get enough sleep.
• Don’t neglect your hygiene to cram in an extra hour to study.

Develop good habits early on in life and maintain them. That’s the easiest way to ensure that you will always look and feel your best, no matter what age you are.

Author Bio:

Jennica Stevens is the Business Manager at Meridian. With over three years of
experience in the industry, she begins and ends each day loving what she does. She finds joy in helping others and makes Meridian a place everyone loves to call home.