second video this week, I know that's pretty rare

and to make it rarer still, this is

actually my first full collaboration video.

So this week I partenered up with my friend Jess

who runs another channel about studying and

learning called fittingly, Study with Jess,

and I thought it'd be really cool to do a video

on how to manage stress since we're just about

into finals right now and hopefully you'll be able to

use some of the tips in this video to

manage any stress that you're feeling.

- Hi everyone, so when I was studying my

post-graduate diploma of psychology,

I learned a great deal about stress

but also some really effective techniques that you

can implement throughout the year to help you

feel more calm and stay on top of your stress levels.

So I'm going to be sharing with you my top five tips

for reducing stress and staying calm throughout the

busy school year but before I get into that, I actually

wanted to cover what is stress and what happens in

our body when we start to feel stressed, so stick around.

So what is stress?

Stress is your body's reaction to any change in the

environment that requires an adjustment or a response.

The body then reacts to these changes with either

physical, mental or emotional responses.

So in daily life, we often use the term stress to mean

something negative, but that's not actually the case.

Stress can either be positive or negative,

known as eustress or distress.

So eustress is the term used for describing positive stress

and this is the kind of stress that motivates us,

increases our focus, gets us excited

and increases our performance.

Some examples of eustress could be receiving a

promotion, starting a new job or having a child.

In contrast to eustress, distress is the term used

for describing negative stress and this is the kind

of stress that impairs our focus, leaves us feeling

anxious or nervous, often it's perceived as outside of

our coping abilities and impairs our performance.

And some examples of distress could be losing a job,

sickness, or the death of a loved one.

So what happens to our body when we start to feel stressed?

In the event of stress our bodies defense systems

are activated in a rapid and automatic response

known as the fight or flight mode.

Your body then releases stress hormones

called cortisol and adrenaline

which cause your heart to beat faster,

your breathing to quicken, your blood pressure

to rise and your senses begin to sharpen.

Also your body is preparing you to

either fight or flee the situation.

So how much stress is too much stress?

Some stress is good, in fact it actually helps to

improve our performance and increase our focus

so that we can execute a task more effectively.

But at what point does having too much

stress impair our performance?

The inverted U model

or Yerkes-Dodson law shows the relationship

between stress or arousal and performance.

This model, demonstrated by a bell-shaped curve,

says that up to a point stress actually improves

our performance, but when it becomes too high

it makes our performance drop rapidly.

So let's put this graph into perspective, shall we?

For example, you sit down at your desk to take an exam,

as you turn that page over, you can feel

your heart start to beat a little bit faster.

You can feel your breath start to quicken.

You feel wide awake and focused

and maybe even a little bit eager

to keep turning those pages and tackle that exam.

This scenario would be demonstrated by

the middle of the curve, showing that you've

experienced an optimal level of stress

and your performance is actually improving.

But what if we actually turned up the level of

cortisol and adrenaline pumping through your body?

This time you sit down at your desk to take an exam,

and as you turn that page, your breathing quickens,

you feel a pit at the bottom of your stomach

and the thought of actually trying to fathom

what these questions are becomes overwhelming.

This scenario would be demonstrated by the

bottom of the curve, showing that you've

actually experienced too much stress

and your performance is impaired.

So how can we manage stress to

stop it from getting the better of us?

Well here are my top five tips.

Tip number one is to do some deep breathing.

So when doing deep breathing you're actually

switching on your parasympathetic nervous system

to create a calming effect.

Try to increase your exhalations to

be longer than your inhalations.

Breathing in to the count of four

and then breathing out to the count of six

can have a really calming effect on the mind.

Tip number two is to use positive self talk.

Write down on a set of flash cards some

positive statements starting with I.

This way you can pull them out at any time

that you need and read over them to get

you into a more positive mindset.

Some examples of what you might like to write down,

especially if you're just about to have a test,

would be I know that I have studied to the best of

my abilities or I have survived exams before,

and my favorite is I'm going to ace this exam.

Tip number three is to seek support.

So talking to a family member, a friend, or even

a staff member can really effective because

it reminds us that we're not alone

and often they'll come up with some

really effective strategies as well.

The next tip is to exercise and get outdoors regularly.

So when you exercise you're able to reduce your

cortisol levels and also produce endorphins

to make you feel better.

The other great thing about exercising regularly

is that it promotes a good night's sleep.

Tip number five is to engage in self care.

Make sure you set aside at least 30 minutes

every day to do something nice for yourself.

Don't get consumed in all of your work

and end up neglecting your own personal needs.

It's important to prioritize yourself

and have some important me time every day

so that you don't end up feeling burnt out or run down

close to the end of the year or even sooner.

Some examples of what you might like to

do for yourself could be to read a book,

go to the park, play with a pet or even see your friends.

So there are my top five tips for managing stress

and I hope you found them helpful.

All right, I'm gonna hand you back over to Thomas.

All right guys so I really hope you enjoyed Jess's part

of the video and before I close this video out

I've just got a couple of different

things I want to mention.

Number one, if you're looking for some more

note taking hacks, I actually made a video about that

topic on her channel, so you can click

right there to watch it and also I just really

encourage you to go over to Jess's channel

and check out some of her videos and subscribe

if you like them because she's one of the few people

that is also dedicating all of her time to making

videos about studying and learning here on YouTube.

That is all I've got for this video so thanks so much

for watching and as always, I will see you next week.

(fast, upbeat music)

- [Voiceover] Hey there guys, thanks so much

for watching this video, if you enjoyed it

it would be awesome if you gave it a like

to support this channel and you can also

subscribe using the big red button right there to get new

tips on being a more effective student every single week.

You can also pick up a free copy of my book on

earning better grades by clicking the picture of the book

and if you missed the other video I did this week

It's over how to build a study schedule for your finals

so definitely check it out.

Lastly, I'm Tom Frankly at both Instagram and Twitter

if you want to connect or you can just

leave a comment down below.