With the school year approaching, the time of relaxation and sleeping is coming to an end and we all have to get prepared to head back to the busy, stressful school year. Or do we? I mean, we definitely have to go back to school, but we don’t necessarily have to go back to stress. With that thought in mind, I have decided to write this article designed to help you deal with all the stresses and anxiety of the school year with the calmness of a monk on vacation in Hawaii.

1. Breathe.

So, here are a couple of fun facts for you: a human in excellent health could survive a little more than 2 weeks without food, 2 days without water, but barely two minutes without oxygen. Seems like this oxygen stuff is pretty vital, huh? Despite oxygen’s apparent importance, studies show that most of us don’t get enough of the stuff. According to Harvard professor, Dr. Howard Benson, breathing can be one of the best ways to radically battle stress. Breathing is one of the most unusual body functions because it is one of the few that is both consciously and unconsciously done. However, this is one of the reasons that breathing can be great for reducing anxiety. Breathing can help us tap into some of the unconscious processes in our body related to stress. For example, the “fight or flight” response is one of our body’s most common reactions to stress. Initially this is our body’s way of responding to dire or life threatening situations, but over time, this response can be triggered by some of the lesser stressors of day-to-day life (like pop quizzes or really tough midterms). However proper breathing techniques, like deep abdominal breathing, have been shown to help remove us from that stressed state and relax. In addition to just calming you down, research has shown that breathing can also help keep your blood pressure low, leading to a longer life span.

2. Exercise

This next tip is all about exercise - not exactly everyone’s favorite subject, but a necessary one when it comes to relieving stress. Exercise in almost any form can act as a great stress reliever due to the fact that exercise leads to an increase in endorphins (the feel-good chemicals of your brain). The runner’s high is one well-known example of this sensation. But you don’t have to run a marathon to feel relief. According to the Mayo Clinic, nearly any physical exercise can bump up the amount of endorphins in your brain. So that little jog around campus may be just what you need to help forget about all the woes of life.

3. Meditation

This is probably the main thing everyone thinks about when they first think about relaxation techniques. And it is true that meditation is well known for being one of the greatest stress relievers on the planet. However, when most people think of meditation, they picture some monk on an isolated mountain humming to himself for hours. While that is one way to meditate, meditation can also be as simple as focusing on your breathing for twenty minutes each day. A study conducted at Yale University found that meditation can lead to decreased activity in the default network mode of our brains (the area we use whenever our minds are wandering), meaning that consistent meditation can lead to our brains having better focus. A similar study, from UCLA, also states that meditation can preserve the aging brain. So meditation can help relieve stress, improve concentration and literally cause our brains to last longer! It’s a triple threat and, if you ask me, a no-brainer when it comes to relieving stress.

4. Plan

Last, but certainly not least (although maybe the least fun), is planning. There are about a million different YouTube videos, self-help books, and theories on the best way to plan. While some are certainly better than others, the truth is, plans are like cars: even if you only have one that barely works, it’s better than not having one at all. A study published by Psychologist Robert Epstein revealed that one of the most effective stress management techniques is planning. Although many of us know that planning more would make us less stressed, most of us still fail to plan (I’ve been guilty of this as well), usually because it takes too long, or the process can seem too overwhelming. My advice on this: check out some of those YouTube videos and self-help books and tweak them to make them your own. There are planning methods that are as short as 30 minutes and as long as two hours and everyone has a different way to plan. The key is to figure out a way that works for you, so you can do more and stress less.

That same Psychology study by Dr. Epstein also states that 25% of all happiness is affected by a person’s ability to manage stress, which makes sense, considering stress has been linked to everything from mental illness to early death. While stress isn’t always necessarily a bad thing, hopefully these quick tips help you find your inner-Zen warrior, battle the bad stress, and stay chill during the busy school year.