A week after returning from fall break, students are in the heat of classes, tests, quizzes and projects. It’s during this time period that most students become bogged down with academics and become shut off from the outside world. While it’s good for students to be focused on getting the grade in the classroom, it’s also important for you to get out and about to keep stress at a minimum.

Stress is something all college students deal with throughout the course of a normal semester. Usually the stress starts to build in the middle of the semester — right around now — and will continue to build all the way through finals. This buildup of stress is not only unhealthy mentally, but also physically.

Students need to realize when they are getting stressed out and take appropriate actions to ensure they are not harming themselves physically or mentally. There are many different avenues on campus to help alleviate stress in a safe and healthy manner.

Physical activity is one way to get rid of stress and relax mentally, while getting in shape at the same time. With the opening of the new section of Carmichael, students should get out and take a first-hand look at what it has to offer. Also, within Carmichael there are traditional and nontraditional ways of working out. Traditional ways of reducing stress include lifting weights, running or swimming, whereas the nontraditional include climbing on the rock wall or karate.

Since we are currently enjoying beautiful weather, students should take full advantage of it. Going for a walk, throwing football, taking a paddleboat ride at Lake Johnson or simply basking in the sun are all ways to get out and let stress go. Pullen Park has interesting stress relievers, such as walking along the pathways looking at the ducks or swinging on the swings.

As this is Homecoming Week, students should get out of their dorm rooms and leave their apartments to take part in the week’s festivities, such as PackHowl or Wear Red, Get Fed. There is plenty going on and it shouldn’t be hard to find an outlet.

Stress is something that will happen to all of us. However, it’s how we decide to deal with the stress that’s important. We all need to take time and relieve the stress to ensure that we don’t go crazy and burn out.