Vijay Garg
It’s board exams time. Obviously, stress, anxiety, sleepless nights, come with the territory. And as the kids struggle with revision and re-revision to ensure good scores, parents and family members have a bigger responsibility – to take care of their mental well-being and avoid adding peer pressure to the mix.
Playing with a pet is a great way to unwind
Balance studies & breaks
Studying non-stop for long hours can lead to mental fatigue, which can do more harm than good. And parents and experts we spoke to agree it’s healthy to take breaks. “Overlearning can be harmful,” says counselling psychologist Garg , “It helps if parents surprise the child with a movie outing, take them out for grocery shopping or to the mall or take TV breaks together.”
Listening to music can help take a child’s minds off studies and process what they have learnt
What’s a break?
After every hour of study, allow your child to take a short and fun timeout to give their eyes & brain a break. Here are a few things they can do:
Have a fun call/chat with a friend
Stretch or do light yoga
Take a short walk or go cycling
Dance to their favourite song
Take a power nap
Play with a pet, if you have one
Basically, anything that takes their mind off studies
Most kids tend to ignore their body clock during exams. Even their usual food cycle goes out the window, leading to health issues. According to dietician & critical care nutritionist Dr Payel Kumar Roy, it’s all about fuelling them up with a diet packed with whole grains, lean protein, healthy fats, fruits, and veggies during exam time. Home-cooked meals can work wonders for a child appearing in exams. Keep things light with small, easy-to-digest frequent meals. Avoid excess sugar and processed food– Dr Payel Kumar Roy, dietician & critical care nutritionist Advantages of good sleep
Another vital aspect of a good study routine is ensuring good sleep. In fact, sleep research in the last 20 years by some of the top institutions across the world, right from University of Berkeley to MIT, indicates that sleep does more than simply give students the energy they need to study and perform well in exams. These studies agree that good sleep helps students learn, memorise, retain, recall, and use their new knowledge to come up solutions to even the most complex questions. So, make sure your kid gets at least eight hours of good sleep every night, and not just the night before the exam date.
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Vijay Garg Retired Principal Educational columnist street kour Chand MHR Malout Punjab
