Being stressed out is no laughing matter — especially if the holiday season is fast approaching. However, there are ways that you can make the final weeks of a college semester stress-free and avoid the end-of-semester havoc that most students suffer each semester.

With the holidays and finals looming, Skyline College is currently a weeklong event titled Stress Less: Mental Health Awareness Week, from now until Friday, Nov. 22. For instance, for the first three days of the event, students have been able to make their own stress ball that they can use whenever they are stressed out, which is a way to reduce the stress that students are constantly facing.

Perry Chen, the Psychological Services Counselor at Skyline College, says that in order to reduce the stress, diet and making sure to get enough sleep is vital.

There are also other things that Chen recommends to do in order to be stress-free. Using a stress ball is not only for the moment that a student is feeling stressed out. Students can use them whenever they are going through mental illness. Therapy dogs can also help students feel stress-free in the final weeks of a semester.

On Tuesday, the therapy dogs came to Skyline College for students to ease their stress, as the holidays are fast-approaching. Raymon Gutierrez, the Retention Specialist at Skyline College, believes that therapy dogs help students to reduce the stress because spending time with the dogs is healthy for them — especially if the finals is now three weeks away.

Skyline College student Ruio Mutul says that therapy dogs help to release the bad emotions from the stress that students are going through.

“Every single bad emotion of bad emotions on your body, you’re able to feel that soft, you’re able to just have the energy to translate through your body,” Mutul said.

At the end of the day, being stressed out can have its consequences: People can eventually suffer from mental illness as a result of being stressed out.

Skyline College student Chris Hollingsheod, who organized Transgender Day of Remembrance, says that one of the tips for students to destigmatize mental illness is to talk about their mental health issues.

“Meditation, yoga, petting a dog, getting a hug from somebody, hanging out with friends, watching a movie or TV show, and taking a nap,” Chen suggested. He also recommended to “do a lot of different things,” which can include making a stress ball, or listening to music on a music device or smartphone.

There are ways for students to reduce their stress at a time when Thanksgiving is just a week away, the holidays are fast approaching, and school finals are just three weeks away. According to the web page “Skills You Need: Helping You Develop Life Skills”, students who are stressed out can refer to the following 10 tips in order to reduce the stress:

1. Avoid caffeine, alcohol, and nicotine.
2. Indulge in physical activity.
3. Get more sleep.
4. Try relaxation techniques.
5. Talk to someone.
6. Keep a stress diary.
7. Take control.
8. Manage your time.
9. Learn to say ‘no’.
10. Rest if you are ill.