Editorial: Fighting ailing urges throughout finals

Finals: They come at the same time each semester, with an amount of stress and agony that can drive any student to scream, “I hate school.” At the same time, they hit us unexpectedly, like a brick wall.
If you are a seasoned college student, or a student in general, you understand the hardships that come with this time of year. As students, we all have our own remedies when it comes to dealing with hefty workloads during finals. However, some students at Rider use unhealthy methods to enhance their performance, such as cutting out sleep and meals or abusing prescription drugs, like Adderall. These actions are not worth the risks they come with and there are other ways to handle all the work that comes with finals.
The duration of finals can be as short as a week to as long as the last month of the semester, and they usually appear amidst a whole pile of work you have put off doing earlier in the semester. They can range from overwhelming tests to novel-sized papers and presentations that can make even the most composed student go nuts.
Because of this hair-pulling stress, the use of the prescription drug Adderall has become common among Rider students. According to the Public Medication Health website, Adderall is only prescribed to people who have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or attention deficit disorder (ADD) and should be used only when prescribed. It is given to to control their focus and maintain their attention span.
Hearing about this seemingly magical pill could make anyone with a heavy workload think, “Well, maybe if I took just one, I could easily sit down and get this paper done,” but even taking just one is considered an illegal use of the drug.
Taking drugs like Adderall casually — without them being prescribed — could bring about dangerous results. According to the American Society of Health System Pharmacists, there are many side effects such as difficulty falling asleep, shaking, headaches, nausea, chest pain and manic or aggressive behavior.
There are healthier and more helpful ways to deal with the stress of work and final papers than to succumb to the dangerous use of Adderall. The need to eat and sleep properly is something that can help, yet gets overlooked by a lot of students. Most people think that it is beneficial to skimp on meals and sleep in order to have more time to work on the things they need to get done. It is vital to get plenty of sleep and food in your system during this time to be able to perform more efficiently during the day. The best way to manage stress levels is to take breaks during the day, so use these breaks to grab a meal at Daly’s or take a nap and recharge.
If you are having trouble focusing on getting your work done in your dorm because of your roommate, go to the library at any time of the day — the 24-hour lounge is there for just that purpose. You can also sit in front of Starbucks in the Student Recreation Center (SRC) and grab some coffee while you’re at it or work in one of the many computer labs around campus.
For such a stressful time of the year, culminating in an intense workload for all students at Rider, there are other options for how you can deal with it in a healthy and efficient manner.

This weekly editorial expresses the majority opinion of The Rider News. This week’s editorial was written by the Opinion Editor, Kristy Grinere.