Senioritis is actually defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary as “an ebbing of motivation and effort by school seniors as evidenced by tardiness, absences, and lower grades.” Every high school student has probably, at some point or another, heard a senior complain about their bad case of senioritis. But, this affliction does not have to be experienced by every single senior. It is not necessarily a right of passage, and it can be combated.

I, for instance, have avoided senioritis and its affects on my grades thus far. Some may say that I am just lucky, and that there is no senioritis remedy. However, I disagree, and I am here to share with you my five tips and tricks on how to avoid senioritis and its truly obnoxious effects.

1.) Don’t stay up too late, even if you were able to drop first block.

Some students choose to drop classes and take a part-time schedule in the second semester of their senior year. While this is a great option to reduce stress and get more work hours, some students take this opportunity to stay up late watching Netflix or scrolling through social media. My advice here is simple: do not do that. This may be very tempting (trust me, I understand. I, too, have spent too much time burning the midnight oil watching How to Get Away With Murder) but, ultimately, lack of sleep will just take a toll on your health and cause exhaustion and lack of focus for school the next day. Try setting an alarm on your phone to remind you to get a full eight hours of sleep so that you can be ready to take on the day tomorrow.

2.) Keep doing your homework on time and don’t procrastinate.

It can be tough to find the energy to drag yourself out of bed to get to school in the morning, let alone to do that college algebra homework that you have been dreading all weekend. But, if you choose to be lazy and ignore the homework, your grade will undoubtedly suffer. Then, you may spend the day regretting the decision to skip out on an easy completion grade and feel annoyed with yourself. If you had just gotten it done on time, you would not be stressing out about the final so much at the end of the semester trying to make those points up because, let’s be honest, you do care about your grades. No one wants to be a super-senior.

3.) Do not kill yourself with work and stress, but do not avoid those things either.

This is your senior year: you’re supposed to have fun! You should not be staying up until one in the morning studying for a test that won’t really affect your grade all that much if you don’t have to. You should take well-deserved study breaks and find a way to take time for yourself–but not after writing one line of a paper. Additionally, stress is natural. If you are someone who makes themselves get good grades, great! You likely know that stress comes with the territory. That said, you shouldn’t be giving yourself a panic attack over a homework assignment. Work hard and relax in moderation, and you will be fine.

4.) Work out, go for a run, etc.

This is something that has worked especially well for me. I am an athletic person and play sports. But when I am not pitching, I find it very difficult to relax and stress out a lot more than usual. To help this, I go for a run. It gets my mind off of the things that are stressing me out and makes me feel more productive because I am already moving. After working out, I am much more likely to get school work done. This is also a good habit to get into before going to college, anyway. A healthy lifestyle is important to have, and you’ll feel a lot better about life when you’re done with your workout.

5.) Meditate.

This may seem silly, but trust me when I say that it works. I meditate every day to try to clear my mind and it has helped my stress levels go down and productivity go up. There is something to be said for just sitting and clearing your mind for fifteen minutes. I do breathing exercises to go with it, but that’s just a personal preference. There is no right or wrong way to meditate. This, just like working out, will make you feel a lot better about life, and you are (in my experience) more likely to get work done after meditating.