Mindfulness and mental health

Hints and tips - four minute read

For most people, results day can be an anxious day. Right now, it may feel even more stressful than usual; as results day will be a socially distanced event, meaning you’ll have limited contact with your friends and teachers.

Remember stress and anxiety in such an unusual and unpredictable time is normal. Everyone reacts differently to stress and that’s okay – we want to help you manage that stress though, and some tips are below.

• Keep in touch with people. Some of you might not see your friends face-to-face, but you can still speak to them about results day, and you can speak to them after you receive your results too. The same applies to your teachers, keep in touch with them and ask for advice if you need it.
• Exercise. Don’t sit at home feeling anxious, break up your day by keeping active. Even a short walk will clear your head, but if you would rather stay home – look online for exercise videos.
• Get enough sleep. Even though it’s the summer holidays – a regular sleep pattern is still important. You can read more about healthy sleep and good “sleep hygiene” at Headspace.
• Limit screen time. Try not to check your phone all the time. Constantly checking Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and other face-timing apps can be stressful if the only topic is results day. Avoid screens before you go to bed too.
• Stay calm. Mindfulness, meditation or yoga may help you to feel calm. Your usual app store will have lots of apps for you to download and try – the apps Smiling Mind or Calm app is a good place to start.
• Be kind to yourself and others. Exam results are important, but they’re also just a stepping stone. If results day doesn’t go to plan for you or one of your friends, there are still lots of other options and different stepping stones that you can try.

A note for parents and carers

Emerging Minds is a research network that aims to reduce the prevalence of mental health problems experienced by children and young people. They have a wealth of support on their website including:

• webinars/podcasts
• research
• resources

We have also made support resources to explain the day, and have made a resource to show you what the results day slips will look like.

Although this blog was written a few years ago, it gives some great tips to support your teenager getting their results.

Reaching a tipping point?

Feeling stressed is not the same as feeling overwhelmed by anxiety. Here are some symptoms you might have if you are finding it difficult to cope:

• You feel frightened, nervous or panicky all the time.
• You can’t sleep.
• You have no appetite or are overeating.
• You can’t concentrate on anything.
• You’re suffering from palpitations - your heart feels like it's racing.

If you are experiencing symptoms like these, there are people who can help you. Talk to your family, a teacher who knows you well, a friend or your GP.

If you don’t want to talk to somebody face-to-face, here are some organisations that can help you:

• Childline
• Papyrus UK
• The Samaritans
• Young Minds
• Anxiety UK

As a final thought, there are lots of opportunities for support, some of which we have outlined above and hope you have found these helpful. The final link to share with you is from our regulator, Ofqual, who have published their own blog for students who are feeling worried about this year’s exam results. They provide some great advice from psychologists about putting things into perspective, as well as further links to advice from the NHS and the government.

About the authors

Phoebe Davis - Subject Support Coordinator

Phoebe is a subject support co-ordinator and has worked for Cambridge Assessment in various roles since 2015. Since joining the subject team in 2018, Phoebe has been responsible for a range of subjects including Law, Citizenship and the Extended Project Qualification.

Lucy Carey – Subject Advisor

Lucy joined OCR in September 2017 as the subject advisor for sociology and psychology. Before joining OCR she worked as a teacher being the head of sociology and psychology departments in Peterborough, Yorkshire and Cambridge. In her spare time, she enjoys scuba diving and travel.