How to Deal with Exam Stress: Alternatives to Beta Blockers for Students

Final exams and stress go hand in hand. Bad sleep, stomach ache, nail biting and sometimes even complete blackouts. A large group of students tackle that stress with drugs such as beta blockers. But that can be done differently, according to school psychologist Marije Zwart.

The Foundation for Pharmaceutical Statistics (SFK), which keeps track of the issue of medicines, sees a striking peak in May every year. Doctors then more often prescribe propranolol, a so-called beta blocker, to young people. The drug lowers blood pressure and heart rhythm, and can therefore provide more rest and less stress.

Rise after corona

Every month it is issued about 1,000 to 1,500 times to young people, but in May it can be published as much as 2,100 times. During corona, the exams were canceled and it was only issued 700 times, according to research by NRC. But in the past 2 years it has increased again, to 1,700 dispensations in May 2021 and 1,800 in May 2022.

The Trimbos Institute monitors the use of these types of resources, but at the moment does so mainly for students at higher vocational education and universities. “We really did specific studies into that,” says scientific assistant Michelle van der Horst. “But we think it’s important to keep up.”

Needed to perform

Van der Horst says that she thinks it is especially important for the institute to know what causes students to feel that they need the resources to perform during final exams or later. “But now the research on this is really still in its infancy,” she adds.

“Society is increasingly focused on performance and that young people are increasingly comparing themselves to each other, you can also see that on social media,” says Van der Horst. “We are now mainly concerned that students feel that they need this in order to perform. Then you teach yourself that you can only do it with medication, and that will also bother you later.”

Teach other things

It is better to teach yourself other things, says the research assistant. School psychologist Marije Zwart also agrees. “We try to get students to relax in other ways,” she says. “Of course there are a lot of times at school when it’s exciting, but there are other things you can do to deal with stress.”

But those are things you need to practice beforehand. “We also deal with that at school,” says Zwart. “Fear of failure training, stress reduction training, but also discussing exactly how stress works and that it’s not always bad.”

Have a conversation

And then, of course, there are always standard ways to reduce stress. “Go to bed on time, eat healthy, and do relaxation exercises,” says Zwart. “And of course start on time. If you haven’t done all that and you’re on your exam, the tension can become very high.”

There is therefore also a role for parents and schools to talk about stress. “It is of course late to start with that just before the exam. But we already see it with first graders, so we can really do something with that. That you are really open to it if your child is stressed. Teach them to plan , and how you can best learn. Then you are already talking to your child.” And you can’t start early enough with that, she adds.