Distance and age may have colored my memories of college exam stress (was it really that bad?), but in 2005, crunch time is not taken lightly. Though my recollection of cramming at the end of the semester may be fuzzy, today's stress-consciousness has prompted universities to protect the mental, emotional, and physical health of their students while they prepare for final exams.

In the St. Louis area, writes the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, universities are offering students a variety of outlets for blowing off steam. These “relief activities” turn study breaks into veritable day spas with free professional massages and yoga. Students can also sumo wrestle, play late night dodgeball, and my all-time favorite, emit primal screams from their dorms — at designated times, of course.

University officials also ease the pain of exams with gustatory rewards like late night pancakes, popcorn, and cookies. Not all students, however, find the benefit in what are essentially distractions from studying. Kyle McFarland, a senior in biomedicine and genetic engineering at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, isn't amused. No stack of pancakes or shoulder rub can take away the 14-hour day of preparation required for his genetics and biomedicine finals. He told the Dispatch that he would be “embarrassed by a massage, and that he would be home studying instead of eating pancakes at midnight.”

(Illustration: 4kids.org)