Your Student Life: Fuel for Your Body, Brain and Well-Being During Finals
April 14, 2026
Finals week is often synonymous with long, caffeine-fueled all-nighters and skipped meals. It’s hard to find time to take care of yourself when there’s so much work to be done, but not fueling your body can impact your energy, focus and stress levels. Prioritize yourself by listening to your body’s hunger cues and not over-relying on caffeine. Ohio State Dining Services has lots of options to support students during the busy final weeks of the semester.
Fueling During Finals
Missing meals or pushing through hunger during finals week can feel like a time-saving hack, but it usually backfires. Eating adequate protein and carbohydrates can help sustain your energy levels throughout the day. Ignoring your hunger and skipping meals often leads to difficulty focusing and remembering. Don’t underestimate the importance of consistently eating and drinking.
Dine When You’re Short on Time
Save time by choosing to have your food delivered by a robot. Robot delivery is great for late-night study sessions, group projects or to help avoid skipping meals. In Grubhub, choose Delivery to see which campus locations offer robot delivery. You can get a bagel sandwich from 12th Avenue Bread Company, a smoothie from Juice North or a sandwich from Oxley’s by the Numbers. If you’re looking for something new, don’t forget about the food trucks around campus. Be sure to check the hours of each location since hours may vary during finals week.
Build a Balanced Plate—Even on Busy Days
When dining in at any of the three Traditions all-you-care-to-eat locations, you can easily build a custom salad. Prioritize fruits and vegetables, aiming for half of your plate to be non-starchy fruits or vegetables. Add a protein like grilled chicken that supports immune function, muscle repair and keeps you full for longer. Protein can be found in turkey burgers, tofu, beans, quinoa, salmon, tuna, fish, eggs, cottage cheese and Greek yogurt. Fill the other quarter of your plate with a carbohydrate like brown rice, quinoa, potatoes or pasta. Hydrate with water or sparkling water to help increase energy levels. You can find complete nutritional and allergen information for all food on campus.
Grab-and-Go Options That Still Support Energy
Across campus, you can choose from a variety of grab-and-go food options like sandwiches, yogurt parfaits, granola bars, veggie cups and fruits. Bring snacks with you to the library or your study spot to eat every three to four hours. Look for foods that combine proteins, healthy fats and carbohydrates like peanut butter and apple slices, grapes and cheese or hummus and pretzels. Many of these snacks cost less than one swipe, making them a great way to use extra swipes at the end of the semester.
Caffeine: Finding Balance
It can be easy to overly depend on caffeine during finals. The FDA recommends trying to limit caffeine to 400 milligrams a day, or two to three 12-oz coffees. Some energy drinks like Celsius, Alani Nu and Prime Energy contain 200 mg of caffeine, so drinking just two of these high-caffeine energy drinks can approach this limit. Too much caffeine can disrupt sleep, increase anxiety and lead to energy crashes. Try to alternate caffeine consumption with water, eat before and after you caffeinate and designate a caffeine cut-off time to protect your sleep.
If you have any questions or feedback about campus dining, you can email Dining Services at dining@osu.edu.
Good luck on finals!
Debbie Wakefield
Marketing Specialist
Office of Student Life