Your college students should have returned home for Christmas break feeling very relaxed.

Yes, exams are over, but there is a relatively new trend on many campuses across the country to reduce anxiety during finals with "stress buster" programs. Parents are more likely to think of it as pampering.

There is positive stress that motivates students, but too much stress is clearly dysfunctional and affects student performance as well as their health and well-being. Students know they need to de-stress, sleep more and eat well, but most don't.

Colleges are responding with some novel ideas. Here's a sampling from campuses across the country.

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Midnight Breakfasts: Many colleges offer a nighttime feast where traditional breakfast favorites are served up, frequently by the faculty.•

Releasing Stress in a Healthy Way: Yoga classes, free 10- to 15-minute chair massages and meditation classes.•

Story Time: Faculty members share stories and play games with students.•

Curious Critters: Olin College, a highly selective engineering-focused school just outside of Boston, provides an educational program with live animals that haven't yet been adopted or can't be re-released into the wild. According to Nick Tatar, assistant dean of student life, "Olin students push themselves really hard and students love these study breaks when they've really been logging in long hours."•

Return to Kindergarten: A variety of children's activities, including finger-painting, molding Playdough, making gingerbread houses, playing board games and creating coloring book masterpieces.•

Prayer & Retreat: Students at Georgetown in Washington, D.C., can take advantage of their meditation center and request divine intervention at late-night Masses as well as participate in an Escape Retreat Program that takes students out to the country to reflect on the many changes they've been going through during the year.Two more favorites include Davidson College's "Midnight Scream," where students go outside or open their windows during exam week and scream. To look at the stress-busting rave at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, go to www.youtube.com and type in "flash rave unc."

Lee Bierer is an independent college adviser based in Charlotte, N.C. For more information, visit www.collegeadmissionsstrategies.com.