It's that time again.

Suddenly all the cubicles at Lamont and Cabot libraries are full again as midterms rapidly approach.

First-years--still tense from finding a formal date--are rushing off in every direction to blocking group conferences. (Blocking forms are due March 10.)

Sophomores and juniors are checking out rooms in preparation for housing lotteries.

The Office of Career Services is plastering the campus with posters offering last-minute summer job counseling, as students nervously await hearing from Let's Go.

Everywhere students are scrambling to make spring break plans.

And the weather's in flux: one day it's a crisp 30, the next a humid 65.

What's a stressed-out Harvard student to do?

There are classic remedies offered by Harvard's health experts, but also more off-beat options such as massage, which has become increasingly popular among both students and faculty on campus.

Mouth to Mouth

According to University Health Services (UHS), there are numerous signs that you are suffering from stress: eating and sleeping problems, upset stomach, increased smoking and use of alcohol or other drugs, poor concentration, hunched shoulders, clenched jaw and frequent colds or infections.

Students feeling stressed need to be particularly concerned about what they eat, says Chris Hollis, manager of the UHS office of health education.

UHS suggests the following eating tips to students cramming for a mid-term or up late finishing a paper:

* Eat high-fuel foods. Despite the common belief that foods containing grease, caffeine and sugar provide a lift, the price of "cranking up" the body in the short term is the risk of having the body "crash" an hour later. As a snacking alternative, eat fruit, bagels, crackers and popcorn, which give the body a more consistent injection of energy.

For students limited to the offerings of their local snack machine, Charlie Smigelski, a nutrition counselor at UHS, suggests pretzels or miniature rice cakes.