“Dude if you’re not getting like 5 hours of sleep a night, are you even trying?” is what my roommate and best friend of over 8 years told me one day while we were eating breakfast during finals week. While I did agree at the time, as we both had lots of assignments due, and finals to worry about, and had to take care of the house that we were living in, things are definitely busy during the semester. Because of busy schedules, sleep is definitely the first thing that gets cut for most college students. The “glorification” of how little sleep one gets (“oh, you sleep 7 hours a night?? Well I sleep 5 hours a night so TAKE THAT”) is a very common topic of discussion among college/university students due to course loads, social lives, relationships, jobs, and a million other things. Hustle culture is definitely real in the college world, and actively encourages “the grind”, where lives are driven by deadlines, and late-night cram sessions.
In addition to sleep issues, diet and exercise is another thing that seems to be pushed to the side, especially when things get busy during finals week. The “freshman 15” is another common stereotype that is tossed around the college experience, as a majority of students have the freedom of totally choosing what they want to eat for the first time, or the stress of classes may prompt stress eating, and other things like that. Additionally, sitting at a desk all day at your computer isn’t doing you any favors as well, as you become sedentary and start to develop stiff bodies and muscles. Even my advisor for the ICS department was telling me that “you guys are just supposed to be couch potatoes that just sit there and code all day for your assignments” when I said I was okay with taking a walk to another building across campus to fill out some paperwork!
So, the reason that I made my spiel in the first two paragraphs is because one of my more significant endeavors that I have experienced this year was to focus on living a healthier lifestyle instead of pushing it to the side like I have in previous semesters. I made a conscious effort to get more sleep, eat healthier foods, and get into the habit of exercising. The result of my mission to improve my health provided me with benefits that have improved my productivity immensely, and allowed me to do quality work for my classes to secure good grades and evaluations.
The importance of sleep was one of the largest things that I have taken for granted during my college career so far. It seems so easy to just disregard a few hours to do that last-minute assignment, or to hang out with your friends, or to study for your exams, but to me, getting more sleep allowed me to focus more on my assignments and exams, and just helped with my general mental clarity as well. I felt a lot more sharper on days that I get 8 hours of sleep as opposed to 5 hours, and it allowed me to think more clearly to stay mentally sharp and perform my best during class and work. Because I was making sleep a priority, I also had to learn a lot of time management skills as well. I couldn’t just hold assignments until the last minute anymore, and had to spread them out and dedicate certain days to doing them. Taking ICS 314 was actually the perfect class to help with time management, as the material for a module absolutely could not be covered in the span of one night. Additionally, we had due dates spread out throughout the week helped a ton with establishing time management as well, as it allowed us to plan around them, and give us mandatory “time pockets” to work our other assignments around. I especially made it a point to get my full 8 hours of sleep before an exam, and went into each exam feeling like I would crush it, and wouldn’t feel tired or stressed out at all as I used my new-found time management skills to spread out the studying as well.
Making healthier choices with my food also helped with my overall health. I would look up simple recipes to cook and cook my own lunches to bring to school and work so I wouldn’t have to buy food from Panda Express or Campus Center all the time. I started feeling a little better as I wasn’t eating oily food all the time, and my wallet also thanked me a lot as well. I also had to incorporate cooking/cleaning into my routines as well, so it was another thing that allowed me to manage my time effectively.
Getting some kind of exercise was one of the best decisions that I have made as well. Getting into the habit is always hard, but establishing the habit of going to the gym and exercising helped me develop discipline, and also helped me lose a little bit of weight. To me, it was a healthy method of getting all of the stress from school and work out, and it always made me feel pretty amazing after as well. My mind would be cleared for the day ahead, and allowed me to crush the school day. If I ever had to give some advice to anyone that was interested in starting, my first bit of advice would be to stay consistent. If you have access to the gym, try your best to go at a consistent time every day, and when you are just starting out, try your best to try the things that look the most interesting to you. Once you establish the habit, it feels a lot more easier to get out there and exercise!