Procrastination is often hailed as the main reason that work piles up on us, but the truth is, as college students, long nights are inevitable. Tests, quizzes, assignments and projects come at us so quickly that we feel like we have no choice but to put sleep to the wayside and spend whole nights in the library, chipping away at the work. This practice, along with other similarly detrimental practices, can contribute to poor health in the long run. I’m sure that quite a few students were feeling the blowback from bad health choices over the holiday break. College students need to start deciding to put their own health first over some numbers on a paper.
As previously mentioned, the most popular unhealthy habit amongst students is staying up to three or four in the morning to complete assignments. An article published in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment states that the average recommended amount of sleep per person is “between 7 and 8.5 hours per day.” However, many students I know, myself included, are guilty of getting little more than a solid 5 hours per night on busy days, if that. This study finds, however, that the effects of such sleep deprivation can be severe, and can have a negative impact on short-term memory, long-term memory and performance of tasks.
Similarly, all-nighters are the extreme versions of late-night work sessions, which involve no sleep at all. Of course, most people, including the individual pulling the all-nighter, already know about the negative impacts of this. Consequences include all previous mentioned cognitive effects, along with exhaustion, difficulty paying attention and lack of motivation.
In order to counteract the natural processes in the body that tell them not to stay up late, many students turn to caffeinated beverages. As an avid coffee-drinker myself, I wholeheartedly agree that many caffeinated drinks are miracle workers, and can help turn a mountain of work into rubble in no time. However, it is extremely important that we do not forget the side effects that beverages like coffee and soda can have on the body. Besides the obvious per-drink cases of little nutritional value and harmful chemicals, caffeine itself is something that must be handled carefully.
An article published in Food Additives and Contaminants found that some of the various health impacts of caffeine include higher blood pressure, increased chance for bone fractures and increased anxiety. Additionally, as most people already know, caffeine can have a severe impact on sleep.
In order to cut out a lot of the unhealthy habits that students are prone to, the best place to start is with pacing yourself and your work. Previously I stated that work can pile on even if you are not procrastinating, so it might seem fruitless to try and pace yourself. However, I think that, oftentimes, many students become so overwhelmed by the amount of work staring them in the face that they try to tackle it all at once without a proper game plan, and in the process, begin to pick up some of the previously mentioned bad habits.
The key here is block out your time precisely the way you want and to tackle each assignment in the order you desire. Personally, I arrange my work in order of importance or grade impact, so that I can knock the “have-to-do” early on and can then later focus on less important work when I’m beginning to run low on energy. However, you might have your own way of doing things, and should do whatever is most efficient and least stressful for yourself.
Prioritizing your own health and well-being, whether it be physical, mental, emotional or any other form, is far more important than any grade. And even if you excel in all your classes, if you do so by putting yourself second, then eventually, it will start catching up with you. Learn to hold yourself responsible for maintaining healthy habits, because it will pay off in the long run.
