Graduating high school and going to college may seem like the ultimate source of freedom. It can be! No more constant supervision, unrestricted amounts of food from the dining hall, meeting new people from all over and generally anything imaginable. This freedom will change you as a person and overall you’ll develop new habits.
Well, here’s a sad truth: sometimes too much freedom can be bad especially when it leads to health issues. While everyone has been in a situation where, even though they know it’s bad, they follow Parks and Recreation’s ode to “treat yo’ self,” and sometimes they get caught up in that cycle and ignore the warnings.
Here are five common habits that you pick up in college that should stop right now.
1. Staying Up Late
It’s so tempting to stay up really late on a Netflix binge, or just hang out with friends doing crazy stuff at 3 a.m. You end up feeling groggy in your classes because you’re sleep deprived, and guess what? The body doesn’t function as well, both physically and mentally, when you get less than six hours of sleep.
2. Eating Too Much
If you’ve ever had the pizza at Suwannee you can relate to this. Dining halls are the biggest weaknesses for those of us who have terrible willpower. Since most freshmen are required to get a meal plan, it’s almost a waste to go to the dining hall and not have at least two plates of something. This is a bad habit. Don’t think about “all the starving kids in Africa,” but instead, think about what you are putting in your mouth. Sometimes you don’t even realize how bad it is until your stomach is killing you at 3 a.m. during that Netflix marathon.
Courtesy: Pinterest
3. Not Eating at all
While eating too much is bad, so is not eating. Everyone can relate to being a “poor college kid,” and sometimes it’s necessary to be frugal. Ration some money for food. Your body needs fuel and so does your brain to get you through those lectures. Also, sometimes in high stress environments people lose their appetites or forget to eat. Keep your head up! Once you get some nourishment in you, the thinking process should be easier.
4. Procrastinating
You might think high school made you an expert procrastinator, but you ain’t seen nothing yet. Grades and assignments in college aren’t usually comparable to the high school experience. Procrastinating one week on one of the 10 essays you wrote in AP Lit is nothing compared to procrastinating on a twelve page paper that you’ve had since syllabus week. College can make you a procrastinator and it’s definitely not a good habit. While some argue they thrive under pressure, procrastination usually leads to many late nights and weird eating patterns; both of which are detrimental to your health.
5. Skipping Class
Finally, it must be addressed that you will skip classes in college. Sometimes those 8 or 9 a.m. classes are too early and the incentive to go (your parents making you) is gone. There’s no liability and participation grades are up to your discretion. It isn’t hard to fall into this pattern, but try your best not to. You will miss important material and even if you don’t, skipping becomes too easy. There are people who fail out of college for never showing up. Those are extreme cases, but what do you think led them to that? It’s not worth it. You’re paying tuition to learn in your classes. Please, just go.