From personal experience, I’ve noticed that every time I don’t have a set schedule to follow in my day-to-day life, I really begin to struggle with staying healthy and keeping my stress-levels low. I’m a person who needs to have an interesting and busy schedule in order to function. The moment I don’t have any important tasks that interest me (such as trying to stay on top of school or attending dance rehearsals), I start to engage with the wrong people. For me, a schedule not only keeps me away from bad habits, people and experiences, but it helps keep my mental, physical, and emotional health in check.
reasons why you should consider having a solid schedule
You’ll manage your stress better.
Life is stressful as is. I promise you, the last thing you need is to be unnecessarily stressed out because your days are crazy busy and set without structure. M.D Ramon Solkhah, chair at the Department of Psychiatry at the Jersey Shore University Medical Center, says that routines help us create structure in our lives, give us a sense of accomplishment, let us know how’re we’re doing (mentally more-so), and let the people around us know how we’re doing.
“Routines, even simple ones, can be important anchors to maintaining good mental health”, says Solkhah.
Take, for example, the COVID-19 pandemic. Before this global event, most of us had routines that we followed daily. Although tiring, they showed us—as well as the people around us—that we were on top of our game, and able to handle the stresses (to some extent) that life was throwing at us. As soon as COVID started, people started to, for instance, wearing sweatpants every day instead of only for relaxation time; or, perhaps you started to shower at different times during the day.
While subtle, these minor changes in one’s routine develop, and all aspects of a structured life can start to change. With no routine, or subtle changes to your routine, you can start to feel sluggish, lazy, or even stressed out.
You’ll sleep better.
By having a set time of when to go to sleep and when to wake up, you will be positively impacting your mental health. When you’re tired, you start to get sluggish, and day-to-day activities which may normally be easy for you will start to get difficult.
Staying on top of your sleep schedule will not only help your body maintain mental sharpness, emotional well-being, and energy, but you’ll also feel pumped and ready to take on the day.
You’ll eat healthier.
A healthy diet is sufficiently more important than you may think. When you fuel your body properly, you’re allowing your body to not only grow and develop, but you’re giving it the strength is needs to keep you going through the day, to give you physical energy, and to fight off any sicknesses.
A healthy diet does not consist only of salads. As a matter of fact, eating healthy can be quite fun!
As a dancer, I’ve been lucky enough to learn throughout the years about the importance of healthy eating. Having the proper intake and balance of fruits, vegetables, proteins, and carbohydrates is crucial to allowing you to function properly from day to day. I like to eat everything, in moderation. If my body is craving something, even something considered “unhealthy”, such as chips or chocolate, I’ll eat it.
By creating a routine for your life, you’ll be making time to take care of your food-intake. When you don’t have a solid schedule, or when you don’t pay attention to the importance that food plays as fuel in your life, it can be easy to treat what you eat as something nonchalant.
Of course, there are many points that come to mind when discussing the importance of having a concise schedule. By not having a schedule, your mental, emotional, and even physical health can very quickly deteriorate, and as you age, it becomes increasingly difficult to heal your body.
Give thanks to your body whenever you can by eating well, sleeping well, drinking water, staying active, and having a schedule to keep your mental health in check.
Remember: a healthy mind, a healthy life.