Bad habits to avoid as a college student and how to break them!

College can be overwhelming for many people. Researchers show that 49.3% of college students feel moderately stressed (Jacimovic, 2022, para. 3). Whether it's due to stress, laziness or busyness these things can lead to the formation of bad habits. Here are three habits to break to better your lifestyle. 

Very common bad habit students hold is procrastination. In other words cramming for exams, research projects, and even smaller assignments. Writer Amy Novotney states that "when participants studied at two different points in time, they recalled a greater percentage of the material than when the same amount of study time was nearly uninterrupted" (Novotney, 2009, para. 5). In other terms students are most likely to forget important points when they cram information all at once than when they study throughout the semester. 

Many times the energy college students need is not in coffee, energy drinks, or energy bars but in well-balanced meals throughout the way. Unhealthy eating is very common, often times college students skip certain meals or often get the easier-to-make meals like microwavable soup which is a result of their busy schedule. Keeping healthy eating in mind, studies show that omega-3 fatty acids, which are found in salmon, walnuts, and kiwi fruit, improve learning and memory (Novotney, 2009, para. 6). 

Lastly is a habit we cannot live without which is sleep. Staying up late and waking up early can result in you barely being able to get through the next day. Researchers have found that sleep improves the brain's ability to remember information (Novotney, 2009, para. 14). Many found that sleeping and waking up at the same time every day can help to get a consistent amount of sleep every day (Novotney, 2009, para. 14).

Now that some bad habits are brought to light here are simple ways that you can try to break them by replacing them. There are many ways to think about breaking habits and replacing them. First, you want to choose the bad habit you want to replace and what you would like to replace them with. Therefore we are to have a plan ahead of time. For example, if you know you have to study the next day but your phone is a huge distraction, plan to place your phone in silence in another room so that you have to put some effort into getting it. 

The environment you surround yourself with has a heavy impact. James Clear states that "your environment makes your bad habit easier and good habits harder" (Clear, 202, Para 21). For example, if your first desire is to turn on the tv after getting to your dorm room hide the remote controller or/and unplug the tv. These efforts make it easier to avoid the habit of procrastination making it harder to do the bad habits and easier to do the good. 

References

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Break your bad habits. American Psychological Association. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://www.apa.org/gradpsych/2009/09/bad-habits

Clear, J. (2020, February 4). How to break a bad habit and replace it with a good one. James Clear. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://jamesclear.com/how-to-break-a-bad-habit

Jacimovic, D. (2022, August 25). 21 eye-opening college student stress statistics for 2022. What To Become. Retrieved October 28, 2022, from https://whattobecome.com/blog/college-student-stress-statistics/#:~:text=2.,college%20students%20feel%20moderately%20stressed.&text=College%20students'%20stress%20statistics%20from,19.7%25%20report%20low%20stress%20levels.