The success of a college student mostly lies in their lifestyle balance. Being young still, and with so many fresh opportunities and new experiences to be had, it’s difficult not to go all-in on any one thing. The risk of the high-wire act is ultimately underperforming or being late on your assignment deadlines, but there’s also morning lectures, sports practice and a desire for a social life.
To make matters even more difficult, there’s a constant hum of digital entertainment, from playing video games with friends online to indulging in casinos on https://legalcasino.uk/. The good news is you have age and energy on your side, but the bad news is the lack of experience and care for burning the candle at both ends.
The problem with finding balance
Academic demands are of course the non-negotiable core of college life. This is what you’re there for. The lectures and assignments aren’t enough alone, as you must study on your own time too. One of the problems here is that there is no prescribed amount of study hours you need to put in - when is “enough”? This doesn’t just lead to students lowballing it, but actually overdoing it, because they constantly feel as though they could be doing more (which is technically true, but in practice isn’t always wise).
Sports and physical activity are important parts of college life. They offer a space to socialize with a backbone of camaraderie, but also provide important stress relief and improved cognitive function. Often, it’s the discipline required for performing well in sports which can help keep drinking habits under control, too. That is until the social nights organized by the sports teams, which can get pretty wild.
Then there's the world of online entertainment, which has no schedule or rules. Streaming, social media and gaming are 24/7, and there is no coach telling you to go home after 8pm. They’re instantly accessible and offer instant gratification. Online casinos have become popular among college students for this reason, as they offer a thrill and a dopamine release. As neuroscientist Andrew Huberman often discusses, understanding our dopamine system is key to managing motivation - and so overdoing these dopamine-stimulating activities can get in the way of our study (not just because of eating into its time, but it can break our focus).
Signs that you’re not finding the right balance can be: Neglected studies, skipped workouts, financial strain or even mood swings.
How to create balance with healthy leisure
As touched on above, a lot of these activities, in particular online casinos and gaming, have no schedule. So, you’re going to need to implement your own one. Being active about your own time management is the most important thing, and you can begin by using block scheduling where you allocate specific windows for the types of activity. By categorizing by type, you can visually see if you’re being balanced.
The Eisenhower Matrix is where you differentiate tasks by urgency and importance, so this can help focus on what really matters. This inevitably leads to setting boundaries for all online activities, not just casinos, because you begin by prioritizing studying and immediate sports practices.
To execute this, you can use app timers to alert you when a block has ended (and yes, this can include the end of the last block, which signals time for sleep, to ensure you’re staying on top of your important rest.)
To go the extra mile, you can also block for social media and delete them from your home screen. This means that you only engage with it when you’re intentional about it, rather than mindlessly doom-scrolling. Online casinos do a good job of making time disappear, much like real-life casinos do, and so using a time block for it will help contain the activity.
Finally, it’s helpful to have physical zones. If you have a small dorm room, you may create bad habits if you do everything from there, such as playing games, scrolling social media, and studying inside your room next to where you sleep. By creating separate zones, you define the lines more clearly. This might be using the library for studying, using your desk for video games and online casinos, and only getting in bed for sleep (not for scrolling). To further implement this, you can use an LED smart light to change colors depending on the time block.
Mastering your time
Balancing studies, sports and entertainment has never been so difficult, in part because we’re so easily connected and can do it all from our phones. But, in this modern age, we’re also more interested in understanding processes and ourselves. If you find yourself chasing dopamine, ask why, and challenge yourself on it. If you cannot control your own time, be more ruthless in establishing rules, like no phone in bed. This only works, though, when you never break the rules, so don’t be too unrealistic.
