This week I venture back to the world of books, lectures and numerous cups of tea. Yes, this week I return to university for the spring term of my second year.
The subject I’m studying is the same: medical sciences. My ambitions are still the same: I want to go on to study dentistry. However, there are a few changes in my approach to university life that will come into effect as of this week.
The reason behind these changes is that I want to maintain a sense of balance between the academic and non-academic features of student life. Now some may assume from this statement that I’m implying that I partied too much in my first year and last term, leading to a lack of attention to my work. However, the reality is the exact opposite to that assumption.
Last year I spent pretty much every minute I was awake thinking about my studies. When I wasn’t sitting in a lecture theatre or behind a desk wearing out the keys on my keyboard or using up pools of pen ink, I was thinking about picky little details in a post-practical report or recalling the role of spinal interneurons in the gate control theory on pain perception (which was my ‘wider reading’). I did go to parties and other social gatherings last year and I enjoyed being around a group of wonderful people: but when you buy a pint of lager and can’t help recall the chemical formula of ethanol (C2H5OH), it’s perhaps a sign that you need to readdress the ‘balance’.
So, readdressing the balance will be based around achieving five goals.
Better planning of self-directed study time. This is going to be the most problematic goal for me as the idea of assigning myself a certain period of time to work and then walking away from my books for a break – even if something isn’t finished – is like trying to tell my dog not to bark when someone enters the house. However, I realise that constantly working for long hours, whether that’s actually writing or ruminating, is not the most healthy way of going about finishing a degree (especially considering there’s more to come after this one). Therefore, my most pressing goal for this upcoming term and beyond is to work more efficiently rather than excessively.
Maintaining a healthy, balanced diet. Yes, we have reached that seemingly ubiquitous, well discussed topic of diet. I’m not going to talk about what particular diet someone should adopt – however what I will advise against is what I used to do to fuel myself for the aforementioned long study hours. The fuel mainly consisted of sugar – usually in the form of chocolate bars – consumed on an hourly basis, sometimes as an alternative for actual meals. This was a bad idea. This habit was borne out of convenience for I found it easier to spend roughly a minute retrieving a chocolate bar from a cupboard rather than around 5 to 15 minutes cooking a meal. However, this not so gastronomic approach is not a long term solution and after around a 40 to 50 minute confectionary fuelled session, I found myself feeling lethargic and dizzy – a result of my pancreas trying to regulate my blood sugar. So, for this university term and beyond, I aim to avoid skipping meals and instead of unwrapping plastic (polypropylene) wrappers, I aim to once again use a pan.
Adopting and maintaining a good sleeping pattern. Maintaining a healthy sleeping pattern is not just a problem for students, but for everyone in this increasingly stressed filled world. The use of smart phones, tablets or laptops in bed also play their part in disturbing our circadian rhythms as studies have found that emitted blue light suppresses the secretion of melatonin (a hormone that is crucial for regulating our ‘body clock’). This goal is actually linked to the ‘better planning of self-directed study time’ goal previously discussed because by scheduling a suitable amount of time in the day or evening to read about recent clinical trials or watch lectures from revered academics, it will avoid the scenario in which I lie awake until the early hours and the arrival of the birdsong precedes a trip to the land of nod.
Using public transport or car sharing more. This one obviously has environmental implications as well as personal. I live approximately 25 miles away from my university and in between me and my 9:00 lectures is a busy dual carriageway which between 7:00 and 9:00 every weekday morning is like a checkout queue in a supermarket on Christmas Eve: long, slow and filled with people wondering why they didn’t go somewhere else. The only difference is that while you may get the smell of freshly baked bread in a supermarket, on a road you get the smell of petrol, diesel and the unmistakable scent emitted from a burning clutch. So, this year I’m going to try to use public transport more and for the days in which that might not be the most practical solution – car sharing would be a valid option. The practice that was brilliantly depicted (in my opinion) by Peter Kay and Sian Gibson in their critically and publicly acclaimed comedy can actually be a more economical, environmentally friendly and fun alternative to driving alone.
Embracing opportunities. Similar to the previous goal on maintaining a balanced diet, the aim of embracing opportunities is a popular goal for individuals of all ages and backgrounds. For me, this goal is not necessarily based around ambition (although I’m not against ambitious ideas) but rather embracing the simple but pleasant things like spending more time with friends and family; watching films in the cinema or at home; going for a walk with my dog in the park or on the beach or trying out a new recipe. My point is that while studying and career prospects should be given some attention – they shouldn’t be gifted with 100% attention all of the time.
That final sentence in that fifth goal can be seen as the summarising point for this blog post. The path on which thousands of my fellow students tread each year is littered with challenges from coping with exam stress, deadlines, presentations and other hurdles. However, a sense of balance is key for dealing with these challenges and I intend to readdress the balance for the rest of my – dare I say – student journey. (I know – it’s corny. )
All images featured are my own.
Science and Joe 