By William Bayne

At the start of the new year, there has never been a better time to change something fundamental in your life. However, in the busy and stress-filled world in which we live, some tasks require too much time and effort and are simply not plausible. This is why it is better to build some healthy habits which will become a part of your daily life. Read on and I will explore the most effective ways to make your daily life healthier, both physically and mentally, which take up the least amount of time, and should be easily doable.  

Sleep:

We have all been told endlessly as we have grown up just how important sleep is. I will restate this fact. With a busy working day ahead of students, it comes as no surprise that scientists say that a good night’s sleep is essential to a productive day, with studies saying that sleeping for more than 6 hours can boost productivity by 29% the following day. This number increases as with sleep times, with 8-10 hours being the recommended sleep time for teenagers. But how can you improve your sleep time? 

One common reason that students struggle with sleep is because of workloads; working late at night is not beneficial for sleep but can easily be avoided. It is simply a case of being on top of your work and not letting things stack up for the day before, but more on that later. Another reason is social media and screens: it is incredibly common for teenagers to stay up late addicted to social media, and it doesn’t take me to tell you that this is not good for your health. Get into a good habit of not letting yourself get stuck online late at night, and if you know that your willpower is not very strong, I urge you to consider setting digital limits on certain apps after certain times to prevent this occurring. This is only scratching the surface of how to get a perfect night’s sleep: for more tips on sleep, head to Rishikesh Mistry’s 1509 article on sleep for students here. 

Work life balance and productivity:

Creating a healthy work life balance always seems like a brilliant idea, however, it is never quite as easy as it seems when you come to it. It always seems as if there is a heavy load of work hanging over you, and combined with music, sport and other outside of school activities, it can seem as if there is little time for much else. However, there are a few simple tricks to help make your home study more productive.  

The first is to learn to prioritize. If it helps, make a list of what you are going to do in the order of importance, then work through the list one thing at a time, making sure that the ‘less important’ items do not distract you and take up too much time. Equally, it is important to allocate time to the pieces of work which you are doing. If you like, you can add to your list how long you plan on spending on that bit of homework, then try and stick to it – there is no point in spending the same amount of time on a history essay and some quick physics questions.  

Your enjoyment and ability of the subjects should also come into play here. It is a promising idea to try and intersperse harder or less enjoyable pieces of homework with easier, more enjoyable ones. This way, you will not end up having to trudge through all your difficult homework at once, but instead are able to use the high from completing some homework you enjoy, motivating you through a trickier one. If you have a shorter attention span, an effective way to ensure productivity is to take short breaks every now and again, for example by getting a bite to eat. This helps to clear the brain and will help you work harder and faster when you return. Remember to try to exercise some self- control and not take too long or frequent breaks: if you are prone to getting distracted it might be helpful to set yourself an alarm to remind you to return to your studies. 

Finally, it is always useful to try and do your homework as early in the day as possible. This is because your brain is less tired than it will be at 8/9:00 in the evening, and you will be a more efficient worker. Do not feel as if you must start working straight away when you get home, as it is important to decompress after a tiring day at school. Take some time to have a snack, exercise or whatever you do to allow your brain to reset. 

Exercise:

There are no shortages of benefits of exercise that I could talk about. Exercise is great for both physical and mental health and gives you a sense of happiness and control due to the endorphins released when you exercise. But even if you do not consider yourself a particularly sporty person, even taking a short walk outside can be really beneficial. Exercising, particularly outdoors, has been scientifically proven to both help reduce stress and to improve cognitive function and reasoning power. This means that by taking even just 30 minutes after school to participate in some exercise will make you more efficient when you return to your studies.  

It would be remiss of me not to mention the social benefits of taking exercise: taking part in a team sport such as football or hockey, or a two-player game like tennis or squash, can provide vital, useful skills in many parts of life. Among other things, team sports are thought to improve self-esteem and work ethic, because of the sense of achievement brought by playing something you enjoy and are good at in front of others, or by improving at something you initially were not so strong at. So, why not consider staying after school to do one of the many sports available, or equally join a club outside of the RGS? I can assure you that you will feel the innumerable benefits that exercise has to offer.