Balancing studying and having fun

Bud Whitley

“Work hard, play hard,” one of the fist mantras students learn when then enter college, stressing the need to balance rigorous study with unwinding and relaxing. According to an article on the All College Gide website, “…it is important to be able to manage your own time and energy wisely so that factors like stress, late-night parties and just pushing yourself too hard in general won’t take too hard of a toll.” With so many organizations and groups on campus, it should be fairly easy for a student to find something they can enjoy and a group of people they can fit in with. The problem occurs when students worry too much about school and studying and doing well that they forget it’s important to balance studying and fun.
Students sometimes make the conscious effort not to get involved in any club, sport or organization. These students’s rational is usually based on an increased need to study and to do homework in order to cope with the rigors of college. Over stressed and over worked, students who worry too much about failing due to lack of studying usually fail out anyway. According to the American Institute of Stress online database, “Increased stress results in increased productivity – up to a point [“the hump”], after which things go rapidly downhill.” As shown on this graph, stress is “good stress” all way to peak performance, however, as soon as the “hump” is passed, stress terns very bad very rapidly. This direct evidence shows what colleges tell about balance stressful studying and relaxing fun: to “Work hard, play hard.”