Fun and college are words that are hardly ever used together, and it’s understandable. College is supposed to be the gateway to the life of your dreams – it is supposed to make you a doctor, an engineer, or a business professional and it demands a lot of effort, discipline, and determination – which is certainly not fun.
While all of that is true, there are ways to make college fun. Now some of you might ask, “why not focus 100% of your efforts on studies, instead of having fun?”
If this question pops up in your head, it means you think of fun as a waste of time. Well, science doesn’t agree with you!
Fun is not a waste of time!
Here are four benefits of having fun – which are backed and proven by science.
Better mood:
When you engage in an activity that you enjoy, it makes you happy – you must have experienced it. Having fun lowers your cortisol (the stress hormone) and increases dopamine and serotonin (the happiness chemicals), and that is why you feel happier during or even after doing something fun.
If your cortisol levels are consistently high, it can lead to several health problems, like insomnia, depression, and anxiety – so it is important to have some fun to keep your cortisol in check.
Better sleep:
While lower cortisol certainly uplifts your mood during the day, what it also does is, improve the quality of your sleep at night.
Sleep is meant to heal your body and prepare it to take on the next day’s challenges – but when you are stressed, the quality of your sleep is affected, and you wake up tired and groggy the next morning.
It is advisable to let go of all your stress before bed – you can do that by meditating, writing a few lines, or just by thinking happy thoughts.
Better Memory and Concentration:
The parts of your brain responsible for memory and concentration do not function well when you are stressed – which is all the time for an average college student. So, having some fun can lower stress and hence you experience improved memory and concentration.
More energy:
When you are relaxed, you have more energy as opposed to when you are stressed. Yes, this one has to do with stress too.
Well, if these benefits are true (which they are), then you must find ways to incorporate more fun into your life. You may think it’s hard for college students, but it’s not. Here are seven ways that every college student can use to make their life more fun and enjoy these amazing benefits.
7 ways to make your college life fun:
You may have not known about these options. Or you may have heard about them but chose to ignore them. However, now that you know, fun is a must, here are seven ways you can use in college to incorporate more fun into your life.
Take courses that interest you:
Finding your calling can take time, and sometimes you have to go through trials and errors on the path of finding yourself. You thought you were meant to be a marketer, but it turns out, you are better suited for HR. OH, but you have enrolled in marketing courses. What now? Relax, you can switch.
You can switch majors and even programs in college – and switching is a far better option than aimlessly sticking to a program that you are not cut out for. So, don’t be afraid to switch if you think you are enrolled in the wrong program.
Make Connections:
College is the beginning of your new life – and you get to meet interesting people from diverse backgrounds when you are in college – and that means friendship opportunities.
Friendships don’t only have to be with students. You can connect with college staff and professors too. Having a good relationship with other students will make your stay in college more fun, but what about the professors? Well, you may find a new mentor in one of your professors.
Join student societies:
Another way to make your college life fun and exciting is to become a member of a student society. A student society is an organization run by students that works with the university management to make students’ time in college more fun and exciting – they arrange events, seminars, and all sorts of amazing activities.
Becoming an active member of a society polishes your leadership and communication skills and all of that in a fun way. There are many types of student societies; you can join one or multiple of them based on your interest.
- Societies for community service
- Societies for education
- Sports and recreation, and more
Find one that interests you and become a member.
Take part in co-curricular activities:
Regular college curriculum can get quite boring pretty soon. So, it’s good to be involved in co-curricular activities that, in addition to being fun and exciting, are quite helpful in developing essential skills that can directly or indirectly boost your career.
Here are a few co-curricular activities that most colleges have:
- Quizzes
- Debates
- MUNs
There are more co-curricular activities in college, and you’ll definitely find one that you like. Participate in it and have some fun.
Find people who share your interests:
When you get enrolled in courses that you like, you will have classmates who have similar interests and career aims as yours and you can easily connect with them. However, that’s not all – you can find people who share your interests outside of academics.
Go to the library, and you may find readers who are into the same genre of books as you are. Similarly, you may find people who have similar hobbies as yours. Find them and connect with them.
There is more to college than classes…
A college is not just for taking classes – it has a lot of fun things to offer – and you should make full use of them.
There are gyms, libraries, labs, sports areas and whatever else you can imagine. Outside of college, you have to pay for these activities. But college offers these free of charge in most cases. Even if you have to pay for them, you get to get enjoy heavy discounts.
So, while you are in college, it is advisable to take full advantage of all the facilities your college offers. Don’t miss the free ones at least, or you’ll regret it later.
Avail academic help
If you are an average final year student, you must have wished, “there should be someone who can write my dissertation for me.” Well, guess what? Your wish can come true! There are websites that offer dissertation assistance services – and you can outsource your dissertation to them.
How does it make your life fun? It frees a lot of your time that you can use to make the final days of your college more memorable.
The balance:
Fun is something that is very easy to overdo, and you have to be careful of that. All of these activities can help you have more fun – but don’t let them stray you away from your goals. Rather, use them to recharge you, so you have better chances of reaching your goals.
Conclusion:
As proven by science, fun is important, and it must not be ignored– especially in the lives of college students, but thankfully, it’s not that difficult to make your stay in college exciting – college offers many opportunities that students can utilize to incorporate fun in their lives. However, what a student must not do is, overindulge in fun activities – it is important to maintain the balance between fun and career goals.
Important note: Do not use fun as an escape!
Summary
A lot of things come to your mind when you hear the word “college” but “fun” isn’t one of them. Most people think of fun as a waste of time, and they think that college life should be all about studies.
However, this is not the case – fun is important, and here are four scientific reasons why every college student needs to have more fun:
- It uplifts your mood.
- It improves the quality of your sleep.
- It improves your cognitive abilities – like memory and concentration.
- It boosts your energy levels.
If you want these benefits, you must incorporate more fun into your life. And it’s easy. Here are a few fun activities that you should try while you’re in college.
- Study courses that you enjoy and don’t be afraid to switch
- Make friends and connections – connect with students, staff, and professors
- Become a member of a student society – join the society whose purpose resonates with you.
- Participate in co-curricular activities – take part in debates, quizzes, MUNS, and attend events and seminars.
- Find people who share your interests
- Make use of what your college has to offer: gym, libraries, sports, etc.
- Avail of academic help to free your time and use that time and your mind.
While you can use these ways to incorporate more fun into your life, it is important not to overdo them and to keep a balance.