At college, gaming could be the perfect way to spend your spare time. It is a fantastic way to forget about the pressure from schoolwork and can make you feel fresh and ready for other academic responsibilities. On the same note, playing games will assist you in preventing other vices that may be detrimental to your psychological health.
However, the same games can prevent you from engaging in productive activities. You can lose track of time when you’re engrossed in gaming.
It could get to a point where you miss your classes, fail to submit your assignments at the right time, and don’t study for your exams. If this happens, your academic performance will suffer.
Thus, one has to game responsibly, which means that gaming should not have a negative effect on one’s health or prevent one from performing other significant tasks. Below are some tips that can help in enhancing responsible gaming while in college.
Make a Timetable That Allows for Both Studying and Gaming
You have a lot to do on the academic front. For instance, you have lectures to attend, assignments to write, and exams to study for. Still, you want to enjoy gaming. Unfortunately, gaming can prevent you from attending to your academic commitments.
For instance, if you game for extended hours, you’ll get fatigued, and you’ll not be able to do an assignment. You might be forced to delegate the assignment to a paper writing service like researchpaperwriter.net to be able to turn it in on time.
If you want to enjoy gaming while still ensuring your academic work doesn’t suffer, you should create a robust schedule. For example, you can dedicate your early mornings to studying for your exams and completing assignments and then attend your classes during the day. You can then engage in gaming in the evening and on weekends.
Make Gaming Part of Your Reward System
Gaming can motivate you to work even harder in your academics. But how do you incorporate gaming into your study schedule, and how can it motivate you? Promise yourself 30 minutes of gaming after you complete your assignment – that will motivate you to complete your assignments quickly.
Also, you can incorporate short gaming sessions when you are taking a break from your studies – you can have a 15-minute gaming session after studying for 1 hour.
You should be careful during these gaming breaks to ensure you don’t overindulge. For example, you should set notifications to alert you when your gaming session is over. Be disciplined enough to continue with productive activities after your gaming sessions elapse.
Set Clear Gaming Limits
Even as you create time for both studies and gaming, you may, at times, find yourself gaming more than you should. At first, you may not know the impact. However, you may soon find gaming eating up most of your productive time.
For instance, you might game for an extended period and forget to do an assignment. Consequently, you’ll have to buy an essay to avoid submitting it late.
To ensure you get the best out of both gaming and studies, you should set limits to your gaming. Set the maximum daily or weekly gaming hours. For instance, you can decide that you’ll have a maximum of 2 hours of gaming daily. Don’t exceed your planned gaming time, even if you play more on some days.
Another way to instill discipline into your gaming culture is to find accountability partners. It could be friends or family members who care about your overall well-being. These accountability partners can remind you when you begin to spend too much time on gaming.
Prioritize Your Mental and Physical Well-Being
At times, you might spend all your time in gaming and studies and forget about your mental and physical well-being. An example is when a game gets exciting, and you play it the whole night.
If done frequently, it will affect your physical and mental well-being because you’ll not be giving your body time to rest. How do you take care of yourself as a college student who loves gaming?
Create Time for Physical Exercises
When you are studying or gaming, you mostly sit. Being in this state for several hours isn’t good for your physical health – you may begin feeling joint pains and even become susceptible to lifestyle illnesses. So, you should incorporate physical exercises into your study and gaming sessions.
Sleep Adequately
One negative aspect of gaming is the fact that it is addictive. If you aren’t disciplined, you may, at times, find yourself gaming the whole night, hampering your productivity the next day – don’t let it get there. Sleep for at least 7 hours each night and create the right environment for quality sleep.
Eat Healthy
Don’t let studying and gaming prevent you from taking care of your diet. For example, create time to prepare a healthy meal – incorporate carbohydrates, veggies, fruits, and lean proteins.
Also, drink plenty of water throughout the day because dehydration can lead to fatigue and impaired cognitive function as you study and play your video games.
Create Time to Socialize
Gaming can, at times, isolate you from the rest of the world. That happens when you game for too long. With time, your socializing skills may suffer. So, you should take socialization seriously even as you engage in gaming.
Fortunately, you can turn gaming into a socializing activity by playing with other people. For example, you can play multiplayer games or games with your friends.
Apart from forming long-lasting relationships through gaming sessions, friends can become your accountability partners – they can remind you when you are surpassing your gaming limits.
Monitor Your Well-Being
Self-assessment and self-awareness are important parts of gaming for college students. So, you should be aware of your stress levels and emotional stability. Issues such as eye strain, headaches, fatigue, or disrupted sleep patterns could be signs that you’re spending too much time gaming. If you notice such signs, it could be time to review your gaming habits.
Final Act
Don’t let gaming affect your academics and overall well-being. You can do this by making a timetable and prioritizing important tasks, making gaming part of your reward system, and setting gaming limits.
Also, you should monitor and take care of your mental and physical well-being. Remember to socialize and know when to pump the breaks.
