Getting through a national lockdown as a student

It’s no secret that life is kinda tough right now; with most of the world in lockdown it is simply not possible to go about our daily lives at this time. It can be easy to just throw all cares out the window and just lie in bed all day, but that isn’t a fun or productive use of this time, eventually getting boring. Included here are some tips and tricks to help alleviate the boredom and avoid going crazy during lockdown.

·         Take advantage of the government-allowed exercise time – This is useful not only to avoid the potential negative effects of staying inside for indefinite months, but also to provide more options during lockdown, thus reducing the likelihood of boredom.

·         Keep to a consistent sleep schedule – When there is no official routine for a long time, there isn’t really anything stopping you from sleeping in all morning and going to bed at unnatural times. Of course, this is not the best way to spend your time, plus it may be difficult to get back into your pre-lockdown routine when the time comes. It would be a good idea to stick as close to your pre-lockdown sleeping routine as possible (unlike me with my current 3am to 1pm schedule).

·         Talk to people – It’s just not possible to socialise with friends during this time, and that sucks, it’s honestly more difficult than I expected it to be. However, thanks to the large presence of social media and cellphones, it is quite easy to stay in touch with people.

·         Study (even if you don’t need to) – Sitting at home indefinitely is going to get boring, even if there seem to be plenty of things to do at the moment. As such, I would recommend studying at least a little. This serves a dual purpose; it helps to break up the monotony of the lockdown, and it could help you better retain some potentially useful knowledge for your studies.

·         Try to maintain a relatively balanced diet – Eating is a great timewaster, regardless of whether or not lockdown measures are in place. But with such a limited selection of options, who wouldn’t take this time to acquire a week’s worth of snacks, and then proceed to eat a week’s worth in one day? This, obviously, isn’t good for one’s health, and so it would be a good idea to not overindulge on junk food (realistically this advice applies at any time, but speaking from personal experience it is more difficult to follow this advice at this time).

·         Keep doing any hobbies you can – Endless lockdown can make you feel like sitting around all day, and not doing anything fun or useful. This is quite a tragic thought, and I would encourage you to keep actively pursuing any of your hobbies that are not made impractical by current events. Such hobbies include, but are not limited to, gaming, reading, cooking/baking.

·         Avoid excessive alcohol consumption – As with many of these points, it is easy to resort to binge drinking (for those of us who have legal access to alcohol) in the midst of this lockdown. This is among one of the worst things that you can do during this time, as this can lead to physical and mental health issues and can also lead to alcohol dependence (which nobody wants to have). However, moderate alcohol consumption – ‘quiet night in’ rather than ‘rave night’ – is okay on occasion.