by Robin Tidwell

Created on: June 30, 2008   Last Updated: July 01, 2008

College students are notoriously bad at time management - who wouldn't be, with all the new and exciting activities going on and people to meet? Not to mention that new-found freedom to come and go as one pleases and to be responsible only to one's self.

Unfortunately, trying to keep up with classes, studying, social commitments, clubs, sports, jobs, and so forth can leave very little "me" time, time for taking care of one's mind and body and mental faculties.

Once the excitement dies down a bit and a routine is established, it's time to take a look at the type of one's lifestyle and assess priorities and importance to all one's activities.

Obviously, the reason for attending college is to gain an education so one must assuredly put this topic at the number one spot. A typical college student enrolls for approximately 15 hours per semester, which means 15 classroom hours - don't forget to account for another 15 or so for studying outside the academic building. Additionally, there is time needed for travel, especially if one lives off-campus, and any other research, writing, or activities related to the classes one has chosen.

For the sake of argument, let us assume that about 35 hours in a 168-hour week is consumed with classes and studying; it sounds like a lot, but broken down into days it's just five per day - as a college student, again, one's "job" is education. If, however, one also has outside employment, that could easily take up another 20 hours per week, plus travel time unless one is working on campus. So now we've accounted for 55 hours in a week, or about eight hours per day.

Of course, college students must party - a lot, it would seem. Nothing wrong with that, it's all part of the college experience. If one confines one's socializing mainly to the weekends, half the problem is solved; if one continues to burn the proverbial candle at both ends throughout the week, more serious issues can crop up quite quickly.

An unusual phenomenon appears to be the college student's inherent incapability of leaving for an evening out any time prior to 10:00 pm. As any serious partier knows, going out for less than four hours is a waste of time, which puts the student back safely in the dorms by no earlier than 2:00 am. Lack of sleep, as well as certain effects from the partying itself can wreak havoc with any self-care plan as early as noon or so the following day.

Let us again assume that an average student "goes out" at least three times a week, classes and job

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