Evolutionarily speaking, humans are creatures of habit. Therefore, following a daily routine is one of the best ways for us to maintain healthy lifestyles. Being in a pandemic definitely made me realize that I needed to incorporate more structure into my daily routine. Before COVID-19, I had a pretty basic daily schedule, which consisted of going to class, going to work, working on homework and then spending evenings and weekends hanging out with friends and family. I never really felt like I needed to follow some kind of pre-planned routine because being a student was a pretty basic and common lifestyle pattern to follow that didn’t necessarily need to be planned out to a tee.
After leaving campus in March, however, I was much less productive, more stressed, anxious and overwhelmed. Even though I wrote out the due dates for all my assignments and exams, I was having trouble feeling comfortable with my new lifestyle of being at home. I felt like something was missing. I missed walking around campus with friends, movie and game nights with my roommates, study groups in the library and the overall college experience which I had grown so accustomed to. In order to pick myself out of the slump I was in, over the past few months, I’ve developed a daily routine that’s worked wonders for both my physical and mental health. After this experience in restructuring my life, I realized there are a lot of benefits to following a routine, which I will outline below!
- Improvement in Mental Health
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It turns out that there are a lot of studies on the mental health benefits of following a routine. In fact, people who follow daily routines are found to have lower levels of stress when dealing with difficult issues/life events (ex. a pandemic!)
As my friends and family can attest, I’m the poster child for an extrovert. I’ve always been an overly expressive and outgoing person, always feeling energized by being around others. So as you can imagine that this pandemic was a pretty drastic hit to my mental health. I missed my friends, going out, meeting up with coworkers, etc. Eventually, after a few weeks of this pandemic, I decided that I was ready to make a routine and get myself back on track. I got a job as a therapist for children with autism, signed up for summer classes, started waking up at consistent times, found ways to enjoy myself while being safe (cooking, baking, walks with my dog, FaceTiming friends more often, etc.) and started sticking to a daily schedule. Before I knew it, I was feeling more like my old self.
- Better Sleep
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Another difference I noticed in myself after sticking to a daily routine was better sleep. Although the amount of sleep needed varies from person to person, the CDC recommendation is that adults need at least seven+ hours per night while children need even more. According to this NIH website, a lack of proper sleep is linked with an increased risk of heart disease, kidney problems, blood pressure issues, diabetes, stroke and more. Getting a sufficient amount of high-quality sleep has definitely been something I’ve struggled with since I started taking more challenging courses in high school, and to be honest, being a pre-medical student in college hasn’t helped much with that either. However, through maintaining a routine, I started to get a more regular, restful sleep, which has also translated into being more energized throughout the day and being more efficient with my time.
- Boost in Productivity
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Lastly, a daily routine has worked tremendously in boosting my productivity and efficiency. I’m sure this is a direct result of the first two reasons I had previously mentioned above: improvement in mental health and sleep. Waking up feeling renewed and well-rested offers a more positive start to my day as it starts the momentum of getting things done throughout the day, which allows me to accomplish more in my day than I previously had been able to do. What used to take me hours is now taking me half the time, leaving me more time to do things that bring me happiness.
I hope my journey to realizing the importance of a daily routine shows its benefits! If you relate to this in any way, incorporating some kind of daily routine into your life might change your life for the better!