Recommendations: healthy daily/weekly habits to develop as a grad student

[BikeOrange]

I haven't started Grad school yet, but here are things that helped me during undergrad/ lab tech days:

 

-Bike to and from campus everyday, and at least one longer (30-40mi) ride a week (A little cardio everyday does wonders for my mental health)

-Whenever I can, schedule time to cook a nice meal with my SO 

-Keep a group of people to hang out with a couple times a month outside of lab. This serves as a reminder that lab work and courses are not the only aspects of life

-This one may seem silly. Call your siblings/cousins every once in a while. It's surprising how uplifting a short phone call can be. Especially when the person you are talking to is actually interested in what you have to say.

 

I hope to roll these habits over to graduate school.

[astroyogi]

I'm not in grad school yet but I spend ~25 hours /week at my computer in my lab and I've found desk exercises to be great at helping to avoid the "shlump" I so often feel after sitting and staring at a screen for a long period of time. If you google desk exercises you'll get a bunch of suggestions about things you can do in your chair. Takes not even a minute to do them 

[WriteAndKnit]

Staying hydrated (i.e., drinking water, tea, etc instead of soda).

Spending some time daily in the sunlight, or at least near a window. That's exceptionally helpful for my brain. 

The discipline to stay productive, and being "allowed" to take breaks (breaks are good for you).

Taking some time each week (at least a few hours) to do what YOU want/enjoy. It'll let your brain reset and refocus. 

Getting enough sleep: for me, if I have a designated "bedtime", I sleep better. And get up earlier (and I'm a morning person, so earlier is better for me; I get more done in the morning anyway).

Always having a healthy, appealing snack available. It's easier to resist the salt and vinegar chips if I have hummus and pita bread in my bag. 

[Scarf in the wind]

I'm thinking of learning to ride bike as someone who's almost 30, and learning also to swim. Also, get back into doing my yoga workouts.

 

Will have to change some habits. For one, my hobbies include playing videogames, but I won't be taking my consoles with me when I move for grad school. Will have to find other hobbies. Also, the friend thing. Will have to work on that.

 

My newest healthy habit is staying hydrated.  I wasn't so great at this before since a lot of my work requires me being out in the field and thus away from a bathroom.  Now, I religiously have a glass of water immediately after waking up and before going to bed and I usually have a glass before meals.  When I find myself sitting at my desk, watching TV or reading I always keep a glass of water near me and make sure that I finish at least one glassful before the end of my episode/chapter/whatever it is I'm doing.

 

My mouth gets very dry when I don't have water so I carry around a water bottle I bought from REI. It is, or is similar to, this one: http://www.rei.com/product/852355/rei-nalgene-wide-mouth-loop-top-water-bottle-32-fl-oz Mine is 1500 ml, which may be around 50 ounces (I think, used a units conversion website calculator). 

[St Andrews Lynx]

Whenever my work week officially ends (Friday, Saturday or Sunday) I burn incense in the evening. I find that it helps me disconnect from the stressful academic stuff, so I can properly unwind at home. Drinking Roobios, chamomile or green teas are an important part of my evening ritual, too.

 

There has to be some sort of work/home switch-off. Even though I'm working stupid hours right now, I know that when I leave the lab I'm not going to think or stress about it until the next day. 

 

I'm currently getting to the gym once or twice per week in the morning. I deliberately chose an off-campus gym, so that I didn't have to be around students and so I could get off campus more frequently.

 

Naked Juices are more effective than coffee when I need to boost my energy levels. Plus they are healthier. 

[surefire]

So on the work front:

-One thing I began very recently is a writing schedule.  I'm far more loose with it (I kind of schedule my writing blocks on a week by week basis) but I'm intending to work my way up to having actually scheduled writing times per day and sticking to them.  I have found (as promised in the book How to Write a Lot by Peter Silvia) that the more I write, the more I want to write.  I get more done, and I am more creative - I get endless ideas and writer's block is not a problem.  Also, the writing goes more smoothly and I have plenty of time to go back and edit and revise.  Also, if you put yourself on a good schedule, you leave yourself a good amount of time to do the other things in life that you need to do to stay sane.  Honestly, this is probably the best thing you could EVER do for yourself.  You'll also be more productive, finish things on time, and have the publications you need to get a job.  So.  WRITING SCHEDULE.  I'm a huge proponent of this now.

 

juilletmercredi,

 

Lots of great advice from you, as per usual! Can I ask quickly (without hijacking): Is that Peter Silvia book very discipline-specific, or is it apt for anyone in grad school? I've been reading The Craft of Inquiry and Writing for Social Scientists and both are great, but I've been looking for some advisement on what the day-to-day tasks of writing should look like, and this sounds like a nice light read to that effect!

 

There's so much good advice here! My own contribution:

 

- The gym is super important, as many have stressed here. Some days the imposter-syndrome-gremlin will tell you that you don't DESERVE the gym because you weren't productive enough, but don't listen to him, going to the gym contributes to your overall productivity, and those tough days are the ones were you might need the excursion the most. It's nice to have one class or league night or something that you attend without compromise.

 

- I don't do this every day, or even every week, but during some "crunch" periods, I'll take the occasional "caffeine nap":  http://lifehacker.com/306029/reboot-your-brain-with-a-caffeine-nap

I swear by these, they're awesome!

 

- For mental well-being and efficacy: (1) I set aside a couple of hours in the afternoon, once a week, for academic "housekeeping" tasks (progress reports or conference reimbursement forms or answering the more taxing e-mails ect;). I find that these tasks can derail my schedule, as it requires time to mentally shift between bureaucratic things and scholarly things, so better to carve out some time to do them all at once. It also allows for some time to review my correspondence for the week, to make sure that I didn't miss anything. (2)  I keep electronic project "journals" to track my thinking and any ideas for side projects that might come up. I often think of things while I'm writing that I can't "deal with" or develop in the moment, but if I plug a date and a sentence into the journal regarding that thought, I find that I can re-ignite it later on. It also gives me a space to elaborate on changes that I make or notions that are not quite fully-baked, so I can go back and see what I was thinking. I also keep meeting notes with my supervisor in these documents. Honestly, you can waste a lot of time trying to remember a tangential thought that you had or a pertinent piece of advice that your supervisor gave you regarding a project, keeping a "journal" saves time and allows you to eliminate the doubt.

 

- Get comfortable with asking for help. One of the best habits I developed this year was tenacious help-seeking. Like, if you have to learn how to use some new software, why spend an afternoon banging your head against it trying to figure it out if, say, your institution offers a workshop or appointments with reference librarians or something, where you can dedicate an hour or two to getting it figured out. Also, asking for help from colleagues, within reason, is also worth doing - it saves time and also opens collaborative avenues.

[Roll Right]

Graduate school is intensly busy. For that reason, I recommend mixing your healthy habits in with work. I accomplish this in a few different ways. First, I begin my week on Sunday evening by cooking lunch for the week. This is something healthy that I cook in a crock-pot (usually chicken, vegitables, and rice) that I can eat at my desk while writing, reading, running stats, etc. This also saves me a lot of money because I am not constantly ordering my lunch from a local restaraunt.

 

Every morning for breakfast I eat greek yogurt, a fruit, and either granola or toast. I also have a coffee that I'm obsessed with - Carabou Coffee's Carabou Blend. This meal gives me the energy I need to get through the morning hours.

 

I use my commute in the morning to prepare myself for work. Sometimes I ride on public transportation so I can sit alone and listen to music I enjoy. Music keeps me sane. If I'm not doing that, I ride my bike to work so I can keep my body in shape and work out whatever stress I have built up in my muscles.

 

While working on campus I take regular breaks from my reading/writing/analysis. I usually do this after every hour of work to give my mind a quick break. Sometimes I'll do this by reading some video game news, other times I'll go bother a friend of colleague. Sticking to this routine makes me more productive than I otherwise would be.

 

I also make sure that I cook a meal for myself every week night. This is usually a protein (typically chicken sausage or chicken breast), a carb (either pasta or rice) and a green vegetible (usually collards). I follow this meal with a Modelo Especial 24 oz or a Sapporro 24 oz beer. I think its important to fit beer into a regular schedule as long as its not in excess.

 

I never work before 10:00 am (if I can help it), and I never work past 9:30 PM. This is important. Your sanity will suffer if you're waking up and going straight to the books, and it will also suffer if you're constantly pulling late night work sessions. I usually do 10 am - 2 pm, and then take break until 5:30, during which I return home to play fetch with my dog and eat dinner. At 5:30 I hit the books and write until 9:30. After 9:30 I unwind with my fiancee. This allows me to get a solid 8 hours of work in per day while also allowing me to relax in the evening.

 

My weekends are dedicated to my fiancee and my pup dog. I might do a few hours of work here and there during the weekend, but my focus is on them otherwise.

 

This is how I stay healthy and sane. I would like to stress the importance of eating rounded meals in grad school. You need fuel to think and you need fuel to destress. If you're not eating properly you'll have problems doing both.

Edited June 2, 2014 by Roll Right