Dear Students: What reduces your productivity?

Students are always in hurry, jittery, confused with the word success. Most of them want to achieve pinnacles by a non-sweaty way! I say it’s possible. Give up few of your bad habits guys!!

How many bad habits you have? Count on your fingers. One is surely “skipping breakfast”.

Pulling out all through the night, getting up late, rush to college with everything half done! Want to get inside the classroom, ignorant of that big “why”. But the keenness of attending classes is appreciable.

After all, you want to learn!!

Learning, understanding, memorizing what the teachers explained requires lots of energy. Your body must feel energized enough to pull you through the mental stress of “understand the concepts”, otherwise you fall asleep in between the lectures.

To avoid the mess, be disciplined in having your breakfast. During my long career in college, I had the opportunity to stand on the Dias to deliver my lectures while watching students’ activities with vulture’s eyes! In laboratory and in classroom, the morning first hour lecture saw the late comers, breakfast skippers falling unconscious or falling asleep etc. With these experiences and interactions with lots of parents, I could make out that how the students are failing to achieve a far greater height.

Girls are poor eaters, ignorant of nutritional food values and boys do not understand how to tackle college life in the initial days. Most of them either skip breakfast or have inadequate food in the morning. What are the harmful effects of not having breakfast in time?

• It lowers your blood sugar level and you end up in feeling lethargic whole day
• Low blood sugar hampers blood circulation in brain and you do not follow lectures
• Your concentration diverts frequently and it gets directed to the feeling of hunger
• Skipping breakfast lowers the metabolic activities of body and you feel sluggish
• It leads to overeating in the later part of the day leading to weight gain. In long run, it causes diabetes and hypertension.
• You miss understanding, forgets to ask questions and you land in the bushes of “accumulated work to be done”. Now you have to read and understand everything on your own.
• In this process, your performance in exam remains lower than expected.
• You start losing, because those who maintains a strict regime of discipline drive their cars far ahead of you.

How can you improve your habit?

• Be wise, be smart. Select your breakfast food. Think what you like and consume easily in morning.
• Keep all the ingredients ready breakfast in the night itself to prepare your breakfast as soon as you get up.
• Develop a habit of spending some time to go through next day’s timetable. Keep your study material in bag, keep your clothes, shoes and of course the breakfast materials ready before you go to sleep.
• Have a breakfast which can be prepared easily if you are too busy.
• Stop being nocturnal, get up early in the morning so that you feel hungry while at home itself.
• You can keep your breakfast menu same for all days in a week or keep two or three breakfasts menu for six days to have them alternately.
• Shop on Sundays so that the ingredients do not get out of stock.
• Prepare your own breakfast if you are staying in hostels or help your mom to cook your breakfast. Moms feel happy with a helping child.

What you can have when you are too busy.

The wisest method is to choose food according to their nutritional value. The foods which keeps your energy level high and give a feeling of filled stomach for long time are helpful.

• Try cereals/cornflakes/ oatmeal with milk and fruits like apple and banana.
• Can have toasts with butter / cheese / jam with a glass of milk or juice and an egg.
• Can have South Indian breakfasts like poha or upma. But don’t forget to add a fruit after having it. You can enhance the nutritional value of poha by adding yogurt/curd to it. Can add dry fruits or chopped vegetables to poha and upma. It tastes good and fulfilling.
• Always carry a chocolate bar and a box of dry fruits in your bag. Have plenty of water and juice.
• Avoid consuming junk foods and caffeine containg energy drinks as much as possible.
• If you have little time in the morning you can prepare a smoothie with yogurt and any seasonal fruit. Mango and watermelon are good choice to make smoothies.
• Pancakes and French toasts in the morning are awesome. Have a fruit too.
• Can have avocado if available. Avocado is a wonder fruit having all the nutrients. It has monosaturated fats or the “good” fat, keeping blood sugar levels steady throughout the day. Avocado has vitamin K and folate which help to prevent blood clots in the brain (protecting against stroke) as well as help improve cognitive function, especially both memory and concentration. They’re also rich in vitamin B and vitamin C which aren’t stored in your body and need to be replenished daily. Plus, they have the highest protein and lowest sugar content of any fruit. Its taste neutral but plenty of recipes are available which you relish, I am sure.
• Another very good food to have in morning is beetroot juice or you can have it with salads and toasts. It will do wonder for you. Beet root reduces inflammation which are caused by physical and mental stress, and thus prevents chronic inflammation which causes hypertension. It is high in cancer-protecting antioxidants and help kick toxins out of blood. The natural nitrates in beets actually boost blood flow to the brain, helping with mental performance. Plus, during tough workouts, beets actually help boost energy and performance levels.
• Try to have blueberries in your fruit bowl. It’s one of the highest antioxidant-rich foods known to man, including vitamin C and vitamin K and fibre. Because of their high levels of Gallic acid, blueberries are especially good at protecting our brains from degeneration and stress.

I tried to give you some tips. Skipping breakfast is a strict NO that we know. Human tendency is to neglect till sickness knocks the door. Develop this good habit while you are student. You will find it the most beneficial habit when you become an employee or entrepreneur.

All happiness lies on a leisurely breakfast.