8 Reasons Why You Are Lazy in College

I know how frustrating it can be to always feel lazy in college. So, I decided to look for the root of the problem and found some interesting results.

So why are you lazy in college?

You don’t get enough sleep
You constantly look at screens
You constantly eat junk food
You have lazy habits
You don’t move around enough
You get distracted from your work
You are overwhelmed with too many responsibilities
You are in the wrong program or major

Now that you know the possible reasons why you’re lazy in college, let’s talk about them in more detail.

1. You don’t get enough sleep

As a college student, you always find reasons to stay up late at night. Maybe a new television series on Netflix came out, or your friend wants to play a few more games of Fortnite.

Whatever the reason, you end up going to sleep at 2 to 3 o’clock in the morning! You know it’s a bad idea because you have class at 8:00 am. It’s crazy. For some reason, everything you do at night becomes more entertaining. I sometimes find myself watching dogs and cats eat food for nearly an hour! I then stop to ask myself, “Am I really watching animals do ASMR at 2 o’clock in the morning?”

You and I both need to set our electronic devices aside and just go to sleep. The less sleep you get, the more exhausted and lazier you’re going to feel throughout the day. Sure, you can take naps, but are you confident that you’re going to not sleep in for another 3 hours?

Let’s hope not because taking long naps puts you at risk of sleep inertia. Sleep inertia is the uncomfortable, groggy feeling of not knowing where you are. Remember, sleep is not for the weak!

2. You constantly look at screens

This touches on the previous reason of why you are lazy in college. You spend too much time on the internet! Staring at screens for excessive amounts of time causes digital eye strain, thus making you tired and lazy.

Think about it! When you’re at school and home, you’re on the computer and your phone. When you’re waiting in line at a fast-food restaurant, you’re on your phone. Even when you hang out with your friends and family, you’re on your phone. The worst part is you’re not the only one who does this, everyone is constantly looking at screens!

A study shows that the average student spends more than 6 hours a day on the internet. Now you might say, “Well I need to use the internet for school.” Using the internet for school is fine, but let’s be honest; you aren’t strictly doing school-related things on the internet.

The study showed that 2 out of 6 of those hours were used for educational purposes. The remaining 4 hours were used for entertainment purposes. As someone who’s always on the internet, I don’t find that surprising.

So, what did we learn? We learned that the average student spends 1/4 of their day on the internet. In other words, we spend 1/4 of our day looking at digital screens. No wonder we always feel lazy!

3. You constantly eat junk food

You knew this was going to come up at some point. Unless you’re a health-conscious person, a big part of your laziness comes from eating too much junk food. I’m talking about all the burgers, fries, donuts, chocolate, and other junk food you eat.

Don’t worry, I’ve had my fair share of eating too much junk food too. I used to eat at fast-food restaurants multiple times a day, every day. I don’t need to tell you that eating too much junk food causes you to be lazy, you already know that. So, what can you do to stop eating junk food all the time? Pack a nutritious lunch the night before.

See how simple that solution was? Well, it’s actually not that simple because there are a few things you need to learn:

How to grocery shop. Lots of people tell students to pack their own lunch to save money and eat healthier, but they never talk about how to grocery shop. You need to know what’s available in the grocery stores around you so that you can choose the best options for the best price. Look up some nutritious recipes online and start planning.
How to meal prep. Meal prepping is more than just preparing your meals. You have to learn how to portion your meals throughout the day and make sure you’re taking in the right number of nutrients. Check out this beginner’s guide to meal prepping by Healthline.

I’m not a health expert or anything; I just know it’s obvious that if you start eating better, you’re going to feel better. The better you feel, the less lazy you’ll be. Start making small changes to your diet so that you don’t get overwhelmed with all this health and nutrition stuff. One easy way to get extra nutrition is to take a supplement like Balance of Nature.

4. You have lazy habits

Another reason you are lazy in college is due to lazy habits. Lazy habits are exactly what they sound like – habits you have that cause you to be lazy. Here are some examples:

Not making your bed in the morning.
Not showering and grooming yourself on a regular basis.
Buying food as opposed to making your own.
Sleeping or laying down after every meal
Not hanging up your clothes
Leaving dirty dishes in the sink

I could go on forever, but you get the point.

You can always come up with an excuse to not do something. For example, I used to never make my bed because I said I would just jump back in it later. Even though it’s true, it’s the process of making your bed that stops you from developing lazy habits.

The fewer lazy habits you have, the more active you’re going to be overall. You need to stop saying “I’ll do it later,” and start doing it now, otherwise, you’ll procrastinate and develop even more lazy habits.

The next time you’re supposed to work out but feel too lazy to go, just go. In my experience, the hard part is getting yourself to the gym, but once you’re there and you start working out, you’re good to go!

5. You don’t move around enough

Another reason you could be lazy in college is by not moving around enough. Answer these questions honestly:

How many minutes/hours of exercise do you do a day?
How many hours are you sitting/laying down a day?
Do you consider yourself to be an active person?

If you’re not happy with your answers, then that’s probably why you’re so lazy. I understand that you have a lot on your plate in college, but your health is important. Try to get in at least 30-minutes of exercise a day. If you are happy with your answers, I’m not sure why you’re even reading this blog in the first place!

The longer you sit still, the more your body is going to get used to it. When the time comes and you’re supposed to go and do something, you’ll be too lazy to do it.

Try standing up as opposed to sitting down whenever possible. Doing homework on your computer? Do it standing up. It might be difficult at first, but you’ll get used to it.

6. You get distracted from your work

If you’re like me and you get distracted easily, it can cause you to be too lazy to finish what you were doing.

For example, if I’m studying for a test and I randomly watch a video on YouTube, I would sometimes feel too lazy to continue studying. I would even watch more YouTube videos. After 20-minutes of procrastination, I feel like I’d rather sleep than look back at my study notes.

This is why it’s important for people like me who get distracted easily to isolate and prevent ourselves from getting distracted. I know it can be hard if you’re doing work on your electronic devices. That’s why you might want to download a temporary site blocker like Block Site. You can check out my guide on how to stop wasting time on YouTube to learn how to set up Block Site.

You need to try your best to stay focused on completing whatever it is you’re doing without distractions. Give yourself short breaks in between your work sessions. I like to give myself a maximum 7.5-minute break per 1 hour of work.

The bottom line is don’t get distracted from your work if it causes you to be lazy.

7. You are overwhelmed with too many responsibilities

It’s strange, right? When you have a lot of responsibilities to take care of, you get lazy. However, when you only have 1 or 2 responsibilities, you’re more willing to complete them. The feeling of being overwhelmed causes you to be lazy.

That’s why you should never try to tackle all your responsibilities at once. Learn how to prioritize your tasks so that you can complete them in an organized and timely manner.

Imagine how it feels if you had to:

Read a chapter in your textbook and then answer 20 questions
Write an essay
Babysit your nephew
Buy groceries for the week
Set up an appointment for your guardian
Clean the house
Go to the gym

All in one day! Let’s be honest, you’re probably going to skip half of those responsibilities even though you could finish them all.

Again, it’s the sheer number of tasks that causes us to be lazy. In the future, spread out your responsibilities if possible, and don’t procrastinate! The number of tasks is only going to increase.

8. You are in the wrong program or major

Another major reason you might be lazy in college is from being in the wrong program or major. This is a difficult topic to talk about, but it needs to be addressed. Answer these questions honestly:

Do you enjoy what you’re learning at school?
Are you confident that your program or major is preparing you for the real world?
Can you see yourself working in this field 5 years from now? 10 years? 20 years?
Do you know you’re in the wrong program or major?

Assess your answers and determine whether you’re in the right program or major or not. Don’t worry if you aren’t – it’s not the end of the world. You can always seek help from an advisor at your school.

If it helps, I switched programs twice, and I’m more than happy I did that. Being in the wrong program or major made me extremely lazy. I hated going to school because I felt like I was forced to be there.

This made me want to lay in bed all day and just forget about school. Although I’m not qualified to help you choose the right college major, I would highly recommend you talk to a career advisor at your school. If you feel completely lost, consider taking a year off!

Conclusion

College is tough. Your future depends on what you do now, so stop being lazy and actually get some work done.

If you can think of another reason why college students are lazy, feel free to leave a comment down below.

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