Comparison to the Average College Student Data First and foremost, I was very interested in how many similarities and differences that there was between myself and the average college student. I found the similarities interesting because I do not feel that I spend my time evenly in each area, like I assumed the average college student did. I was most proud of myself in the sleeping category, seeing that I get, on average, 0. 6 hours more sleep than the average college student. I think that my strict sleep schedule has allowed me to be on top of my school work and also be able to do all of the other extracurricular activities that I do.
However, this also may be too much sleep because I often find that if I do not get enough sleep, about 9 hours per night, I am very groggy and tired. So in some ways I feel that I have set a standard for myself, that my body is now used to, this will one day become unachievable. I was very surprised that I was as close to the average in leisure and sports. While I am not on a sports team, I go to the gym six days a week for an hour. I think that this amount of time is enough to keep me healthy and active as well as allow me to still have time to do what I need to get done in a day.
I also feel that I spend a great deal of time socializing with friends, which is my main leisure activity. That being said, I thought that I would have been a lot higher than the average, but I found myself 0. 1 hours lower than the average. I was not surprised at all that I spend significantly more, 2 hours a week to be exact, more than the average college student doing educational activities. Given that I am an occupational therapy major in a combined Bachelors/ Master’s program, one would assume that I commit an immense amount of time to my studies.
What makes up a majority of my educational activities is doing homework and studying. I try very hard to be proactive in my studying and assignments, which then means that I need to spend a fair amount of time every day assuring that everything gets done in time. I, also, and very guilty of over studying. I study a lot harder than I need to assure that I will do well on a test or exam because I want to make sure that I do well. My education means a lot to me, which is why I am in no way surprised that I spend considerably more time than the average college student doing educational activities.
In addition, I think that the fact that work conside ably less than the average college student lets me commit that time in other areas, such as my studies or hanging out with friends. I work, on average, 1. 5 hours less than the average college student. I am very, lucky to not have to work while I am at school to, again, assure that I am doing the best that I can on all of my assignments. Also, when I am working in the mailroom, if it is a slow day I may have time to read or do a little bit of homework which always helps.
I thought that it was intriguing that I had so little amount of time for the “other” category, with the only things going in that area for me was grocery shopping, attending physical therapy, and doing laundry. I would be interested to see what else the average college student puts in this category that made it so much higher than my result, 1. 8 hours to be exact. Many of the things that I do in a week fit very cleanly into the areas that were set up for me, showing that I am closer to the average college student than I originally thought.
I was not surprised that my traveling hours were about an hour a week lower than the average college student. This is mainly due to the fact that I do not have a car on campus, so the only time I ever leave campus is if I go grocery shopping with a friend. The only travel that I do at all is to and from class. I often travel very slowly because I am with a group of people walking, and seeing that I really like to talk with my friends, we walk slowly so that I can hear everyone in front of and behind me. On the other hand, when I am walking alone I walk much faster because there is no need to walk as slow as I usually would.
Even though I walk slowly a majority of the time, I still travel considerably less than the average college student. I was very surprised that I spent so much more time eating and drinking, 1. 2 hours on average, than the average college student. When I am eating and cooking | used to feel that I was doing these tasks as fast as possible, but it still takes me no less than an hour. I was trying to understand where this time all went and then I realized all of the tasks that| usually do in that hour for dinner.
During each roughly hour long meal that I have I decide what I am making, collect the ingredients, cook the food, wash the dishes, eat my dinner and then wash anything else left in the sink. While all of those things do take a great deal of time, I did not realize how much time I spent talking with my roommates and friends who stopped by while I cook, which slows me down in all of these tasks considerably. I think that all of my actions while eating and drinking, again, move slower because I want to talk with everyone and catch up while I cook.
Lastly, for grooming, I was, again, not surprised that I spent more time than the average college student grooming. Grooming has always been something that I almost see as a leisure activity. I enjoy it very much, and because of the great deal of meaning and enjoyment that I get out of this activity I take my time doing these things. The average college student may not enjoy grooming as much as I do and, therefore, takes less time to do them and/or does not specifically create time in the day for these grooming activities to be done.
Overall, I found looking at the similarities and differences between myself and the average college student very interesting and also to be used as a lens to reevaluate how I spend a majority of my time in a day. Reflection: Adjustments to be made I would, surprisingly, like to sleep a little bit less than I do not because I want my body to be able to function with a little bit less sleep to be needed. I very much feel that when I sleep less than the average nine hours a night, my body feels run down and unrested, which it should not be.
I want to try and force myself to stay up a little bit longer to see that if I can convince my body that it does not need so much sleep to be able to do what it needs to do in a day. I would also like to change how much time that I am eating and drinking. I would much rather like to be able to cook at a comfortable speed and still have people come talk to me, but I need to keep cooking and not stop to talk. If I was talking and cooking at the same time I think that this would cut down significantly on the amount of time that I am eating and drinking.
I think that I will do this by making my dinner and then telling my friends that I will come and see them instead of them always coming to see me in my apartment. Personal Hygiene and Grooming Task: Making a Cup of Coffee 1. Knowing that I want a cup of coffee in the morning 2. Walking over to the coffee maker 3. Knowing what button turns it on 4. Isolating the pointer finger on the right hand 5. Flexing the right shoulder and extending the right elbow to reach toward the button 6. Pushing the button with enough strength and accuracy to turn on the coffee machine to heat up
7. Extending the shoulder and returning it to the side of the body 8. Knowing where the K-cups are to make coffee 9. Walking over to the pantry 10. Flexing my shoulder and extending the wrist and fingers and using a gross grasp onto the door with my left hand 11. Flexing the shoulder and extending the wrist and finger to reach for a Kcup out of the pantry 12. Using a gross grasp to obtain the K-cup 13. While still holding onto the K-cup, extending the shoulder and returning it to the side of the body 14. Walking back over to the coffee pot 15.
Lifting the handle that opens the pot as to where the K-cup sits by flexing my left shoulder and extending the left wrist and fingers to use my pointer and middle finger to push the handle up 16. Using in hand manipulation so the K-cup is held in the hand using a three jaw chuck grasp, place the K-cup into the coffee machine 17. By flexing my right shoulder and extending the right wrist and fingers I push down the handle on the coffee machine by isolating my pointer and middle finger and then pushing down the handle 18.
Flex the right shoulder and extend the right wrist and fingers to use a gross grasp to obtain a coffee mug 19. Extend the shoulder and flex the elbow to place the mug in the proper orientation for the machine 20. Knowing what the proper orientation is and where to put the coffee mug in relation to the machine 21. Isolate the pointer finger 22. Flexing the shoulder and extending the elbow to reach toward the button 23. Press the button that makes the largest cup of coffee 24. Wait for coffee to brew
