Reading can be regarded as a universal hobby. Apart from letting you acquire new information and process it, reading also reduces stress. Students benefit from this hobby in many ways. Firstly, the more you read, the more you become accustomed to doing it on a regular basis. This comes in handy when you have a lot of materials to study when you are preparing to a seminar or exam, or when you are collecting information for a paper. Learn to process information which you obtain through reading, and you also learn to work with information in everyday situations. Interpreting events, responding to them and problem-solving in general are the main abilities and skills you can boost significantly as a result of reading.
Learning a foreign language increases your communication skills, but also opens new horizons for you. When you speak a language, you have access to the culture behind it and people who belong to this culture. You stop perceiving things as you used to and become more welcoming towards everything new. Besides, bilingual people better solve puzzles, as researchers have found. That means better logical thinking and increased creativity. Moreover, imagine that your employers speak a foreign language that you speak as well. This is the chance for the other, often the better, side of you to manifest itself.
Learning to play a musical instrument develops logic and problem-solving skills, memory, motor skills, and, of course, creativity. It has been found that a hobby like this activates both right and left hemispheres. For a student, starting to play a musical instrument it is both a challenge and a great opportunity for expanding their knowledge beyond the usual. Playing a musical instrument is similar to speaking another language. While your language proficiency will depend on your ability to interact with others in social situations, your mastery of an instrument will depend on how well you can blend the formal language of notes with creativity. Making music can be compared to finding the best intuitive solution in the situations with formal settings.
Exercising is good not just for your health. When we exercise, we get the flow of BDNF, a protein which is also referred to as nerve-growth factor. It helps us perform a number of mental activities from focusing on things to memorizing them and learning new information. Exercising in general improves our blood circulation, which makes our entire body, including the brain, enriched with oxygen. This speeds up reactions and makes our minds more effective than usual. Exercising will eventually make you more effective both in your college and in future career.
Meditation helps us to set up our brains for a specific wave and control how we feel. After the Dalai Lama asked Richard Davidson to measure his brain waves during meditation, the results went public a decade later causing massive attention to the practice. Not only does meditation relieve you from stress, but it also help to control your emotions. This comes handy when you are stressed-out as a student struggling between the studies and both social and professional life.
Every hobby you decide to take will play in your favor significantly. Some will train your logical and strategic thinking, and some will increase your creativity and non-standard problem-solving. Physical activities will make your central nerve system work better and faster, and mediation will help you deal with everyday life stress. If you think you don’t have the time for a hobby, try to think how much of it you spend ineffectively during the week, and figure out how to make room for a few hours of fun and benefit from it in your studies.