As summer shines down on the Chattahoochee Valley, many CSU students are now able to enjoy much needed free time. However, the pull to simply lie in bed and scroll through your phone can be equal parts alluring and dangerous to your mental health.
While going online can sometimes promote a greater feeling of connectedness and can be important to keeping up with events, too much time spent online can adversely affect your health. This phenomenon is called “doomscrolling”, where people will be compelled to sit in bed and do nothing but scroll through their phones, often watching terrible events unfold on social media.
Harvard reports that this can have a real impact on the public’s health, both physical and mental. On the physical side, prolonged doomscrolling sessions can cause higher blood pressure and increase muscle tension, along with disrupting sleep routines. As for mental health, doomscrolling can have a major impact on the overall sense of well-being, even resulting in anxiety intense enough to cause nausea.
The potential relationship between social media usage in general and anxiety is still being investigated by psychologists, but there has been data produced that suggests a correlation. A study published in the American Journal of Health Behavior in 2018 put participants into five categories, ranked by the intensity of their social media usage. While the three lesser categories showed no meaningful association with higher depression or anxiety scores, the highest two did.
For those worried about falling into habits that are bad for their mental health, you may not have to look further than out your window. The American Psychological Association published an article in 2020 detailing the benefits of going outside for cognitive health. Specifically, going outside was found to lower stress levels and even improve attention spans.
Naturally, a major activity to do outside is exercise, which has also been associated with better mental health. This is also a topic that is being investigated by kinesiologists and psychologists alike. One hypothesis proposed in a study in 2023 from the Cureus Journal of Medicine reasons that exercise increases production of beta-endorphins. Beta-endorphins are produced by the pituitary gland in the brain, and primarily function to help relieve pain and stress.
For students in Columbus looking to spend more time outside, there are many venues to help accommodate them. CSU has its own Student Recreation Center with many outside features, such as pickleball courts, that are accessible via Student IDs.
Columbus also has several local parks perfect for scenic walks, such as Cooper Creek on Milgen Road, and Flat Rock Park on Warm Springs Road.
For those looking to pick up hiking, Georgia is host to many trails in their state parks, some of the favorites being Cloudland Canyon, Providence Canyon, and the Amicalola Falls.
Even if you do not have the time or space for exercise, you can even benefit from simply lounging outside in the sunlight. Recent research has suggested a positive relationship between exposure to sunlight and improved mental health
Overall, whether you’re simply lounging in the sun with your favorite book or hiking across waterfalls, it is incredibly rewarding to set down the phone and soak in the natural open air.
