Lately, I’ve noticed that I’ve adopted a number of bad habits that can really only be attributed to my becoming a med student.  Don’t judge me.

1.  Drinking Coffee

I never liked coffee before going to medical school, and now I can’t start my morning without it.  In general, all caffeinated beverages are a mainstay of the med student’s tool bag.

2.  Eating Poorly

There is something about studying that makes you only want to eat junk food.  And after I’ve been studying for ten hours straight, I think I deserve some mac&cheese and chocolate…

3.  Bad Hygiene

It’s not that med students are dirty…but let’s just say that your idea of what is gross can change.  When we first started dissecting, I came straight home to shower.  Now, I’m like…eh…I’ll shower after our next lab…

4.  Swearing

I’m not proud of this one.  I used to think I was morally opposed to swearing, but really, I just never had an occasion to swear…until med school.  There are some situations in the life of a med student that can really only be summed up with a few choice words…

5.  Being Impatient

In the words of Sheldon Cooper, I have ten fingers and ten toes. If I tell you a story about each one of them, we’ll be here all day, so let’s just move on.  

6.  Studying in Your Sleep

It might seem impossible, but it does happen.  And it is the worst!  The last thing I want to do after a long day of studying is study in my sleep, but sometimes my brain just won’t stop!

7.  Forgetting How to Relax

When you’re in med school, you have to study all the time.  Even if you decide to take a break, you will still feel guilty for not studying.  It pretty much sucks.

8.  Becoming a Bad Friend

Med students are hard people to be friends with.  We don’t have much of a life other than school.  I have a hard time making time for my husband, let alone my family.  Friends just take a back seat to everything else.  I’m lucky that I have some pretty understanding friends…at least…I hope I do!

9.  Having a Distorted Sense of Time

Med school is like a time warp.  You really only think in terms of “blocks,” which is to say, where you are in relation to the next block test.  We just finished a four-week block from hell…and now we’re starting a two-week block which is, well, also from hell.  Almost everyday I use the phrase:  Wait…that was YESTERDAY!?  We have to learn so much information in a day, and it just throws you off.

10.  Becoming Boring

I really have nothing to talk to you about besides glomerular filtration rates and hypovolemia.  If you’re not interested in that, then we probably can’t carry on a conversation.