how college student should stay healthy essay

how college student should stay healthy essay

Strategies for College Students to Maintain Physical and Mental Health

1. Introduction

Engaging in physical activities is the main way to maintain our physical health. But how much physical activity is enough is still not clear. So, how much time should a college student spend on physical activities in a week is one of the issues to explore. What should a college student do to maintain their physical health? Taking aggressive exercise and engaging in moving activities, such as running, jogging, having yoga classes, and dance classes. Although it consumes a part of the time to engage in these activities, they are said to effectively maintain college students’ physical health and relieve chronic diseases. As the saying goes, “prevention is preferable to treatment.” Instead of striking the iron when it is hot, people should do their housekeeping well. In the future, adults should maintain a regular and effective living habit to maintain their health. So, for college students as well, we should learn good living habits to maintain our health from now and here.

College life is very different from high school life. Some fresh graduates may even live together with their classmates or friends outside the school campus. They need to take care of themselves, make decisions on their own, and handle their complex life. They may have heavy school workloads and even take part-time jobs for living expenses. Therefore, maintaining physical and mental health is absolutely crucial. However, college students may not have enough time to maintain health effectively because they may need to engage in different activities simultaneously. Therefore, developing strategies to help college students maintain physical and mental health is essential.

2. Importance of Prioritizing Health in College

College students are in a unique situation regarding their health. For the majority, this is the first time they or their families are not fully in charge of health decision-making. College students make decisions about many aspects of their lives including healthy and unhealthy behaviors that can affect their physical and emotional health. It is not news that many college students make poor health choices including, but certainly not limited to, eating high volumes of low nutrient convenience foods, the stress of exams and relationship issues, alcohol, and other drug use, and binge drinking. This is the time they must be given good healthcare information, the skills to use the information, and the impetus to incorporate the healthy behaviors into their everyday lives.

For college students, maintaining physical and mental health is crucial to success. Taking the time to walk to and from class, properly study, and prioritize mental health can lead to higher scores on examinations and papers, as well as reducing the risk of academic burnout. The idea of avoiding illness or burnout by taking time for preventive care is one to learn as a college student but must be remembered in practice. Personal growth, time management, and building relationships all contribute to health. As importantly, without health, college studies cannot reach full potential.

3. Practical Tips for Physical Health

b. Plan for healthy eating. Sometimes a meal will need to be eaten on campus, which is easy if the cafeteria serves healthy options. However, since many of these facilities do not serve healthy food, some planning ahead will be necessary if students want to avoid putting on the freshman fifteen. Visiting the cafeteria and finding out what healthy food is always available is helpful. Also, it is good to have a mini-kitchen in order to maintain healthy eating habits since fast food is nearby.

a. Start the day right. Having breakfast starts the day off right. People who eat breakfast as their most important meal are more likely to request the nutrients they missed out on throughout the day. Also, it provides energy and increases the metabolic rate. People with busy schedules can think about having nutritious, portable options such as yogurt with nuts and fruit, or bagel with low-fat cream cheese.

Sadly, many college students struggle with their physical health. It is known that exercise and a balanced diet are important for students to relieve stress, boost energy, think positively, and stay healthy in order to prevent some physical diseases or problems. By habituating a healthy lifestyle early in life, students will be more likely to avoid medical problems in the years after college. Here are tips to help students form healthy habits for long-term health.

4. Effective Strategies for Mental Well-being

Exercise has been found to be effective in terms of preventing and managing depression. It is as effective as cognitive behavioral therapy for depression. In the short run, physical activity can increase immediate feelings of happiness through endorphin release during exercise. Physical activity can also reduce levels of the stress hormone released during exercise. In the longer run, physical activity can create a new self-identity within us, such as a “runner” or a “yogi,” and that leads to a positive outcome. So, it is suggested that college students should put exercise in their schedule and start small. Choose a sport that one likes. The sport does not have to be intense. Even leisure walking can be beneficial to our overall health. The key is to keep it interesting and fun.

Psychological well-being is equally important as physical well-being. The importance of mental health has been addressed through many suicide prevention programs that have been going on, as well as through websites that raise students’ mental health awareness on symptoms of depression and anxiety. We are not only interested in warning students about what they are doing wrong, but more interested in identifying effective strategies to prevent depression and anxiety from happening. Here, we want to explore what students can do to actively promote their mental health.

5. Conclusion and Call to Action

College students are experiencing numerous changes and stressors, all of which can have varying effects on an individual’s physical and mental health. As college students transition to adulthood, the changes that accompany this time can cause an increase in psychological symptoms and stress disorders. A collegiate level focus can help identify high, at-risk stages to target interventions to individuals in need of improved strategies and resources to support mental and physical health. College-level institutions have an obligation to help support and nurture college students’ overall well-being. It is important that colleges engage with their students on a public health level. In order to become healthy adults and students, college students need to be taught the skills, strategies, resources, and community involvement necessary to improve their physical and mental health at this stage in their life when they are most susceptible. Establishing resources and teaching coping strategies that promote balance would aid in the creation of a healthy college experience.

College students experience a variety of stressors and lack effective coping methods, making them more susceptible to both mental and physical health issues. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that promote and protect against physical health and the factors that are barriers to physical health and contribute to health issues among college students, as well as the coping strategies college can teach students. After running multiple regressions on each dependent variable, the campus wellness model suggests that college students’ most notable protective factors are a sense of community and the college’s relative size; the most significant barrier factors to physical health and contributors of health issues are sleep changes and exam stress.