As a college student, it is important that you would want to be at your productive best at all given times. What’s with the courses you have to take, lectures, and exams, your health is going to be one determining factor on how well you perform in these areas.
There are several health issues that you can have or encounter as a college student. While there are some that would require the help of your guardian or visiting the counseling office, some you should be able to handle yourself, by knowing a few things.
In the article below, we outline some common health challenges that students face, and suggestions toward handling them, or best case scenario, preventing them.
Stress
The college environment could present a new paradigm. What with students having to get used to career-defining lectures, a new social environment, and lots and lots of extracurricular activities, it is no surprise that stress is on the top of the list among these group of people.
However, it is important to understand that stress can be managed, and poor grades do not completely define the end result of a career. Research into successful people and A-listers would unravel a list which include those who did not complete college.
The objective here is to be calm, determine your most important objectives, take the courses and exams in your stride, and have a compelling view of the individual and professional you are becoming.
Anxiety and Depression
A quick injunction: If you’ve been expressing regular bouts of anxiety or depression, for quite some time now, do understand that you are not the first person to experience such; so you should visit the school counseling office for help and assistance. There are lots of people who care about you, and would love to be of assistance.
If you do feel the tendency to be anxious ahead of important events, i.e. tests, exams, etc. or you usually resort to feeling unhappy when you perform poorly in your courses, then a change in perspective is required.
First, research from several sources reveal that the primary source of anxiety and depression are the mental pictures the individual holds in his or her mind on a regular basis. This means that our mental pictures are the large determinant of our feelings and behavior.
The suggestion then is if you do view yourself as successful, regardless of the outcome of your courses, and understand that you are becoming an expert, your perception of yourself changes, and as a result you would feel comfortable handling your courses, and the tests that result.
Additional injunction: Do hold exciting pictures in your mind of the person you are becoming, through your college courses, and taking the courses would be a breeze. Hold yourself fondly. Look at yourself with kindness and gladness, and accept that it is a privilege to be in college in the first place.
And next, go adventurously be the best you can.
Obesity
It is expected that people would experience health problems if they do not eat properly. College students are no exception.
A research conducted by online and mobile food ordering portal, GrubHub amid the grammar check uk free reveal that college students have an affinity for fast food. The research showed that food like the Chicken with Broccoli, General Tso’s chicken, Sesame Chicken, Wings and Dumplings were among the meals commonly ordered. However, by far, Calzone, the energy drink, was the most ordered.
Thus, the research concluded, it is no surprise that students gain rapid weight during their first to second years of college.
It is important then, to learn how to manage your eating habits, and geared toward eating light meals and balanced diets. This is because in addition to adding unhealthy weight, people with poor meal habits tend to exhibit depression and lack of physical fitness.
Work out an eating system to take in more fruits and vegetables in your diet. Eggs, bananas, apples, salmon, oatmeal are some of the meals you can take, quickly, and lightly, on a busy day.
Another commonly experienced problem among college students, homesickness usually arises when it is a first time the student has been away from home for a long duration. This, could cause withdrawal and anti-social behavior as the student gets used to a new environment.
However, the first thing you should understand about being lonely is that you are not alone. So, you could brave it by reaching out to others who are experiencing similar symptoms and create group to alleviate this problem.
Several other options could help. Join a college extracurricular activity i.e. you would meet people there who have similar challenges just like you. Take part in school sports even if it involves, at the start, going to the stands. Create a social media group i.e. Facebook, Google+, Whatsapp, and encourage others, even if anonymously at first, to open up about problems they face.
Reaching out to others is usually the best way to alleviate this problem.
And above all, keep desirable pictures of the reason you are in college before you. Imagine the exciting future you are creating.
Concluding, the above are simple and direct ways college students can resolve the most common challenges. And again, if you can do these by yourself, reach out to someone. There are lots of people that care about you, and would want to help you.
