We’ve all heard of the “freshman-fifteen.” College is notorious for messed-up sleep schedules and Ramen noodles. Because of this, a lot of college students end up putting on some unwanted weight and, more importantly, start feeling more tired and unwell. While it’s definitely hard to balance your health with your academics when your to-do list gets longer and your free time gets shorter, it’s always super important to make sure you are taking care of yourself. Here are some quick and easy habits that you can incorporate into your busy class schedule while still having time to have fun on campus!
Get Your 8 Hours of Sleep
Almost everyone pulls an all-nighter at some point in their college career. An all-nighter is okay if it only happens once in a while but if it becomes a regular occurrence, it’s going to take a huge toll on your body. If you’re only getting a couple hours of sleep per night, you’re going to be more forgetful, less concentrated, more irritable, and more likely to get sick. Therefore, to make sure you are getting the rest that your body needs, try to shoot for at least seven hours of sleep per night (but preferably eight or nine). This can be hard to do when you’re working late or have a lot of assignments to get done, but it’s important to know your limits. So, make sure you swipe out of TikTok at a reasonable hour and hit the lights early to get a good night’s sleep!
Eat Breakfast
In highschool, most of my friends never ate breakfast – probably because we had to be in class at 7:00 every morning. However, most college classes don’t start until 8:00 and students can schedule their courses to be later in the day, so eating breakfast everyday is actually easier to do in college! Breakfast is super important because it fuels your body for the day you have ahead of you. After sleeping all night, your body is naturally going to need some food in order to produce more energy. So, make sure you get to the dining hall before they stop serving breakfast and fuel your body with some food before class! You definitely don’t need to eat a huge breakfast everyday to fuel yourself, but protein like eggs and yogurt will definitely give you the energy you need to power through your online classes!
Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate
The power of water is often underestimated; drinking water is such an easy yet rewarding task! Drinking more water will give you clearer skin, faster metabolism, and less headaches! Drinking water can get hard in college when you’re distracted with classes, friends, and homework, but make sure you keep your water bottle with you and shoot for two liters a day. Drinking enough water is also difficult when you have a lot of other options like coffee, juices, and sodas. If you want to make your water more interesting, try adding some lemon or switch to seltzer!
Cut Back on the Caffeine
I know this seems really crazy to say as a college student, but try to cut back on the amount of caffeine you drink! Too much caffeine causes increased anxiety, insomnia, poor digestion, and high blood pressure. While caffeine definitely isn’t bad in moderation, it’s still a drug and it’s easy to get addicted to. I have tons of friends who can’t function without coffee or else they’ll have a headache all day. So, to avoid this happening to you, make sure you’re not drinking a crazy amount of coffee everyday and make sure you still get your two liters of water in! If you need caffeine, stick to coffee and tea; energy drinks have huge amounts of caffeine that definitely seem appealing during an all-nighter but definitely aren’t the best for your health!
I hope that you like these healthy habits and start incorporating them into your college routine! These habits aren’t anything crazy or overwhelming, but start slow and don’t get frustrated with yourself! Any effort to take better care of your health is a huge step in the right direction. But, don’t forget to take care of your mental health too, not just your physical health!