GOING AWAY TO COLLEGE, with its flood of new faces, fresh ideas, academic challenges, and newfound freedoms, can be an exhilarating experience for incoming freshmen. But starting college can also be a time when unhealthy habits begin to creep in to a young adult’s lifestyle. Here are five health issues that college students commonly encounter and some tips to help overcome them:
1. Increased exposure to communicable diseases
Bring people together from all over the country and around the world, put them together in crowded classrooms and dormitories, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for disease transmission. Before heading off to college, make sure all your immunizations and booster shots are up to date in order to protect yourself and your fellow students from serious illnesses.
2. Unhealthy eating
Freed from any dietary constraints imposed by parents, it’s common for first-time college students to abandon nutritionally balanced meals in favor of high-calorie, high-fat fast foods and convenience foods. Of course, this change for the worse in eating habits can quickly lead to the notorious “freshman 15”—the weight gain many freshmen experience in their first semester of college. To beat the freshman 15—or take them off if they’ve already begun to pile on—college students should: Eat breakfast.
Mom may have been right when she told you, “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Skip it, and you’ll be ravenous— and tempted to overdo it on high-calorie snacks— before you’re halfway through your 9:00 am class.
Eat at home. Okay, “home” probably means a cramped little dorm room now, but the point still applies. If you stock that mini fridge with a variety of fruits, veggies, wholegrain bread, lean luncheon meats, and other wholesome choices, you’ll have a good supply of healthy foods to snack on in between classes or for small meals so you don’t feel compelled to hit the nearest drivethrough when your stomach growls.
Get adequate rest.
True, late nights are a hallmark of the college experience, but they can also lead to unwanted weight gain. Getting seven to eight hours of sleep per night on a regular basis not only curbs freshman-year stress but also helps to eliminate the need for late-night nibbling— and that 3:00 am call for pizza delivery.
Go easy on the alcohol. If you’re a college freshman, chances are you’re under the legal drinking age of 21 and shouldn’t be consuming alcohol anyway. But if you are of legal age and choose to drink, do so in moderation. Remember, alcohol is packed with empty calories. A good trick to help keep drinking in control while hydrating your body is to drink a glass of water in between every alcoholic beverage.
Get thee to the rec center! If your campus features a recreation center, its use is probably covered by the cost of your tuition. Why not take advantage of it? Or, sign up for a class like volleyball or karate so you can get fit while you gain academic credits. Getting involved in intramural sports is another great way to work exercise into your schedule.
Keep on snacking! That’s right, snacking can help keep the pounds away—provided it’s the right form of snacking—because it keeps you from reaching ravenous mode in between meals. But instead of pumping money into the vending machine for chips or candy bars, take healthy snacks, such as fruit, nuts, or yogurt, with you to class.
Alcohol abuse
Though, as mentioned above, most college freshmen are not of legal age to drink, the simple truth of the matter is, experimentation with alcohol, including dangerous binge drinking, is rampant on and around college campuses. While peer pressure to imbibe can be hard to overcome, parents can give their college-bound kids some tools to help them resist by educating them on the potential consequences of high-risk drinking. For example, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, it is estimated that each year: 1,519 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related unintentional injuries, including motor vehicle crashes; 696,000 students between the ages of 18 and 24 are assaulted by another student who has been drinking; roughly 9 percent of college students meet the criteria for alcohol use disorder; and about 1 in 4 college students report academic consequences from drinking, including missing class, falling behind in class, doing poorly on exams or papers, and receiving lower grades overall. It’s also important to note that a majority of sexual assaults in college involve alcohol or other substances.
In addition to contributing to the “freshman15,”chronicinadequatesleep can lead to all sorts of physical problems as well as have a negative impact on a student’smood,academicperformance, and interpersonal relationships. To ensure you’re getting enough rest in order to perform at your best:
• Discuss sleeping habits with your roommate early on and let him or her know what distracts you from sleep, such as bright lights or loud music, and what atmosphere you need in order to achieve restful sleep. It’s often helpful to decide upon a mutually agreeable quiet time.
• Establish a predicable sleep schedule and maintain it both during the week and on weekends.
• Limit your consumption of caffeinated beverages—coffee, tea, soda, etc.—and other stimulants, such as nicotine, especially close to bedtime.
Remember, it can take as long as eight hours for the effects of these stimulants to wear off.
• Avoid pulling “all-nighters.”
Instead, learn to break assignments and study periods into frequent, shorter sessions.
• Arrange your work/study/ play schedule to accommodate adequate rest every night.
Feeling a little, lonely, blue, or homesick is perfectly normal for college students who are away from home and family for the first time. It’s also common to feel those nervous “butterflies” when presented with novel situations, at exam times, or when major assignments are due. However, if feelings of sadness or anxiety are persistent, start to interfere with your daily activities or relationships, or seem to be out of proportion with your circumstances, you may be dealing with a deeper problem of depression or anxiety. In this case, it’s imperative to seek help promptly from a doctor or counselor.
✲
