A Note on Well Being in College

Kristina at the 2016 Color Run

By Kristina Hahn
 
Well-being is often thought of as only pertaining to physical health. But it isn’t just physical; it’s also mental and emotional. College is rough, hectic and incredibly stressful. It’s important to take time out for yourself. All of this, and then some, is something that I wish I could have implemented in the beginning of my college life.
 
Physical Health
Make yourself a routine and give yourself 3 days out of the week that you will for sure exercise. Exercise has been shown to have some pretty important benefits to a person, all of which are vital for any college kid.

I’m not going to preach it like I’m yo’ momma, but, eating well is truly important. Sure, you might not gain the Freshmen 15 since Tech is so ridiculously huge and you could walk off anything terrible you ate a lunch, but, remember: what you put in is what you get out. If you find yourself in a stressful situation and then you have a cookie in your hand, switch that out for some strawberries or a banana. It is best to eat fruits instead of processed sweets. I switched to drinking a fruit protein shake when I had a craving while doing schoolwork.

Filling my body with crap left me tired and feeling gross. The better you eat, the better you will feel. It takes a few weeks, but you will overall feel much better.

Some ways you can eat well in college is to invest in a crock-pot and scour Pinterest for recipes. Pinterest is an amazing resource for a lot of clean, healthy crockpot recipes that are ridiculously easy to make. So easy a caveman could do it!

Invest in a multivitamin and a probiotic. Obviously, I’m not a doctor…nor am I even pre-med. I’m purely going off what my mom has told me to do since basically infancy. Multivitamins will help make up anything you might be lacking in your diet, and probiotics will build up the good bacteria in your body so you won’t get all the cyclical sickness that seem to plague Lubbock around test time. Every year, it’s been the same stuff because we tend to sleep less and not eat a balanced diet. When you sleep, your body has time to repair itself, which is essential to healing. Best way to deal with it is to prevent it!
Make sure you sleep!
 
 
Mental and Emotional Health
Just because you’re in college doesn’t mean you can’t have time for fun. It is important that you do so! Make sure you go out, paint the town red (within reason, of course) and bask in those moments when school isn’t the only thing on your mind. The trick here is balance; don’t let your academics suffer.
Emotional health ties in with your mental health (duh). If you find yourself buckling down under the stress, take a time out in a way that best suits you. Some suggestions are going to the gym, immersing yourself in a favorite hobby or embrace the latest craze and grab a coloring book and color away. If you feel yourself slipping, know that your Terry Family is ALWAYS there to help you in any way that we can.
 
 
 

---