101 Health and Wellness Tips for College Students

Between exams, papers and main­tain­ing an active social life, many col­lege stu­dents feel they can’t real­ly find the time to keep up on their per­son­al health and well­ness until an ill­ness catch­es hold and stops them in their tracks. With most col­leges pro­vid­ing health care and end­less phys­i­cal activ­i­ties for stu­dents, stay­ing healthy in col­lege is about as easy as it will ever get. Here are a few tips to help stu­dents make the most of the resources at their fin­ger­tips and to ensure they stay healthy and ill­ness free through­out their education.

Diet

With­out care­ful atten­tion to your diet, you could end up putting on the fresh­man 15 and more. Fol­low these tips to help keep your diet healthy and beneficial.

1. Learn prop­er por­tion size. To avoid eat­ing too much of even the health­i­est foods, keep track of how much you’re eat­ing. For most peo­ple, meat serv­ings should be about the size of a deck of cards and oth­er serv­ings vary by the type of food.
2. Vary your meals. When the cafe­te­ria has your favorite foods dai­ly it can be easy to return to those old favorites every day. Chang­ing up your diet from day to day is an impor­tant part of good nutri­tion so take advan­tage of the vari­ety of selec­tions avail­able to you.
3. Eat break­fast. Start your day off right with a good meal when you get up. Whether you’re rolling out of bed at noon or up at the crack of dawn for class, make sure you start your day with a bal­anced, healthy meal.
4. Keep healthy snacks around. It’s easy to eat healthy if you keep the Chee­tos at bay and stock your dorm room with fruits and oth­er healthy snacks. You’ll be more like­ly to reach for these than junk food if you keep them near­by or in your backpack.
5. Drink mod­er­ate­ly. While col­lege stu­dents are known for their par­ty­ing, you can still have a good time with­out con­sum­ing all the calo­ries that come along with bing­ing on beer, plus you’ll avoid the hang­overs and oth­er neg­a­tive effects. Drink in mod­er­a­tion and you can have a good time with­out hurt­ing your health.
6. Don’t fight stress by eat­ing. It can be tempt­ing to reach for a bag of chips or some cook­ies when you’re stressed out about an impend­ing exam. Eat­ing won’t help your stress go away, so avoid fill­ing up on snacks. Try work­ing out or tak­ing a break instead.
7. Drink water. Drink­ing enough water can help boost your con­cen­tra­tion as well as keep you from overeat­ing. Make sure to keep hydrat­ed as you go through your day by bring­ing water with you.
8. Lim­it sug­ary and caf­feinat­ed bev­er­ages. Bev­er­ages may not fill you up, but they sure can help fat­ten you up and have a detri­men­tal effect on your over­all health. You don’t have to com­plete­ly give up soda and cof­fee, but you should scale back in order to keep your­self in tip top shape.
9. Try to eat fruits and veg­gies. Even if fruits and veg­eta­bles don’t com­prise some of your favorite foods, try to incor­po­rate at least a few of them into your diet each day.
10. Lim­it junk food. Junk food is fast and easy and many stu­dents end up eat­ing a lot of it while they’re on the run to class or to work. While a lit­tle fast food now and again won’t real­ly hurt you, make sure it does­n’t become a habit.
11. Make it con­ve­nient to eat right. Don’t make it hard for your­self to eat right. Buy healthy foods and stock your fridge and room with them to ensure they’re the first things at hand when you get hungry.
12. Don’t skip meals. With so much to do, it’s easy to for­go eat­ing to run off to class or the library. Don’t skip meals. Set up foods you can eat on the run so you’ll have the ener­gy to keep going.
13. Indulge every once in awhile. A lit­tle treat now and then is a great way to reward your­self for eat­ing a healthy diet. Give your­self a break and indulge in a food you love but can’t eat all the time.
14. Take vit­a­mins. If you feel like you aren’t get­ting the nutri­tion you need from your diet, don’t hes­i­tate to sup­ple­ment it with some mul­ti-vit­a­mins to stay healthy and ill­ness free.
15. Get help for eat­ing dis­or­ders. While many groups focus on help­ing stu­dents lose weight, there are those who need help fight­ing eat­ing dis­or­ders as well. If you are wor­ried you have an eat­ing dis­or­der and want help, don’t be afraid to reach out to cam­pus resources for help.