Personal health should be a persons first and chief concern, however in a school environment that values grades over personal well being it can become difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Many factors can contribute to bad or poor health in college students, stress is one of the major problems for the majority of college level students; however a poor diet and a lack of sleep may also cause students to fall ill or do poorly in their classes. There are many steps that students can take to ensure that they have a healthy mind and body even in a high stress college environment. Students should strive to maintain a healthy diet, a regular sleep schedule, good personal care and a regular exercise routine in order to sustain their overall well being. A well balanced diet is the cornerstone to a healthy lifestyle, yet many college students believe they don’t have the time or money to eat healthy meals on a regular basis. This belief often drives students to choose the cheapest and quickest food options available, these junk foods generally offer little to no nutrition (Miller). Many students also end up gaining weight over the course of their college years, because the majority of the foods they consume are high in empty calories and fats (Miller). There are many ways to improve a person’s diet, most of which require little effort and less money than one would expect. One of these options is making sure to drink a large amount of water, which “can help boost … concentration as well as keep you from overeating” (101 Health). Another way to maintain a good diet is remembering not to “skip meals,” eating three meals a day is good for a person’s health, furthermore it’s suggested that you partake in healthy snacks throughout the day ... ... middle of paper ... ... of a person life, while some illnesses might not be detrimental they can become life threatening if allowed to persist without treatment. Works Cited "101 Health and Wellness Tips for College Students." n. page. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. . Miller, Robert H. “Managing Stress and Staying Healthy: Advice For College Students” (2010): n. page. Web. 6 Dec. 2013. < http://www.education.com/reference/article/stress- health-college-students/>. Roberts, Lauren. "9 Ways Going to College Affects Your Health." (2013): n. page. Web. 7 Nov. 2013. . White, C., R. Kolble, R. Carlson, N. Lipson, M. Dolan, Y. Ali, and M. Cline. (2003): n. page. Web . 1 Dec 2013. /75n-0183h-c000075-att-14-vol154.pdf>.
It depends on what specific situation the student is stuck in to determine which foods they 're living off. My assumption of their daily meals is first, breakfast is one piece of fruit and a breakfast sandwich from a fast-food joint. Then, lunch or dinner is one entree of pizza, fried chicken, or a burger. Occasionally the student may snack off a bag of chips or a candy bar, but other than that, I can’t say that most students are eating healthy; I’ve seen at my college snacking mostly on chips while taking a break from class. Luckily, there some solutions to help to change the eating habits of the students. I discovered in Victoria Li’s article “Easy Diets for College Students” some helpful tips for the struggling students. She suggests “While opting for burgers fresh off the grill seems tempting, adhere to the habit of filling half your plate with fruits and vegetables, then filling the remainder with whole grains and lean protein” (2). In other words, it’s okay to have a greasy burger, but just as long you have something healthy to go with it, leading to a good balance of protein and energy Li says. As for the students going hungry because of their tight budget, some colleges or nearby locations may have meal donors. Li mentions in her article about the importance of not skipping meals as she says “Feeling famished due
Keyla Negron is a first generation college student at the University of Connecticut, better known as UConn. She states that being a first generation college student was an accomplishment, but that it brought “all the challenges of trying to succeed”. She started college just like many other new students, not knowing exactly what to study or what to do after graduating. This made Keyla realize that is “one of the positive things” of college because “you have the opportunity to take different classes and discover your likes and dislikes”. In her case, it took her just about three years to discover a passion in nutrition, an area she never had imagined herself studying, although Keyla does realize that she was always “questioning how certain foods affect our body and what defined a healthy food and an unhealthy food”.
Wengreen, H. J., & Moncur, C. (2009). Change in diet, physical activity, and body weight among young-adults during the transition from high school to college. Nutrition Journal, 8, 32-32.
All college students have heard of the dreaded “freshman fifteen.” The majority of students see it as inevitability. This college curse is caused by a drastic change in lifestyle and eating habits. College students are more likely to eat unhealthy food and less likely to exercise. However, steps can be taken to avoid needless weight gain. Despite the hectic lifestyles of teens, they know that a balance of exercise and good nutrition is the key to health.
Counseling Center for Human Development. Coping with Stress in College. U of South Florida. 3 Dec. 2000. http://usfweb.usf.edu/counsel/self-hlp/stress.htm
At Georgia Perimeter College students are unaware of what exactly a good diet is, bad eating habits are unavoidable. The first step to a good diet is eating regular, well-balanced meals. So I found out that the Food Pyramid Guide is the simplest way of balancing my meals. It separates foods into groups and graphs the amount of each group needed in an average person's diet. Students who desire to improve their bad eating habits should study the Food Pyramid Guide. Along with the Food Pyramid Guide, proper consumption of water, vitamins, and minerals is a very important part of a good diet. The Food and Drug Administration recommend 8 glasses of water a day equal to about 1 pound a day. I, along with most of my peers, have a problem consuming this massive amount of tasteless water. Tea and juice can help fill this quota. One of the major problems I have found at my college students diets, as far as beverage consumption, is coke and greasy food. College students are attracted to coke because it is easily accessible, cheap, and tasty. Coke may be convenient, but it is not part of a good diet. It is full of sodium, sugar, and caffeine. Dehydration i...
Stress comes from many areas of life especially as an adult student incorporating school at a time in life when family and work are paramount. “Adults just returning to school have substantially higher anxiety about school in general and writing in particular than younger students.”3 Stress, best described by its "synonyms: strain, pressure, (nervous) tension, worry, anxiety, trouble, difficultly"1 has a medical history "According to the American Psychological Association, the majority of office visits to the doctor involve stress-related complaints, and stress is linked to the six leading causes of death: heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver, and suicide."2 If managed, stress can be a way to inform me; learning how to recognize my level of stress capacity is important. The Holmes-Rahe Life Stress Inventory 5 http://www.stress.org/holmes-rahe-stress-inventory/ is a list of stressful events that contribute to illness. My personal score on this life stress inventory is 236; I fall in the category of about a fifty percent chance of a major health breakdown in the next...
Relevance: Weight problems are something a lot of people struggle with in college. I.E.; Freshman 15. And being healthy in college can really help people deal with other stuff better. Because when you don’t have to worry about your health you can focus on exams and homework more.
Staying healthy in college is not an easy feat. Between classes, studying, homework, meetings and maintaining a social life, students often forget to maintain their health. Developing healthy habits will not only help you avoid the “Freshman 15”, but it will also help pave the way for a healthier future. Here are a few tips to help students stay healthy.
As far as mental behaviors, organization is a key in managing stressors. In Misra and McKean’s study (2000), it was found that there was a strong correlation between stress, time management, and perceived academic stress. In addition to mental behaviors, physical behaviors hold equal importance, especially in the case of healthy habits. To reference back to Brougham’s (2009) study again, he stated, “students who reported higher levels of stress also consumed a greater amount of ‘junk food,’ were less likely to exercise, and less likely to obtain adequate amounts of sleep”. Supporting this evidence, Kandiah (2006) reports that in her study of college women, 81% reported a change in eating habits when they are stressed. Not only can stress effect eating habits, it can also effect sleeping habits, as found in Pilcher and Walter’s (2010) experiment where students were more confused and despite putting forth all of their effort, they were not performing as well as normally sleeping students. Bringing all of this evidence together, it is important that health habits like eating and sleeping change, because even though they may seem unrelated, they can create a cycle of bad performance and stress if not recognized and fixed soon enough. Therefore, by correcting these emerging problems, we can create better-prepared and healthier young adults to help
For some people college is where they are at their unhealthiest due to the lack of time and other
While being in college, students struggle with maintaining a stable health level as they’re furthering their education. Immediately as one is off to college and being submerged into an entirely new environment, they’re forced to adapt to self-dependency. The new college student is changing after having the guidance of their parents, where they were told what to do and when to do it. When a new student arrives at college, they are obligated to do everything on their own. This new-found, independent young adult is facing a new world, ultimately altering their health entirely.
Cohen, S. (2013, January). Student Health 101 @ Ashford University. Retrieved April 1, 2014, from http://readsh101.com/ashfordu.html?id=ec8bd17d
Driscoll, E. (2013) Stress in College: What Causes it and How to Combat it, FOX Business, 73(12)
When one goes away to college, their life changes dramatically. They are forced to make changes in their own lives in order to adapt to college life. When one is in high school and living at home, their eating habits and personal hygiene practices are for the most part controlled by their parents. They are told what to eat and when to eat it. They are told to keep their room clean and to take their vitamins, etc. When one moves away to college, they are on their own. There is no one telling them to clean their room, or to do laundry or what they have to eat. In some colleges and universities, it is required that freshmen live on campus and eat at least two meals a day in the dining hall. This isn't necessarily for the university to monitor a student's eating habits but rather to get the student acquainted with the campus and other people living there. Food served in college dining halls has not been known for it's nutritional value. However, over the past couple of years college chefs have been working to change that. While a lot of students have committed to eating the healthier foods and trying to stay healthy, the vast majority lives on pizza and taco bell or any other cheap fast food chain that is open until the late hours of the night. College is a fast paced environment and fast food caters to college students. In this fast paced environment, students more often than not neglect their health and personal hygiene and the consequences range from obesity to deadly eating disorders.