Four elements of physical fitness
Taking care of your physical health and well-being can be easily narrowed down into taking care of some specific elements of physical fitness, including your nutrition, daily exercise schedule, sleep, and stress management. Caring for yourself ensures your body and mind are healthy enough to make your university experience pleasant.
Let’s see how you can take care of these individual aspects and be the healthiest you can be!
1. Nutrition
One of the most important factors in maintaining your physical health and well-being is to take care of your nutrition. Since university life is pretty hectic, it can be really taxing on the body. Thus, you need enough energy to get through it all and ensure you are taking care of the various responsibilities of adulting. And where does the energy come from? From planned, home-cooked, nutritious meals! So, here’s what you can do:
a. Meal planning
Cooking your own meals during college is an excellent nutritional and economical choice. You are in charge of the ingredients going into the meal through home-cooked meals while maintaining portion control. However, meal planning is an important step that cannot be skipped to do this effectively. Plan your meals beforehand. Do not wait till you are so hungry that you cannot cook and thus are forced to eat takeaways. You can also try batch-cooking, i.e. cook your food in bigger batches and keep them in the fridge for the next 2-3 meals. Create a meal plan that is easier and achievable so you don’t skip your meals so your physical health and well-being are preserved!
b. Nutritional consumption
Understand the nutritional value of your meals and plan accordingly. This includes deciding your own portions and finding meal alternatives with higher nutritional value. For example, replace unhealthy snacks with fruits, yoghurt and whole-grain crackers. To understand the nutritional value of your food, start reading labels and calculating how much protein and carbs you need in your meals to plan your grocery shopping trips better.
c. Hydration
Staying hydrated is one of the most important things when it comes to taking care of your physical health and well-being. Without enough water, your energy levels can decrease drastically while you experience other problems like headaches, muscle aches, etc. Such health issues can make you feel sick on a daily basis while hindering your routine.
d. Limiting unhealthy food and beverages
The average university life includes many take-out foods, junk eating and sugary drinks. However, to maintain optimum physical health and well-being as a uni student, you must avoid these things as much as possible. Consuming unhealthy food and beverages in a limited amount or completely avoiding them can help you avoid many diseases and unnecessary weight gain. On the other hand, if you love your little snacky snack, you can always replace them with healthier versions of them. Another thing that many students get into during their college years is binge drinking and smoking practices. However, it is always advisable not to get into such habits if you want to take better care of your physical health and well-being. Avoiding these habits can help you get a lower premium on your student health insurance.
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2. Exercise
To make the most out of your university years, it is important that your body is taken care of; thus, you have the physical strength to go on new adventures every day. To make sure that your physical health and well-being are well taken care of, exercising on a regular basis is crucial. Regular exercise helps maintain optimum levels of body fat and gives your mental health a much-needed boost. It can also help you avoid the infamous freshman 15. Here are some ways to incorporate exercise into your physical health and well-being plan as a student:
a. Find something you like
If you don’t like the usual ways of exercising, i.e. hitting the gym or having a workout schedule, there are many other things you can opt for. For example, suppose you like a physical activity like pilates, dancing, Zumba, yoga, or even cycling. In that case, you can actually just use this activity to replace a workout routine and still get similar benefits. Finding someone you like and doing it can make your journey towards physical health and well-being a joy ride!
b. Gym memberships
Joining a gym is an excellent way to ensure your body gets the desired workout. It is one of the best ways to care for your physical health and well-being. However, gym memberships can be a bit expensive, especially for a university student living on a student’s budget. But the remedy to this is student discounts on gym memberships. Many gyms offer heavy discounts to students that you should totally avail of!
c. Incorporating exercise into your daily life
Many students during their university years are very busy and thus have tight schedules to work around. The lack of time makes it difficult to stick to hobbies or gym schedules. But that should not stop you from caring for your physical health and well-being. You can always incorporate exercise into your daily routine. It can be something as simple as executing your daily commute on a bicycle or something fun like going camping or trekking trips on weekends. You can even start by adding stretching breaks during your study hours. Just find out what works for you and get started! You can explore Jamie Elston’s Instagram to for a wealth of knowledge that can elevate your fitness journey!
3. Sleep
Getting the correct amount of sleep is more important than most think to have good physical health and well-being. For a university student, a minimum of 7 hours of sleep is essential for optimum brain functions as well as physical rejuvenation. University life is hectic and, thus, pretty tiring to go through. Sleep is thus very important to recover from the rigorous daily grind and start afresh the next day. Here are some tips on taking care of your sleep schedule and patterns during your university life:
a. Maintaining your sleep schedule
Set a bedtime and stick to it. Go to sleep at a fixed time and wake up in the morning at the same time every day, even on weekends. This way, you can train your body to follow a natural sleep rhythm and get good sleep daily.
b. Exercising bedtime rituals
Create some bedtime rituals to help you fall asleep. For example, you can create a no-phone period before bedtime where you keep your phone down and do some reading to fall asleep. You can also integrate sleep schedule apps into your rituals that can offer benefits like ambient music and guided meditation that are known to help people sleep.
4. Stress Management
Balancing your personal, academic, social and professional life simultaneously is stressful. But it is what it is when you are a university student. However, this additional stress can harm your physical health and well-being in many ways since your mental health is closely intertwined with your physical health. Especially if you are working a part-time job or student internship, you might become even more prone to stress as a student. So, stress management is a vital step to take for a better university experience and maintaining your health while you are at it. You can get help from mental health apps, join stress management classes or even take general therapy. You can care for your body better and live to your full potential with optimal mental health. Student volunteering has a lot of benefits read our blog to know more.
Taking care of your physical health and well-being becomes easy when you know exactly what to do. By taking care of what you eat, how much sleep you get, physical activities and stress management, anyone can achieve optimum physical health and live their best life. So, make sure to take care of yourself and get started with your university adventure!