Top 5 Ways To Stay Healthy This School Year

By Callista Accardi on September 10, 2014

Let’s face it—it’s always flu season.

Regardless of what month it is, being a student on a college campus is always going to put you at risk of disease. Doorknobs, handrails, chairs and countless other common objects we come in contact with every day are shared between thousands upon thousands of other young adults, and not everyone stays on their hygiene-A-game.

Most of the time, tips and tricks for staying healthy during the school year don’t begin to come out until the dreaded flu season of the winter months claim the first few hundred of its victims.

It is true that with October, November, and December come thousands of strains of sometimes deadly diseases, and often these illnesses can put a serious dent in your social and academic lives. So start your hygienic habits early this year and kick that flu in the rear before it inevitably comes around to bite you in yours.

1. Wash your hands. 

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Seriously, warm water + soap = not puking your guts out at 3 in the morning and waking up your roommates.

Think about those doorknobs you wrapped your hand around to go to class. Think about the greasy guy in front of you with the dandruff and the 3-day-old underwear who also used that doorknob. Think about everything he’s touched, and then think about him hand-feeding you that BLT wrap you’re stuffing in your mouth.

Yeah. Wash your hands. Warm water. Antibacterial soap. 20 seconds. And when you can’t wash your hands, use hand sanitizer—the antibacterial kind, not that cheap knockoff stuff that leaves your hands stickier than Peter Parker’s post-bite paws.

Use it. Bathe yourself in it. Baptize your niece in it. But whatever you do, don’t drink it.

2. Stay hydrated.

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The big H-2-O is the secret to staying healthy. You should be getting at least 64 ounces per day, and more than that if you participate in a high-energy sport or decide to go to the gym to work off the dining hall food you’ve been shamelessly and rightfully binging on.

Carry a water bottle with you at all times, and fill it halfway with ice and halfway with water so it stays cold throughout the day.

Trust me, reusable, BPA-free water bottles are the way to go; it comes without guilt of contributing 16.9 ounces of plastic to your local landfill, and it’s no secret that campus water fountains are about as appealing as the gum on the underside of your shoe.

Try investing in a water filtration jug, which you can find online for less than $15.

3. Get plenty of rest.

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I know as well as any that it’s tough to get enough sleep as you’re transitioning from the summer to the school year, but it is absolutely vital that you don’t skip out on the shut-eye.

Young adults should get at least 8 hours of sleep per night; not only will it allow your immune system to work at its peak performance, but you will also be able to focus better in your classes and receive higher grades on your exams.

And while coffee seems to be the lifeblood of most college students, remember that too much caffeine can have a negative effect on your health. There really is no substitute for sleep, so don’t be afraid to turn in early, people.

4. Eat healthy.

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It’s definitely a struggle to eat leafy-greens when there’s an assortment of battered, fried, chocolate-dipped, and who-knows-what-else foods staring at you in a long buffet line.

In a dining hall, there are just so many options for things you could eat, so why not try a piece or twenty of that chocolate-covered bacon that’s been eyeing you since you walked in? Well, I’ll tell you a surprising truth: try it.

Don’t restrict yourself from eating whatever you want. Hey, it’s college. People experiment. But you should always try to include a salad or a bowl of fruit in your meals somewhere.

Also, a pro-tip for you health-conscious readers, something I didn’t know until fairly recently: lettuce has very little nutritional value. Try putting spinach on your wrap in place of shredded lettuce, and instead of that assortment of soggy lettuce, carrots, and cabbage that looks like it belongs in a rabbit’s cage instead of your dining hall, put Popeye’s favorite food as the base of your salad instead.

It might still be soggy and taste a little too leafy for your liking, but hey, at least you’re getting something out of it.

5. Be happy.

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This is a pretty general one, and one that’s hard to give specific guidelines for. Whether you’re a freshman, fresh out of high school graduation and exploring this new and exciting world of adulthood, or coming back to college for another year of this familiar yet foreign experience, things could get pretty tough.

You’re expected to know what you want to be doing for the next 50 years of your life, when not too long ago you still had to ask permission to use the bathroom. It could get a little overwhelming.

There will be new friends, new situations you’ve never dealt with, and homesickness will come up and bite you at the most unexpected and unwelcome of times. You will change, and so will your friends and family. You will begin to grow, and with your growth you will continually see the world around you in a different way than you did last year, or even last week.

Times will get hard. Stress will be overwhelming, but it’s important to not let it get the best of you. Stress, depression, and anxiety—which a surprisingly high number of college students suffer from—can lower a person’s immune system and make them more susceptible to disease.

So when it feels like the world is collapsing in around you and nothing is going right and you just want to tear your hair out because you have no idea what the hell you’re doing, remember it’s okay.

Take a deep breath, know that no one really has it all figured out, and remember that the best thing you can do for yourself is to stay happy, and to stay healthy.

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