Health Tips For Freshmen

Starting college is an incredibly exciting time in your life and the start of a new chapter. It can also feel overwhelming at times, and for many, it will be the first time living away from home. It’s important to prioritize your health and well-being as a freshman, especially as it can be very easy to lead an unhealthy lifestyle. Additionally, it’s common for freshers to fall ill early on in the term.

With this in mind, this post will offer a few health tips for freshmen that will hopefully help you to stay healthy and make the most out of this exciting new chapter.

Make Sure Your Vaccinations Are Up To Date

First, you should make sure that your vaccinations are up to date. Illnesses can spread very quickly through campuses, which can be attributed to people from all over the world in close contact with one another, the cold weather causing people to socialize indoors, and excessive partying weakening immune systems. This should include the chickenpox vaccine if you haven’t had it already— chickenpox is a highly contagious virus that can cause a great deal of discomfort. You only need to have the vaccine once, and it’ll offer protection for life.

Prioritize A Healthy Lifestyle

While you should certainly enjoy yourself as a freshman, you’ll also want to prioritize a healthy lifestyle early on. You should develop good habits that will help you to stay fit, healthy, and active. This should include:

– Regular exercise
– A healthy and balanced diet
– Staying hydrated
– Getting enough sleep
– Not drinking too much
– Not smoking
– Limiting intake of unhealthy foods

Manage Stress

Starting college can be exciting and a lot of fun, but it can also be a stressful time. Not only are you embarking on a new academic journey, but you’re also having to get used to living away from home, leading an independent lifestyle, and making new friends. Therefore, your stress levels can be high when starting college. You need to find ways to manage this stress so that you can avoid mental health issues like depression and anxiety, maintain healthy habits, and get the most out of this time in your life. A few tips for managing stress include:

– Organizing your time effectively
– Avoiding taking on too much
– Practicing meditation
– Exercising
– Speaking openly about mental health
– Finding hobbies you enjoy

Practice Good Hygiene

Finally, it’s important to practice good hygiene. As mentioned before, illnesses are common early on in the first term – this is known as “fresher’s flu”. It can be hard to avoid as you’ll want to be social, but you’ll also want to avoid getting ill.

This means that you need to practice good hygiene, including washing your hands regularly, keeping your living space clean, and avoiding contact with sick people. It’s also important to keep an eye on the latest COVID-19 news and consider wearing a mask in public spaces.

Starting college is an exciting time, but you’ll want to make sure that you know how to stay healthy and avoid the dreaded fresher’s flu!

from The War Eagle Reader https://www.thewareaglereader.com/2023/09/health-tips-for-freshmen/