It is common knowledge that when it comes to having a healthy lifestyle, India as a country has rarely managed to keep a positive track record. Obesity, sleeplessness, depression are some of the major life taking problems that all Indians deal with daily as a result of unhealthy lifestyle routines. In a list of healthiest countries compiled by the United Nations and World Health Organization, India ranked in the lowly 103rd position, scoring just an overall of 22 percentage.
Leading psychologists and human behavioral experts point out that our country’s young adult population faces the maximum brunt of this due to poor lifestyle choices they adhere to during their college years. But worry not, only simple tweaks and adjustments are needed to be made in a student’s life to become a much happier and healthier person in the long run.
Watch what you eat
Life as a school student was simple. Eat what is on your plate, eat without complaining and do not waste food. These are some extremely familiar phrases we have heard all our life. But it is unseemingly difficult to stick to these practices once college happens to you. All of a sudden, we start deciding our meals. But this is rarely seen as a responsibility by all young adults.
Unmonitored and unplanned eating habits during our college days have catastrophic effects on our body and before long it becomes impossible to make changes to it. A recent survey published in the National Centre for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) on 450 college students in Mumbai found that students with faulty eating habits were the ones who showed strong symptoms of depression and suicidal behaviour.
Words like anorexia and Bulimia have become synonymous with student life. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, 10-20 per cent of women and 4 to 10 per cent of men in the 18–21-year category was most susceptible to these disorders. Also, 35 per cent of students who started dieting without a physician’s guidance progressed to develop severe eating disorders.
This might sound scary but there are simple solutions to fix this. Keep this phrase in mind before eating anything the next time, ‘You are what you eat’. Be conscious of calorie count, fat, protein, fibre and carbohydrates content of everything you eat. Instead of having three heavy meals a day, try eating five to six smaller and lighter meals. Most importantly eat on time. Before every meal, look at your plate. Ask yourself if what you are going to eat will improve your health or not.
Move those Muscles
Exercise is the only activity that makes our body produce all the four happy hormones- Serotonin, Oxytocin, Dopamine and Endorphin- in healthy quantities. The dearth of sufficient exercise has devastating effects on the body and mind. While most are aware of the effect it has on the mind, many ignore the effects of this on the mind. Depression and anxiety are India’s most potent dangers to students’ lives today. The Youth Survey 2017 conducted by Hindustan Times in 16 state capitals including Bengaluru, revealed shocking results. Out of the 5,700 respondents aged between 22-25 years, 70 per cent did not exercise regularly and 63 per cent did not monitor their diet.
College life is hectic. Yes, it is a phase that will make or break your career. But this applies to your body as well. Hence, it is extremely crucial to make space and time to exercise. Exercise can be just about anything. It is definitely not confined to lifting weights in the gym. Do you like the park next to your college canteen? Take a long walk. Does your college have a swimming pool? Take a dive. The choice is yours. But make it a habit, a routine.
Sleep, Sleep and More Sleep
Most adults refer to their childhoods with joy and happiness. Ever wonder why? That’s because most kids get a good eight hours of sleep every day. While it is challenging to inculcate in our adult lives, we must try harder and prioritize our sleep cycle. The benefits of the above mentioned two activities cannot be achieved and will be rendered useless if we do not get restful sleep.
A recent international survey by Fitbit across 18 countries ranked India to be the second most sleep-deprived country in the world who got only 77 mins of deep sleep every day. In Sleep Journal 2019, it was said that students with insufficient sleep had a 20 per cent increased risk of mental health disorders including loneliness, desire to hurt oneself and anxiety.
So, after a long day, keep your gadgets away before going to bed and tuck in.
Develop a routine (No, it’s not boring)
To keep yourself engaged and busy in a healthy manner, maintaining a routine is important. Repetition, in general, is boring, but in this case, it’s definitely not.
A routine needn’t be just exercising or attending classes, it could consist of watering the plants in the common room every day, or learning to cook a simple dish or even feeding the street dogs in your campus some biscuits. A routine keeps the body sharp and the anticipation to finish these tasks keeps the mind sharp.
Take it easy, Take a break
Like any other machine, our body and mind need a regular change of oil too. For that, it is important for students to figure out their way of unwinding. Creating goals is good. Achieving them is even better. But quality matters. Be it attending a career-changing interview or completing an assignment, they need to be done well with precision. And this can be fulfilled only by taking a sufficient number of breaks when one feels like it. There is a difference between over stressing on work & working hard know the difference and take care of your health at any cost, also find your refresh button. And use it often.