Health Advice for College Students
By Sara Butler
College students are known for pushing themselves to the limit. They often don’t get enough sleep and keep themselves going through highly stressful situations fueled by caffeine (or pumpkin spice lattes). Nutrition and exercise tend to go by the wayside when there’s so much studying and socializing to do. But it’s important to keep your focus on healthy habits, too. Here are a few health tips for college students from the chiropractors at The Joint Chiropractic.
Drink Water
Water is one of the essential things a body needs to stay healthy. Dehydration can happen quickly by not getting as much water as you put out over the course of a day. When you’re fatigued it can cause problems with concentration, mood changes, and headaches. You must remember to drink half your body weight in ounces of water per day to keep yourself hydrated.
Try to Eat Healthy
So the food at the cafeteria at your dorm or the fast food joint down the street from your apartment isn’t a bastion of healthy choices. You should try to limit your trips to these places as often as you can, opting instead for whole and unprocessed foods. If a food label has more ingredients than the periodic table in your chemistry book, then it’s probably not something you want to eat.
Try to keep healthy snacks around you that can easily be transported with you wherever you go. Think nuts, berries, carrots, and even hardboiled eggs. They can help out in a pinch and keep you satisfied during a long cramming session!
Get Your Probiotics
The microbes that live in your digestive tract to help break down the food you eat and keep you healthy need probiotics. Keeping them healthy keeps you healthy by supporting a healthy immune system as well as nutrient absorption. You can get probiotics in foods such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut, and kimchi. You need to focus on getting enough probiotics in your diet in order to keep you feeling good all semester long.
College has its challenges. It’s your first foray into the world as an adult. That means more than simply dragging yourself out of bed each morning to meet your obligations – it also means taking care of yourself properly. These tips can help!
To learn more about your health and wellness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Los Angeles, Calif.