7.0. Learning Objectives
- Explain why good nutrition is important.
- List the physical and mental health benefits of regular exercise.
- Explain why students need adequate sleep to succeed in college.
- Explore the negative effects of substance abuse.
- Describe the physical, mental and emotional effects of persistent stress.
- List healthy ways college students can manage or cope with stress.
- Explain the common causes of negative emotions in college students.
- List characteristics of healthy relationships.
Key Terminology
Taking Control of Your Health
Figure 10.1
Jasmine Kaloudis – weight-loss-yoa=synergybyjasmine.com . – CC BY-ND 2.0.
Activity 7.1: Assessing Your Lifestyle
| Yes | Unsure | No | |
| 1. I usually eat well and maintain my weight at an appropriate level. | |||
| 2. I get enough regular exercise to consider myself healthy. | |||
| 3. I get enough restful sleep and feel alert throughout the day. | |||
| 4. My attitudes and habits involving smoking, alcohol, and drugs are beneficial to my health. | |||
| 5. I am coping in a healthy way with the everyday stresses of being a student. | |||
| 6. I am generally a happy person. | |||
| 7. I understand how all these different health factors interrelate and affect my academic success as a student. |
Where Do You Want to Go?
Think about how you answered the questions above. Be honest with yourself. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your level of personal health at this time?
| Not very healthy | Very healthy | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
In the following list, circle the three most important areas of health in which you think you can improve:
- Nutrition
- Weight control
- Exercise
- Sleep
- Smoking
- Alcohol use
- Drug use
- Stress reduction
- Emotional health
- Relationships
Are there other areas in which you can improve your physical, emotional, and mental health and become happier? Write down other things you feel you need to work on.
Introduction
Health and wellness are important for everyone—students included. Not only will you do better in school when your health is good, but you’ll be happier as a person. And the habits you develop now will likely persist for years to come. That means that what you’re doing now in terms of personal health will have a huge influence on your health throughout life and can help you avoid many serious diseases.
Considerable research has demonstrated that the basic elements of good health—nutrition, exercise, not abusing substances, stress reduction—are important for preventing disease. You’ll live much longer and happier than someone without good habits. Here are a few of the health problems whose risks can be lowered by healthful habits:
- Cardiovascular issues such as heart attacks and strokes (the numbers one and three causes of death)
- Some cancers
- Diabetes (currently reaching epidemic proportions)
- Lung diseases related to smoking
- Injuries related to substance abuse
Wellness is more than just avoiding disease. Wellness involves feeling good in every respect, in mind and spirit as well as in body. Good health habits also offer these benefits for your college career:
- More energy
- Better ability to focus on your studies
- Less stress, feeling more resilient and able to handle day-to-day stress
- Less time lost to colds, flu, infections, and other illnesses
- More restful sleep
This chapter examines a wide range of topics, from nutrition, exercise, and sleep to substance abuse and risks related to sexual activity. All of these involve personal attitudes and behaviors. And they are all linked together to one of the biggest problems students face: stress.
Everyone knows about stress, but not everyone knows how to control it. Stress is the great enemy of college success. But once you’ve learned how to reduce it where you can and cope with unavoidable stress, you’ll be well on the road to becoming the best student you can be.
This is a derivative of COLLEGE SUCCESS by a publisher who has requested that they and the original author not receive attribution, which was originally released and is used under CC BY-NC-SA. This work, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site..
