Mental Health Tips for College Students

Introduction:

As you prepare to start or head back to college, You’ve probably heard at least one person Say that it will be the best time of your life. If Movies & TV are anything to go by, college is packed with all-night parties, road Trips, and instagrammable sleepovers where you and your Friends binge the entire new season of the Great British Baking Show in a night.

But college isn’t just one Long party, and it can be a challenge to look after your health. This might be your first time Living on your own, without your mom around to constantly check your forehead for a temperature just in case. This may be the first time your immune system has Seen Such a young germs since you were a teen yourself. Or it could just be new set of experiences to juggle-and that can plenty stressful and overwhelming.

The Better you take care of Yourself, the better you can balance self care of your body and mind with the demands of school, work family and friends.

whenever you are in your college experience, it’s a great time to explore ways that you can keep your mental emotional and physical health in check and discover resources you can access for help. Mental Health refers to our emotional, psychological, and social well-being.

Mental Health affects:

How to Think
How to feel
How we act

It also determines, How we handle stress and every day responsibilities. Whether this is our first time away from home or our third Term back to college, it all can be overwhelming. We’ve gone from having structure in our Life that’s imposed by someone or something else-our high School, our job, our family- and Suddenly we’re in charge. Sure, we still have those responsibilities, but among we’ve made the decision that all those responsibilities, we’re putting college up at the top. Suddenly, we’re setting our own schedule and arranging life around classes and studying. And while having the freedom to do that is awesome, wow, it be overwhelming.

In fact research tells us that over 80% of students feels overwhelmed at some point in a there collage career. So, If you find yourself feeling this way, you are not alone! In fact, you’re pretty much in the Same boat as everyone else, and while we don’t want you under whelmed either. Being overwhelmed can lead to illness, stress, headaches, anxiety, and things a bunch of other things that’s we want to avoid.

Mental Health Tips:

While there is no quick fix for any of this, there are Some steps you can take to manage the health of both your body and mind. We’ll cover some of the highlights today- some of the ones that are accessible.

Sleep:

Adults need a good eight hours of sleep each night. We need a good eight night rest to recharge with enough energy for the next day. Not getting your eight night hours of sleep every day has been shown to negatively affect your mental health. What make things worse is 60 to 90% of patients with depression also have insomnia according to the sleep health foundation. So, people whose emotional wellbeing may already be suffering are possibly causing further health problems by not being able to get their full rest from not getting enough sleep but it’s not be best for your emotional welling being long run.

The relationship between college Students and sleep is infamously on-again off-again, am i right? You might wonder how you can Possibly get more sleep given all of your responsibilities, but adequate sleep can actually help you be more productive, poor sleep quality can make it difficult to think clearly, work effectively and maintain a positive mood. Poor sleep can also impact your memory, focus, and Immune system. And that’s not what we want. Be mindful of where you sleep. Reserve your workspace for well, work. This way you start to train good habits and your brain will associate “bed” with “rest” and “desk” with ‘work”. Once you separate your work area your rest try to maintain consistent sleep schedule.

Caffeine:

Limit screen time and avoid caffeine before You plan on hitting the sack. That means coffee, but that also means soda, tea and chocolate can be found in all of these too. All these can affect your brain and keep You from falling a sleep. Sleep is important and we’ve definitely got to make it a priority as much as we can since without it, our brains kind a start to malfunction.

Nutrition:

We have also got to make sure our brains have enough energy to function, which makes nutrition another key way to protect your mental health.

As college Students, and just busy people. We are often looking for two things fast and cheap. And that might mean scavenging a lot of free pizza, quickly microwaving some ramen noodles, or just grabbing a coffee instead of stopping for lunch. But if we let this become a habit and don’t also incorporate a variety of foods with a variety of different nutrients. We are not fueling our bodies to perform at their best and this can lead to lower grades, getting sick more frequently, feeling tired and unmotivated, un ability to focus, and experiencing depression and anxiety.

Healthy eating can mean a lot of different things for a lot of different people. Healthier eating doesn’t always go hand in hand with fast and cheap. If you can’t afford nutritious meals and need help gaining access to those foods, check in with your school’s health and wellness center about available resources.

Exercise:

Exercise is not only important for our physical health, but our mental wellbeing as well. Regular exercise releases endorphin which makes us happy naturally. According to an article from Mayo Clinic exercise can release feel-good endorphins, natural cannabis like brain chemicals, endogenous cannabinoids and other natural brain chemicals that can enhance your sense wellbeing. The dog walk in nature really will pay off.

Positive thinking:

Practice positive thinking. Research continues to shows that thoughts about yourself strongly affect how you feel. The best way to change any negative feelings you may have is to counteract them with a positive one. According to psychologist, Patricia Harte neck , when we perceive ourselves and our life negatively, we can end up viewing experiences in a way that confirms that notion. Instead Practice using words that promote feelings of self-worth and personal power. So instead of saying, I was horrible at my test , use positive words and self-compassion like , I will study next time and then I will do better on the next text.

About Author

I’m Ayesha Iqbal, a student studying MBBS at Services Institute of Medical Sciences (SIMS) Lahore. I write about health for “GenZ Cares” because they care a lot about young people staying healthy. I do research and try new things to learn more about how to keep everyone feeling good. My articles focus on topics like nutrition, exercise, mental well-being, and ways to lead a healthier lifestyle. Through my writing, I aim to share valuable insights and practical tips that can make a positive difference in people’s lives.

Reviewed By

This article is reviewed by “Nashit Aliyan“, a certified Surgical Technologist from Government College University Faisalabad under section 2017-2021. I am 17A medical officer as well as Strategic and financial planning expert and Proficient in surgical field. Me and my team use the latest technology to perform complex surgical procedures. I recommend to “GenZ Cares” because they are really hardworking in their work and care a lot about youth to staying healthy.

05 Mental Health Tips for College Students