Students can help achieve a sense of balance by practicing healthy life skills.
Busy students at all levels of school should seek a balance through proper maintenance of their time, body, mind and relationships, all of which affect physical and mental health. You can lead a healthy lifestyle as a student and beyond if you develop healthy habits.
Time Management
By minimizing your stress, managing your time wisely can help your health. With 24 hours in a day, you might end up taking on many obligations at once. Aside from class time, you have your family and friends, and you may have extracurricular activities, such as athletics, fine arts, jobs, community service. Not everything goes as planned, but you can keep an organized schedule that helps you prioritize your obligations.
Active Lifestyle
Students who exercise regularly and eat a healthy diet are able to keep up with their activities while less stressed and run down than sedentary students. These habits also can lower your risk for disease and cancer. Working out, such as aerobics classes, mixed martial arts, running or weightlifting, boosts mental focus and more restful sleep. This furthers academic performance. Healthy diets rich in vitamins and essential nutrients provide energy to study and get through the day’s other activities. Physical fitness also challenges and stimulates the mind.
Rest
To function properly and avoid burnout, in school and the rest of your daily lives, you need down time. In their book “Becoming a Resonant Leader,” Annie McKee, Richard E. Boyatzis and Fran Johnston coin a term called “Sacrifice Syndrome,” describing when strengths start to slip as pressure piles up. Therefore, you should make room in your life only for the things worthy of your time and energy, including rest. The National Sleep Foundation’s chart for age and sleep needs indicate that elementary school students ages 5 to 10 need 10 to 11 hours of sleep per night; secondary high school students ages 10-17 need about nine hours; and adults need seven to nine hours. With consistent doses of shut-eye, it can help you prevent accidents and long-term health problems.
Positive People
By lifting your spirits and giving you a bright outlook, support systems benefit your mental health, including toward graduation. Surround yourself with good influences because their positive energy can inspire you to reach your goals, from passing a test to winning a game to graduating. According to communications educators Ronald Adler and Russell Proctor’s “Looking Out, Looking In,” emotional contagion suggests that moods spread. That means the good mood of those around you can help you look forward to class, work and life’s events.