There are a lot of college-related things that you can name, depending on your attitude. If you have a positive attitude, you’ll most likely recall the educational and personal milestones you’ve reached during your college years. Got that task correctly, rented your first room or apartment, got into the internship, or got your first odd job.
If you have a negative attitude, you’ll remember the following:
- that professor with whom you had bad blood;
- your studies spinning out of control;
- the first breakup you’ve experienced;
- that terrible odd job you had to take to pay the tuition;
- your cringey dorm room or the rented apartment.
And all that while struggling with the towering amount of homework.
Positive attitude or not, all students struggle with the overwhelming amount of homework. And that’s difficult when you’re busy with odd jobs as well. Gladly, you can always find an essay writer for hire so that they take care of your assignments while you take care of everything else. But you rarely recall doing your homework regardless of your attitude.
That’s probably why doing homework is frequently swept under the rug in TV shows and movies depicting college life. Possibly, the screenwriters cannot recall doing homework too. Another thing that is rarely depicted in college life-related media, although more frequent than doing homework, is the state of your health while you’re studying.
Am I Healthy and Fit?
You might never ask yourself that question unless you face problems preventing you from living your life to the fullest.
- Common flu
- Indigestion
- Anxiety
- Stress
- Depression
Those are the health issues you’re experiencing while in college. And there’s another thing rarely depicted in college life-centered TV series: how students stay fit. Generally, all actors look good from the very first episode.
Okay, there are some glimpses of their characters in the gym or jogging, but not much devoted to the aspect of staying fit. And actually, it’s pretty easy to lose your shape, flexibility, and agility during your college years unless you’re an athlete. And it leads to anxiety, stress, and depression, as insana mens in corpore non sana (don’t toy with Latin using Google Translate).
But staying fit in college is not as hard as you may think. Actually, it takes adopting several habits and following them while at college. So, without any further ado, let’s check those habits out.
Have a Healthy Sleep
Well, most likely, you’ve forgotten what healthy sleep was during high school. And you think that you can go on like this forever. The truth is that you won’t. You can’t expect to study properly, excel in your job, and stay healthy with two to three hours of sleep every day. The lack of sleep will impact your mental and physical state. And the first step to staying fit in college is to make sure you have a healthy sleep.
You may think that it’s impossible, but no one tells you to follow the ideal eight hours a day. Trying to do things on time, decreasing the number of parties you visit, and using custom writing services allow you to increase your sleeping time to at least six hours on average. Yes, two hours short of the ideal eight hours, yet, better than the two to three hours that you got used to.
Mind the Hydration
One of the crucial aspects of staying fit is consuming one simple product — water. Proper hydration allows your body to function well. You may not think much of water, but dehydration can have a serious impact on your health. Do you experience mood swings all of a sudden? Cannot analyze the materials properly? It can be the effect of mild dehydration.
So, get a habit of consuming enough water throughout the day. Just keep a bottle of water next to you. And mind that it should be plain water. It doesn’t mean that you should avoid any other beverages like tea, coffee, or soda. But don’t forget to drink approximately one liter of water throughout the day.
Do Cardio Exercises
Did you think that staying fit in college includes only sleeping properly and drinking water? Well, some would’ve enjoyed it if it was that way. Fortunately or not, staying fit requires more than that. Thus, we come to cardio exercises. Cardio is any type of exercise that requires repetitive work of large muscle groups, which increases the heart rate.
Cardio exercises have a lot of benefits. It strengthens your heart and lungs, normalizes metabolism, enhances your bones’ density, strengthens your muscles, and, finally, helps you stay fit. It also has a positive effect on your mental state. Doing cardio improves memory and helps fight depression and anxiety, too.
You choose any kind of cardio exercise that suits you. Anything from jogging to dancing, from playing tennis to bicycling. To be fair, jogging is the most obvious option for college students. Just make a habit of jogging every morning. It will keep you fit, improve your mood, and get you physically and mentally prepared for your day.
Engage in Strength Training
Does that mean hitting the gym? I’m barely able to pay my rent and tuition; how can I afford to go to the gym?! Are those your thoughts? Well, let’s get it out of the way first. Strength training, which includes increasing and strengthening muscle mass, doesn’t necessarily require going to the gym. You can use dumbbells in your dorm room.
If you think that using dumbbells in the dorm room is not enough for you, then you can leverage college facilities. Yes, they may not be as shiny as those in the paid gym, but they are still good. So, select the write my essay option at some custom writing service and go check out your college gym. It may be better than you think.
Use the weight machines, as well as dumbbells and barbells, for strengthening major muscle groups. And make a habit of doing strength training twice a week. Aside from stronger muscles and better joint functioning, strength training allows you to stay fit, reduce chronic pains, and decrease anxiety and stress.
Take Advantage of Stretching
Flexing muscles is quite important for staying fit; that’s why you need stretching. The core idea is stretching a muscle as far as it will go and then holding that position for a brief amount of time, usually for thirty seconds or more. Despite its simplicity, stretching has a lot of benefits.
You increase the flexibility of your muscles, which, in turn, prevents you from sustaining injuries when doing cardio or strength training. It also improves your motion control. Moreover, it improves your mood. Imagine going to college without feeling any pain in your muscles. That is what stretching does. You can use seat stretch or seat side straddle exercise for stretching.
You can do stretching exercises in the morning or the evening before bedtime. Like with cardio and strength training, the essential aspect is turning it into a habit. Devote approximately thirty minutes of stretching exercises, and you’ll easily stay fit during your college years.
Final Thoughts
So, here you have five habits that you should adopt to stay fit in college. As you can see, staying fit in college is no magic and no rocket science. You just need to start doing it and turn it into a habit. However, keep in mind that cardio or strength training may not suit you personally. So, it’s strongly recommended to consult your doctor before going into those types of training.