Look after your wellbeing as a student

It’s a widely known fact that as students, we tend to stress 24/7. Assignments routinely lead to late nights of studying, while balancing a part-time job, social life, and obviously bingeing on the new must-see show on Netflix. Sadly, a pandemic sticking its nose in where it’s not wanted is also getting in the way of our university experience, hence we might find it difficult to look after our health and wellbeing during these current times.

Balancing act

However, while trying to stay focused on our studies, we must learn how to prioritise our time and take care of ourselves. And I guarantee you, once we find the right ‘ingredient’ to balance our studies with self-care time, nothing will stop us from achieving our goals.

My name is Ioana and I am in my third year of a BA (Hons) Business Management degree. Looking back on my university experience, I’m not gonna lie to you, it took me a while to incorporate a self-care routine into my ‘busy as a bee’ schedule, but once I was able to see the benefits of preventing stress and burn-out, I was fully committed. Here are a few of the practices I started to follow, I hope they help you too.

1. Sleep it off

Julia Roberts said “eat, pray, love”, I say “sleep, sleep, sleep”. If there’s one thing that gives me the necessary energy to pass all my classes with flying colours, it’s rest. Getting enough sleep each night is an actual ‘must’ for us as students to function properly and smash those exams. Also, that 30-minute power nap during a study day? That’s one of my favourite ways to cope with the finals, it helps me clear my mind and recharge my batteries for another revision session.

Not much of a sleeper? Just have regular breaks during the day and you’ll get to see how beneficial that turns out to be for your mental wellbeing. Listening to music, watching a 20-minute episode of your favourite show, taking a stroll, or even just lying in bed (while scrolling on TikTok, oops) – just stick with whatever is best for you to freshen up. Make sure you break up your working sessions with relaxation to maintain your productivity without letting exhaustion slip in.

2. Active commitment

There is a Latin phrase I learned in primary school - “Mens sana in corpore sano”, usually translated as “a healthy mind in a healthy body”. Basically, the phrase expresses the importance of physical exercise for our wellbeing and as my teacher once said, I now live by this rule and it is a big part of my lifestyle. And that’s my next tip for you.

The current circumstances might have forced us to stay in more than usual, however, that shouldn’t stop us from keeping active. Including physical activity in our daily routine can be such an energy booster and stimulate us to give the best for that 9am lecture. Going on walks, riding a bike, or perhaps choosing a ‘smoother’ activity such as yoga, there are plenty of options to move our legs. I usually prefer running for 20/30 minutes three times a week or doing home workouts. I’ve also got apps, such as MyFitnessPal, that help me monitor my meals and exercises per day.

3. Food for thought

Speaking of meals, here’s another thing I always try to improve on. Maintaining a healthy and balanced diet can be one of the best stimuli to accomplish our goals. And even though sometimes we don’t see the benefits of eating well straight away, they can have such a great influence on our mood. No one says to restrict ourselves from ordering that Indian takeaway we love or grabbing that chocolate from the shelf and devouring it in five seconds. However, the secret is to be moderate with our food choices.

As students, it’s essential to have a stable diet. We can be negligent sometimes, but we need to ensure we give our bodies all the vitamins and nutrients most of the time. I’ve personally been trying to do so by including plenty of fruits and vegetables into my diet, as well as setting a clear daily food plan and drinking a lot of water.

Last but not least, don’t forget to have fun and explore your creativity. Take the current times as a challenge and look at the situation as if it’s only going to make you find new ways of improving yourself. Remind yourself of the things you enjoy the most and discover new ones to implement into your day-to-day activities.

Make the stress fly away.