Essential Keys to Student Wellness in College

Get Sleep
Get your recommended 8 hours a night of sleep or pay the consequences: decreased mental alertness, inability to focus, inability for the body to repair muscle, inability for the body to lose fat, etc. Believe me, it's very important to get enough sleep. Especially when being a student relies so much on your mental ability and yet there are so many factors present in college that tend to seriously reduce the amount of the time students sleep. Read more about it...http://www.studentfitness.org/sleep-or-pay-the-price/

Eat all Day
It is much better for your body to get more meals of less, than fewer meals of more. Eat Breakfast. Eat snacks. Eat when your hungry. Not the diet advice you were expecting? I rely on a bodybuilding-like system based on harnessing the power of your natural metabolism. It's as simple as: Keep throwing a little bit of coal into the furnace all day and it will burn the most regularly, and most efficiently. One step further and you can begin monitoring the macro-nutrients present in your food intake and modify your diet so that every meal or snack you eat is exactly aligned and balanced with the macro-nutrient ratio you are aiming for. If this sounds too advanced, then just focus for the time being on increasing the frequency of your meals while decreased the size of your meals. One you get comfortable with this level of nutritional awareness you can take more and more advanced steps. Read more about it...http://www.studentfitness.org/lose-weight-by-eating-all-day/

Get Out of the Room and Get Some Exercise
College is a time of great parody. At some moments you are busier than you can handle, while others you have nothing to do and are completely bored. It's important, however, during these gaps of boredom and dorm room lounging that you make time to get out once in a while. Fresh air, sun light, other people... these are things that you need to leave your room to experience and should do so often. Go for a run, go to the gym, go play ultimate Frisbee - just find a reason to leave the room and get moving. Your body will thank you.

Manage Stress Effectively
I am a huge proponent of the power of the mind. When you get stressed out, your mental sickness (per say) can easily spread to your physical. It has been noted in scientific studies that people with high levels of stress have a repressed or weakened immune system. What this means is that in addition to keeping yourself physically healthy you need to invest time in keeping yourself mentally healthy. Take time to relax, do things you enjoy, exercise is also known to help to a large extent in reducing stress.

Drink your Water
What are the main things you drink on a college campus? Alcohol and Caffeinated beverages? Well, both of these cause dehydration which makes it that much more important to get in all 8 glasses of water the doctors suggest per day. (I recommend drinking an additional glass of water each alcoholic drink or caffeinated drink in order to offset the dehydrating effects). Read more about Alcohol in College...http://www.studentfitness.org/category/alcohol-in-college/

Be Consistent
Remember that with all the above, consistency is the most important factor in determining the amount of success you will have with your fitness plan. Rather than going to the gym for the first week of your program for 2 hours a day and dropping off and getting exhausted; you can instead go for like 45 minutes and maintain your level of motivation and interest. Exerting yourself too much too early tends to lead to quitting the fitness plan. If you get your exercise in on a consistent basis it is more important than length of time or intensity. Without consistency nothing else matters because you aren't really following your plan if you don't have consistency.