Students and families have such high expectations for college: find a passion, learn as much as possible, make lifelong friends, have great internships that turn into great jobs, and maybe even have some fun. But too often, students put caring for themselves as a whole person—their self-care—on the back burner.
Lack of adequate self-care is one reason many students complain of being stressed out, exhausted all the time, and not as motivated as they would like to be. We aren’t born knowing how to make reasonable schedules that balance everything: study, work, play, social connection, and self-care.
Most, if not all, students struggle in some way with how to develop a balanced lifestyle that supports their mental health. My hope is that prioritizing these five wellness areas will provide habits that students can personalize in order to flourish in college.
Sleep
Our culture makes it easy to disregard the need for enough restorative sleep. While most of us need seven to nine hours each night to both feel and perform at our best, athletes and others may need as much as 10 hours per night. Even if we feel we can get by on less than what we know is ideal, research shows that we perform worse on tests and other measures with this level of sleep. Adding a nightly wind-down period and enough hours to sleep to our schedules is essential.
Food
Proper nutrition and digestion lead to more energy, which in turn leads to more effective learning and better moods, so it’s vitally important to create food habits that work. Scheduling in enough time to make decent meals or get to the dining hall can be like solving a puzzle. Try to think outside the box about how and where to get food.
Movement
Like proper nutrition, exercise is a subject that generates almost as many opinions as there are writers. That said, the best exercise is the one that you will do regularly and that you enjoy—no need to go to the gym if you love biking or social dancing. The general recommendation is to move in some manner on a daily basis and include a more rigorous workout one to three times per week. Having a plan for when and how you accomplish your movement makes it much more likely that it will happen.
Community
A PhD in psychology isn’t needed to know that good relationships are indispensable to mental health and even to physical health and longevity. We are hardwired for bonding, yet it can be hard to bond in healthy ways, which is something many students struggle with in college. Gently going outside our comfort zones, patience, persistence, and planning are all key in the journey to “finding your people.”
Awe
“Awe engages five processes—shifts in neurophysiology, a diminished focus on the self, increased prosocial relationality, greater social integration, and a heightened sense of meaning—that benefit well-being,” according to recent research. We intuitively know that being outside enjoying nature—either by ourselves or with others—benefits our mood and renews our energy. Psychology researchers have found that a wide variety of hobbies provide well-being benefits, including art making, fine arts viewing, old-school crafts, and more. For those with a faith tradition, practicing it can improve mental health by building a sense of belonging, practicing gratitude, and understanding that there is something greater than ourselves. Scheduling in awe activities to our week shows wide-ranging benefits and can be tailored to each individual’s preferences.
It’s no mystery why balancing all the elements of life in college is so hard. Class periods and hours needed to study genuinely take up a lot of time. When we can add the above five self-care categories to our schedules, we will have a better chance to both succeed and thrive in college.
