1 Eat right

Make sure that you get five fruits or vegetables each day. It’s all about balance and moderation. Watch your portion sizes, choose whole grain, and drink eight eight-ounce glasses of water a day. People always say that they don’t have time to eat breakfast, but every piece of research says you need to eat breakfast, because it is the most important meal of the day.

I would also encourage anyone who has questions about their weight to come in and meet with someone in Health Services. We have a dietician on campus and she is able to assess someone’s weight and dietary habits and give them straightforward tips on how to best take care of themselves. The dietician is a free service on campus so it’s a great opportunity to get professional help if students have any questions about their weight.

2 Exercise

The Department of Health and Human Services recommends that people should get thirty minutes of exercise at least five days of the week. Even if you don’t have thirty minutes to go to Lund and work out, try to exercise for ten minutes, three times a day. All the little things count, like parking further out in the parking lot, or taking the stairs instead of the elevator – all of those things are beneficial to your health.

Now is a point in your life where people are establishing routines and patterns that will follow them for the rest of their life, so finding exercise that is enjoyable and sustainable is a great habit to get into.

3 Sleep

Getting into a sleep pattern is really important. The average college student needs somewhere between seven and nine hours of sleep a night, but most get six or less. It doesn’t work to have six hours of sleep throughout the week and then twelve hours on the weekends, it’s really important to get into a pattern or routine. There are a lot of studies out there that show a direct correlation between the amount of sleep and GPA. The more sleep, the higher the GPA.

Statistics show that the people who pull an all-nighter before a big test do worse on the test than those who study for three hours and then go to bed. Sleep is important, not only for memory retention, but it also helps boost your immune system, helps with stress and helps your emotional health.

4 Limit alcohol consumption

In general, alcohol when used in moderation is not a horrible thing. But anytime you’re having more than two drinks, you’re putting your body at risk. And anytime you’re having more than four drinks for a woman, or more than five drinks for a man, that’s considered binge drinking, and there are serious risks associated with that.

It takes a while for your body to metabolize alcohol, so if you’re drinking on a [Friday night] your ability to sleep that night will be affected. It will then be hard to have a good day the next day, and feel like you are able to function.

The risks associated with drinking are  impaired judgment and physical impairment to organs within your body. You also put yourself at risk of being put into bad situations.

My advice to students is to make decisions about your alcohol consumption ahead of time; give yourself a limit, make sure you’re with people you know and trust and never get into a car with [a driver] who has been drinking.

5 Take preventative measures to stay healthy

On Sept. 21 and again on Oct. 6,  2011 Gustavus Student Health Service will be doing a flu shot clinic on campus for all students as well as faculty; it will be held in the Heritage room in the Campus Center.

Getting the flu shot is the number one way to prevent the flu. We really want to encourage everyone to get the flu shot this year.

Also I want people to know that it is normal to ask for help. We have all of these resources at the college to help people, because it is our goal that people are well and healthy. Know yourself and recognize when you are not doing well, so you can seek out a resource before you are crashing.

Gusties are into taking care of each other and being a buddy, which is great, but you also have to take care of yourself and make sure that you’re in good health,before you take care of those around you. Whether it’s the flu shot or contraception or whatever it is, I always want people to know that if they have questions they can always ask Health Services, or any of the other resources on campus.