What Should You Do to Remain Healthy While a Graduate Student?

As a graduate student, you are excited and overwhelming joyed by the fact that you survived being an undergrad and may or may not have that freshman fifteen. What now? You are older, have become used to living a lifestyle, so how do you ensure you are living a healthy life? Some tips and tricks I share with students are hydration and meditation.

We can become indulged in a work and life teeter-totter that we may forget to balance our lifestyle with foundational things like drinking water. I have also come to terms with a blended lifestyle; as we adapt to a multitasking world of work, school, social and home life, it all becomes one. Maybe this is what we call adulting. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2019), water and nutrition are paired therefore choose water over other beverages often. Being intentional in drinking water when studying or eating out can help set healthier routines.

Moreover, meditate. Meditation improves and enhances health because of the effect of the interactions the mind has over behaviors (NIH, 2019). Did you know that meditation reduces the symptoms of anxiety, depression and insomnia? These are topics that may affect college life.

Think about your career and how much effort and time you have dedicated to assignments, discussion questions and research. If you do not meditate, think about starting and try it. It may improve your coping, calmness and relaxation skills. For example, do not wait until you feel the stress or the burden of unable to focus and stay on task. Build meditation into your routine. Select a time that works for you and put a reminder on your phone, notes in your calendar or use sticky notes to ensure you will complete the task of meditation. A mediation activity I like to do is listening to calming music for ten to fifteen minutes to reflect and breathe every day in the morning.

Staying healthy takes time and work. Be the healthy version of yourself. Everyone is different and has a variety of needs. Find out what works best for you with initiating a practice or a routine that benefits you, like drinking more water and intentional meditation.

These are just a few of the possibilities you can pursue with your Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Grand Canyon University. Visit our College of Nursing and Health Care Professions website and click on the Request More Information button. Our online admissions application is waiting for you.

References

CDC. (2019). Water and nutrition. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/nutrition/index.html

NIH. (2019). Mediation: In-depth. Retrieved from https://nccih.nih.gov/health/meditation/overview.htm