Smart Track™ Toolkit

5 Things I Wish I’d Known About HEALTH When I Started College

At Grockit, we’re all about education and getting you ready to move on to the next stage in your life.  But we’re not just teachers; we’re all former and/or current students, too, and we’ve got more than just test preparation tips to share with you!

My freshman roommate and I used to joke that college was a disease, and the symptoms were malnutrition and exhaustion.  Quite honestly, though, I can’t blame feeling lousy on college itself; it had a lot more to do with the way I chose to treat my body when I was an undergrad.  Here are a few ways you can keep yourself healthy as you begin your college life.

            1.         The dreaded “Freshman 15” can absolutely be avoided, and you don’t have to completely abandon late-night pizza or that soft-serve machine in the cafeteria to do it.  Just develop healthy habits from day one: try to eat something from the fruit or vegetable family at every meal, get some exercise, and don’t go crazy with the all-you-can-eat aspect of dorm food.

            2.         Speaking of exercise, get to know your campus fitness facilities!  Many colleges and universities have free access to gym equipment, swimming pools, aerobics classes, and other great fitness opportunities that you’d have to pay real money for at an off-campus gym.

            3.         Get some sleep.  No, really—I know there’s always something more interesting going on somewhere, but studies show that people who don’t sleep enough gain weight more easily and have weaker immune systems, exposing them to more illness.  Sleep is free and pleasant, and it keeps you looking and feeling your best; why not get 8 hours of it when you can?

            4.         If you share a shower with someone else, wear flip-flops.  One thing you can’t control is your roommates’ or dorm-mates’ foot funk, so take precautionary measures.  I know it’s a gross thing to think about, but I assure you, it’s a much grosser thing to have to rectify if you DON’T wear the flip-flops.

            5.         Most schools have a health services center, and it probably has more resources than you would expect.  For example, you hopefully know that you can go see them if you have the flu or a sprained ankle.  But you may also have access to mental health services, nutritional counseling, or preventive care, among other things.  Take the time to explore your health services center’s website to acquaint yourself with their offerings—most of the services are probably included in your tuition and fees, so you might as well take advantage of them!

Any health tips you wish you’d known before that you know now?  Share them in the comments!

About Grockit: Grockit is a fun and engaging learning community that encourages students to learn from group study, game play, expert tutorials and solo study. Students that prepare with Grockit have proven to achieve higher scores on college admissions tests.

About the author: Andrea Alexander is a current graduate student in the School of Information at the University of Michigan. She's been teaching test prep for about eight years and have picked up lots of helpful knowledge along the way. She specializes in the verbal aspects of test prep, since her education and career experience as an attorney, freelance writer, and editor have given her the background for that.