Sleep, healthy food and exercise are simple ways to relieve stress

College is a hive that’s filled with stress. Every day, there’s something new for students to worry about or overthink.

There are multiple ways to reduce or manage stress that students should be aware of, such as regulating their sleep patterns, eating healthy and exercising.

“When the cat’s away, the mice will play,” is a familiar saying that applies to students, or the mice in this analogy, and their parents, who act as the cat.

Without an authoritative figure hovering over them, students realize they have freedom to govern their own lives while they’re in college.

The second students realize their parents can’t enforce bedtimes or curfews while they’re on campus, some students tend to believe this means they can stay up as late as possible.

Being on an unregulated sleep cycle is bad for stress, as less amount of sleep amounts to an inability to concentrate on homework or tests.

When the mind can’t concentrate on what it needs to do, the student then feels frustrated and confused, causing a negative escalation of emotions that prevent a student from doing as well in college as they would like.

Besides getting the proper amount of sleep, students should also be aware of their eating habits, as junk food is just as bad as not getting the right amount of sleep.

Vending machine food and pizza decrease the energy a student needs in order to be able to function well, and when a student isn’t functioning well, this is what’s going to cause them stress.

Healthy foods, while maybe not nearly as exciting, are a gateway to success for the student and will help shove stress into the stratosphere as they empower the mind and increase concentration as well as a student’s emotional well-being.

Part of the problem for stress amongst students in college is that vending machine foods and pizza are easily accessible and far too tempting.

Colleges need to provide healthier alternatives in their vending machines if they want students to do well.

I abhor exercise: I’m a couch potato at heart, but often just taking a short walk helps to clear my head and aids in reducing any stress I was feeling.

Exercise is a way to release tension that will build up at a steady rate for any college student who worries about what their midterm or final exam scores are going to be, despite hours of studying.

Even if it’s just going up and down a hallway in the dorm, as it’s currently too cold for leisurely walking, any form of exercise is better than just sitting and allowing a student’s worries to fester.

Part of the college experience is for students to learn how to survive on their own, which means time away from their parents, siblings, cousins and other family members.

The irony is that one of the ways to relieve stress is to phone home on occasion. Sometimes parents might be able to solicit advice or provide words of encouragement.

I phone home more often than I would like to admit because the people that I know will take my side no matter what or even stand in my corner are my family.

Students need to remember that eating healthy, sleeping and exercise will help to decrease their stress so that they can function and have a more enriched college experience.