Importance of Health and Diet in Student’s Life             

You won’t be surprised to know that one member out of every family has some disease or health issue. Most people are facing health issues these days and it is not just the problem in old people but young ones are affected as well. The world is heading towards advancement every day in terms of technology and inventions, but it is lagging in terms of health and a good lifestyle. People are just running after wealth and luxury and life has become a rat race where everybody wants to be the most powerful and wealthy. But we have forgotten the real wealth of humans is health. Without health, there is no use of wealth and luxury. What is more valuable than life? The plain answer to this would be nothing. Everything comes secondary to life, but we are risking our lives by neglecting our health. What is the use of money if you won’t be able to enjoy the luxury that comes with it? The conclusion we are trying to draw with the above arguments is- Chase your goal, chase luxury but keep a check on your health.

Why is health important in a student’s life?

1. Keeps them away from diseases – Bad health conditions invite various types of diseases. When a student is not in good health, he/she might catch diseases. Some diseases are acute, some are chronic and some are even fatal. Acute diseases can be cured easily but can also cause serious harm to organs. Acute diseases can include symptoms like fever while chronic diseases once acquired can remain lifelong. These days heart diseases are very common among youngsters because of poor lifestyles. Students have to deal with a lot of hard work and enthusiasm to get success ahead in life, so if they have diseases it can lower their performances. Hence, students need to take care of their health.
2. Strong immunity – Sometimes diseases are inevitable but at least they can be cured so you need to have the ability to fight these diseases. Hence your immunity system must be very strong. Great immunity demands great health so your health is very important.
3. Energy to do necessary tasks – You can perform your task well only if you have the required energy and enthusiasm to do it, that is only possible when you are in a good health situation otherwise you will lag behind in your tasks. Bad health and restlessness also result in stress and bad mood and the inability to do any productive work.
4. Living a happy stress-free life– When you are in good health, you are physically fit, mentally fit, and socially fit. You do your work on time with full passion and enthusiasm. You keep going ahead in your life and achieving success. You live a happy and joyful life this way. When you are living a productive and happy life, then illnesses like depression and insomnia stay miles away from you and you live a peaceful life.
5. Cannot buy health- It is very evident that you cannot buy health from wealth. Even the richest people who acquire severe diseases are not able to cure them no matter how much money they spend. Prevention is always better than cure, so it is better to take care of your health before catching the disease. Money once lost can be gained, but health lost once cannot be gained.

How to maintain good health?

1. Having a balanced diet – Food and health are strongly connected to each other. We need the energy to stay fit and healthy and that energy comes from the food that we eat. What we eat decides much of our health, so we must have a balanced diet to ensure good health. Avoid regular intake of junk food and carbonated drinks, also try to reduce excessive intake of caffeine. Include a good amount of carbohydrates and protein in your meals. Also, include vitamins and minerals as they are essential nutrients and play a lot of roles in our body. A balanced diet can be achieved with healthy eating habits, so you can start developing that day by day. First, start with taking fruits and juice in the morning, then go for green vegetables and whole grains for lunch and dinner, and then have milk and dry fruits before sleep.
2. Having plenty of water – You must be knowing that 70 percent of our blood is made up of water. The importance of water in our body can be estimated by this. So having plenty of water every day with a balanced diet results in decent health conditions. So, an adequate daily fluid intake is – About 3.7 L for men and 2.7 L for women according to the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
3. Having proper sleep – Students should get a proper amount of sleep at night so that they can stay focused and stay away from headaches and stress. Good sleep helps to be attentive and also gets rid of behavior problems resulting in good mental as well as social health. It also helps students perform well in their tasks with full consciousness. Hence proper sleep keeps a student away from stress and provides them with good health.
4. Reducing screen time – Modern lifestyle includes online classes and online interaction, so students spend almost half of their day on screen. Apart from studies, they spend a lot of time chatting, playing online games, and watching movies. These activities not only make them lazy but affect their health badly as it disturbs the sleep cycle. Spending too much time on social media causes anxiety, loneliness, and incompetency in students. So, students should try to minimize their screen time as much as possible.
5. Regular exercise – Exercising is as important as a healthy diet. Exercising has a lot of benefits for students. It helps to burn excess calories and gives you a fit and smart look which helps to boost self-confidence. It improves circulation that reduces the risk of fatal diseases like heart attacks. So, exercising daily only for 30 minutes can give you wonderful benefits. You can also play some sports instead of exercising as it has equal effects.
6. Meditation and yoga- You won’t believe but meditation and yoga have an equal impact as exercising has. Meditation has added benefits like it increases concentration, and attention and makes your mind stress-free. Yoga helps to increase flexibility and keeps you away from diseases. Meditating every day for 10 minutes and yoga for just 15 minutes can give you unexpected results.

Also read: Encountering Nature: Environmental Walks for Students to Reduce Anxiety and Boost Focus

Frequently Asked Questions

As students, we have a very busy and hectic schedule, how can we get time for exercise?

You only need to spend 20 to 30 minutes daily, and if you are not a morning person you can take out some time in the evening to exercise. You might also prefer walking over-exercising and walking too has extraordinary effects on your health. The other way is to choose sports or dance. Playing a sport or dancing is also one form of exercising and is equally beneficial.

Most of the tasks have to be done on a laptop or phone so how can we reduce screen time?

You can reduce unnecessary screen time such as scrolling social media for too long, or binge-watching series or movies. You can also follow other health pieces of advice given above to compensate for the screen time. The most important is proper sleep, you must sleep enough to recover from the harm caused by excess screen time.