Taking care of your physical health

Taking care of your physical health can seen deceivingly easy, particularly when deadlines are fast approaching and looking after yourself gets lower and lower down your priority list. This article will suggest some helpful tips to look after yourself whilst also smashing all of your assignments!

Drinking water

Drinking water is shown to increase academic performance. Since the brain is made up of around 75% water, studies have proven that when you are hydrated, you can focus better and think more clearly. There are countless other benefits to drinking water and it’s recommended to drink around 2 litres per day if you can!

Some of the benefits include energising muscles, maintaining your body fluid balance and increase energy levels. Moreover, it helps keep your skin clear and fight back against those stress induced spots. A good way to do this is to carry around a water bottle with you everywhere you go, as a reusable water bottle is shown to increase your water intake as opposed to buying a new bottle of water every time you need one. There’s multiple places around campus to re-fill it too!

Get enough sleep

Sleep is super important too and although it can seem a better idea to carry on working into the night, prioritising a good nights sleep, or even a tactical mid-study nap can help reduce stress, anxiety and keep your body healthy and functioning correctly. The short-term consequences to a lack of sleep include performance deficits, issues with memory and concentration and a heightened stress response. All things which aren’t ideal during deadline season.

Therefore, it’s important to prioritise sleep and ensure you’re not sleep depriving yourself as it can often do more harm than good.

Eating a healthy balanced diet

Additionally, eating, particularly a healthy, balanced diet can be difficult to maintain and it can be a lot easier to grab a convenient snack rather than prepare a balanced meal, especially with how expensive food shopping is becoming. One of the benefits to a balanced diet is that it can provide long-term, as opposed to short-term, energy boosts.

This means keeping your brain topped up with nutritious foods can help improve your performance. Meal prepping is a great alternative to cooking everyday, or reaching for fruit, nuts or a yoghurt make the perfect library snack which will keep you fuller for longer.

Workout regularly

Finally, although exercising can release endorphins and help keep your body healthy, it can be difficult to fit in a dedicated workout. Instead, try fitting in exercise where you can.

For example, taking the stairs instead of waiting for the train barriers to go up again can be the perfect mini workout, especially when you’re doing it multiple times a day. Moreover, a short 10 minute dance, pilates or stretching workout in your room can be a great study break to help relieve stress and anxiety. Youtube has tons of these short workouts to help you stay feeling your best.