12 Tips for Students to Improve Their Mental Health
Mental health issues during college have been hidden for a long time, and their effects are being fully explored only recently. College is hard as it is, which is why we should promote mental health awareness in colleges and help students deal with their challenges. This article will explore why college students struggle with mental health and will offer mental help tips for students.
Why Do College Students Struggle With Mental Health?
Plenty of factors can affect the mental health of college students and cause anxiety, stress, and mental health issues. High school and college years differ greatly, which can make it harder to adapt to the new surroundings and responsibilities during college. Students go from having a few responsibilities at home to being completely independent in a new and foreign place. Another factor is the heavy load of assignments, classes, work, and expectations to succeed in life. A lot of students also have to deal with racism, sexism, trauma, or sexual assaults. And, to add salt to the injury, there is the higher cost of education and life.
So it's logical that more than 25% of college students struggle or are treated for a mental illness, and that percentage is to increase if substantial changes in the system aren't made.
12 Tips for Students to Improve Their Mental Health
Sometimes, making small changes in routines and breaking bad habits do wonders for your mental health. Generally, looking after your physical health, resting and taking breaks, helping others, planning your day or week, grounding yourself, and journaling are effective methods of improving your mental health. Below we'll explore 12 tips more thoroughly that can help you feel better and improve your mental health.
Be kind to yourself
Perhaps the most important mental health tip is to remember to be kinder to yourself every day. Though some days it may seem like you don't deserve the good things you have, embracing yourself will free you from self-criticism, imposter syndrome, and doubt.
You can start doing self-compassion exercises like:
Treating yourself the way you treat others,
Changing your critical self-talk,
Keeping a self-compassion journal.
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Eat and sleep well
Eating healthy and sleeping well play a huge role in making college students feel better overall, though often overlooked due to the higher price of healthy food and the multiple assignments in a short time.
However, eating healthy as often as you're able to will help you be more energetic and focused and improve your mood and memory, which in turn helps subdue depression symptoms and fatigue.
Likewise, not having a good sleeping schedule affects your mental and physical health considerably, as all those feel-good hormones won't be released properly during the night. So you should try creating a habit of a relaxing pre-sleep routine and getting seven to nine hours of sleep.
Stay connected with your friends
The riptide of projects, exams, assignments, and the tight class schedule makes it hard to have time for checking on friends, which can make you feel even more isolated. That's why you should make an effort to stay connected with friends at college or back at home. Friends navigate through life together in dark and light times. So when you feel lost or confused, they can advise you or at least make you laugh and make great memories.
Take a break from social media
Although it allows us to stay connected with others and be up-to-date with news, excessive usage of social media has detrimental effects like depression, anxiety, and mental health distress symptoms and a negative impact on college students. That's why, once in a while, take an extended break and detox from all social media platforms.
Take on new challenges
Whether it's joining a club, taking part in social activities, getting out of your comfort zone, applying for an internship, starting a new hobby, or even taking a class outside of your major, new challenges help increase motivation, self-esteem, and have a fun time overall.
Exercise
For many people, the only thing that makes exercising bearable is that incredible feeling after it. The science behind this is that exercising makes the brain release serotonin and endorphins (happy hormones). Exercise also helps with:
Releasing stress
Sleeping better
Distracting from negative thoughts
Improving coping abilities and self-esteem
The importance of exercising for college students was made clear in a study that concluded that exercising eases depression symptoms and stress.
You can start with low-intensity exercises and exercise for a shorter time (15 minutes to an hour). You can try yoga, pilates, cardio, jogging, walking, hiking, cycling, or playing sports.
Meditate
If you ask people about mental health tips for college students, a lot of them will surely point out meditating or doing mindfulness exercises for a few minutes every day.
In the chaotic and noisy internal and external college life, it's nice to have a few minutes of calm and quiet.
For meditating, you should create a calming atmosphere, focus on your breathing, and clear your mind of stressful thoughts. Meanwhile, mindfulness can be achieved as the next step of meditation or its own thing separately. Mindfulness exercises help you connect and listen to all your senses and thus relax and release stress. For both guided meditation and mindfulness exercises, you can try apps like Headspace and Calm.
Be in the sunlight every day
It's no surprise that we associate sunlight with happiness and contentment, as sunlight increases serotonin and helps ease mental health distress symptoms.
Sunlight makes us feel better both physically and mentally because it increases Vitamin D, helps with sleeping better, and lowers blood pressure, as well.
So, spending 10-15 minutes per day in sunlight can make a difference in your mental health. Just make sure you apply sunscreen beforehand.
Be of service
Sometimes we can feel like we're aliens or distant from the real world, which makes us feel isolated and alone.
Understandably, college life is busy, but finding time, no matter how much, to help others, will also make you feel good and connected to others in turn. You can try volunteering at organizations, animal shelters, food banks, retirement, or nursing homes in your local area.
Set realistic goals
Though making to-do lists and setting daily goals might be fun while planning, things can quickly derail when executing them. Therefore, when planning your day, you should set realistic goals of what you can get done and when and then stick to that. You can also divide projects or tasks into smaller fractions so you'll feel more motivated to finish them piece by piece.
Don’t drink alcohol or use drugs
As it's commonly known, drugs and alcohol have a negative impact on college students because of:
Decreased academic performance
Poor health
Social consequences
Improper or dangerous behavior
A lot of students who drink alcohol or use drugs do so to cope with mental health issues, which then turns into a cycle of using alcohol or drugs to relieve symptoms, only for symptoms to worsen because of them.
Don’t be afraid of asking for help
An essential part of self-care is asking for help from friends, family, or mental health professionals when experiencing symptoms of depression, anxiety, mental health disorders, or even if the weight starts to become unbearable. You have to remember that you're not supposed to carry all that weight by yourself. Seeking help as early as possible will help you recover and feel better faster.
Conclusion
The key point you should take away from this article is to prioritize yourself and practice physical and mental self-care every day. You have to take the initiative to improve, heal, and feel better by adapting these tips and others in the way they fit you best. Remember you don’t need to apply all at once. Small steps go a long way.