The Bare Necessities of Wellness

Hi All! Welcome to the Wellness column! I’m Farzeen and I’m going to be your guide to living a healthy and peaceful life as a student. What exactly is wellness? Wellness is your overall health –  physical, mental and spiritual. All three of these aspects are equally important and they go hand in hand. If you’re not mentally healthy, it will affect your physical health as well, and vice versa, which is why I’m writing this column; it’s so important to be internally happy, as we students face a lot of pressure daily with never ending assignments, labs, exams, etc. My goal is to help you harness enough strength and energy to face the overbearing pressure and perform well in any kind of activity that you put your mind to. Today I’m going to discuss the basic necessities to help you get started with living a healthier life.

1. Meditation: 15 ~ 20 minutes from your day devoted to meditation will help you spiritually and mentally. Trust me! I usually meditate in the morning after I wake up because mornings tend to be more busy compared to any other time of the day. Just sit on your bed, sofa, or the floor with your back straight, face the daylight, put on some soothing meditation music on Spotify and close your eyes for a good 15 minutes. While doing this you can think of happy thoughts, or maybe something you’d like to achieve today.
2. Easing into exercising: Staying physically active during the term will help you study better and lead you off the track of poor mental health. Counterattack stress with exercise! Follow this motto and see the remarkable change in your performance. Join the fitness classes on campus. If you don’t want to commit, jog in one of the parks for at least 30 minutes in the morning or evening. Just 30 minutes everyday can make a big difference. I recommend the Nike Run Club App. They guide you throughout your run to ensure you run with the perfect rhythm and don’t stress your body out too much.
3. Meal prepping: The most important part of your overall wellness is your diet. As students, we usually don’t get time to make food during the study terms and end up eating out and spending a lot of money, which we’re already short of. Just take 2 hours out of your day on Sunday and meal prep for the week. This will ensure that you don’t waste too much time cooking food and that you eat healthy everyday. Include protein, such as seasoned fish, chicken or egg whites and add some steamed vegetables. You can even stir fry the steamed vegetables to add some taste if you don’t like salads. I steam carrots, cauliflower and broccoli and add some red leaf lettuce or spinach as a side salad. It’s best to eat a light dinner at least 4 hours before you go to bed. If you want to lose weight, soup is your best option. Around 1 or 2 bowls of soup should be filling enough.

To get started with a daily routine, following the above three should be enough. Stay tuned for more upcoming healthy meals and routines to follow during hell week!