By Halee Hamilton
Columnist
The New Year has swiftly arisen, and healthy living is the number one goal of people everywhere, including commuters here at The Woods. According to statisticbrain.com, only 8% of people are successful in achieving their New Year’s resolutions. Let’s try and boost this percentage, and successfully achieve healthy living as commuter students here at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College.
Here are some ways in which we can follow through with our New Year’s resolution of healthy living. First of all, I know McDonalds is cheap and easy, but this eating habit has got to stop! As a commuter, we have the luxury of getting to choose what we are going to eat, opposed to eating what is offered in the dining hall. Packing your own lunch is a great way to begin achieving your healthy living goals.
Try and include all of the food groups when deciding what to bring. If you want to pack a sandwich, use a nice lean meat like turkey, and try not to add too much dressing. Also, chips are great, but they are not very healthy. Instead of packing chips, use veggies as an alternative. I know soda is delicious, but it is not easily included in a healthy lifestyle. Instead of soda, I suggest water or even tea. Finally, and this is the most difficult tip for me to follow, skip desert. Eating a desert every once in a while doesn’t hurt anyone, but we don’t need sweets every day.
Not only do we need to eat healthier to stick to our goals, we also need to exercise more. There are several facilities that are available in Terre Haute that we could easily attend after class, but if there is a break in between classes, you can go to the fitness center in the basement of Le Fer. This facility is free of charge and it is, conveniently, right on campus.
As an alternative, if you don’t want to work up too much of a sweat in between classes, take a long walk around campus. It isn’t called Saint Mary-of-the-Woods for nothing! We have a beautiful campus surrounding us, and we need to take advantage of it.
Another great way to add a small amount of activity into your daily routine is to take the stairs instead of the elevator. I understand that the last thing you want to do, first thing in the morning, is trudge up the stairs, but stairs are calorie burners and this will help you follow through with your New Year’s resolutions.
Finally, make sure you manage your time wisely and get plenty of sleep. This is one of the most important things you can do to maintain a healthy lifestyle. It is difficult for campus students to get enough sleep, let alone commuter students. Not only do we have to stay up all hours of the night doing homework, but we have to get up earlier than most, to make the long commute to campus.
Again, it is important to manage our time wisely. If we are tired all of the time, then there is no way that we will feel like exercising, and the lack of energy will cause us to consume more food to make up for it. This is why it is so important to get enough sleep.
A great way for us to manage our time is to do homework in between classes, and if you don’t have time for that, then do homework early in the evening when you get home, so then you can relax at night, and get to sleep at a reasonable time.
In conclusion, let’s make our New Year’s resolutions a reality, let’s try and stay healthy year round, and let’s raise that 8%. I know that the commuter students here at The Woods can make this goal a reality, especially if we follow these few simple tips. Happy New Year everyone, best of luck sticking to your resolutions!
Popularity: 10% [?]
