Look. We’ve all been there. The semester is chugging along and we are all way too stressed with classes and having a social life to really worry about heading to the gym. There is just simply not enough time in the day to get everything we want done right?

You have plenty of time to get everything you need to get done. You just need to plan and use some of these tips.

1. Portion Control – You would be surprised how hard this one actually is. Before college most of us didn’t control how often we ate. Just because you are here now and we have an all you can eat dining hall does not mean you should literally have all you can eat. Pay attention to calories and make sure you manage the amount you intake!

2. Make Smart Eating Decisions – Get diversity in your diet. Make sure you are eating vegetable and fruits. You can do this by fitting in one salad a day! Find your favorite mix of greens and make sure you get a bowl of it daily. The makeup of the food you eat is huge in taking steps to being a healthier college student. Stay away from the fried and opt for the grilled. Keep tabs on your sweets, its okay to have some dessert every once in a while but if you find yourself eating a bowl of ice cream a day its time to make changes.

3. Make a Gym Schedule and Stick to it – The gym isn’t just for getting ripped! Getting thirty minutes to an hour of gym time a day is huge for your health. That gym time could be used playing your favorite sport like basketball or maybe you’d prefer to sign up for a Zumba or Spin class. Anything works as long as you are sweating and getting active. Also make sure you stick to your schedule. Until you establish a routine and know you aren’t gonna quit on it then take no off days. Don’t let yourself make excuses.

We are all metaphorically dying.  The work is piling up and the deadlines are all cropping up out of nowhere.  All means of staying organized and managing time that you set at the beginning of the semester have gone out the window and you are just clinging on for dear life.  It’s that point in the semester.

In a lot of ways, the mid-to-end of the semester sense of existential dread builds a sense of community on a college campus, from the under-eye bags to the sweatshirts everyday to the knowing glances among your peers.  The internet seems to come together for the communal reassurance that you are not alone in the struggle to push through to the end of the semester.

Even though it is tough, there are ways to find motivation to finish out the semester strong.

1. Take a step back. It is totally okay to take breaks for self care and re-establish your routines for organization and time management.  If you don’t take time for yourself, you are setting yourself up for failure!
2. Stay organized! Remember that planner you bought at the beginning of the semester? Now is the time to take it back out so you can have a visual representation of your deadlines, which will make it easier to stay on top of things.
3. Go to class and do your homework. This one speaks for itself. I know that it gets overwhelming, but it’s so important to your success!

I know that it’s really hard to stay on top of everything, but you got this!

Keeping a balance

Managing a good balance between social life, academics, and sleep are vital to keeping yourself happy and sane. Which leads us into time management. Now it may seem like I’m beating a dead horse but without an organized schedule, you’ll be prone to forget important items and that’s not optimal in a work or college setting.

Knowing how you operate

A square peg doesn’t fit into a round hole. For example, if you know that you tend to procrastinate, don’t schedule extracurricular things before the assignment’s due date; that’s asking for trouble. Likewise, if you are the type of person to get everything done right away, you should free up time after classes. However, the first step is to identify what type of person you are.

Give yourself a treat every day

Now I don’t mean go out to eat every day or buy yourself something expensive. We’re talking about the little things. Things like: treating yourself to a nap when you need it, allowing yourself to spend time with friends for an hour or so before starting schoolwork, or giving yourself a 5 minute stretch or walk because you’ve been grinding away at Lyndon or O’Leary Library for 5 hours. This will alleviate some of the stress you are feeling so treat yo’self.

Eat, Sleep, Exercise

Please do this. Our University Dining Commons on east campus, McGauvran Center on south campus, and dining at the ICC, offer a variety of healthy food choices for you to nourish yourself with. We have the wonderful Campus Recreation Center that is available for all students to use in order to exercise and stay in shape. However, sleep is all up to you to obtain. Sleeping allows the brain to retain the information that it learned that day, including all those notes you took in class.

With these tips in mind, go out there and live a healthy lifestyle!