Olumurewa Damilola

It is ridiculous that we often prioritise our academics over our health not knowing that our health is also as important as our academics if not more. This is obvious in the way people change in appearance and body size after returning from holidays because what better explanation could you give to that rather than people eating good food and taking good care of their health during the holidays just only for them to resume and academics take that place. A glaring example is our coursemates who resume with an additional one pound or two to their weight. In fact, for some, you will see a significant change in their body size that you would not have thought the person could ever grow bigger or taller.The reason is, most times during the holidays, people are deliberate about eating good food, relaxing, going out with friends, practising self care after all, holidays are for these things. However, they do not have to stay with the holidays, every one of these practices does not have to go downhills barely weeks after resumption. The question is why do some people feel they have to throw away these habits?

Firstly, some people do not prioritise eating healthy meals after resumption because they often think about their budget. We all have that roommate who eats only spaghetti and noodles alone all the days of the week and maybe once in a while bread as a supplement . You could be as well guilty of this yourself. The fact that they are fast foods which makes them very easy to cook doesn’t downplay the consequences they might have on our health. You can not eat all these all day and look or stay healthy. What happened to fruits, vegetables, whole egg meals and protein based meals? What happened is, some often think they can not afford them. In our current economy, fruits are now kind of expensive but not that expensive to purchase, the same goes for eggs. Nevertheless, if we are intentional about eating fruits, vegetables, we can always make room for them in our budget. You just have to be intentional and deliberate about eating well and eating a balanced diet. Instead of eating noodles alone, you can balance it with fruits and eggs. At least you do not have to cook fruits if you are thinking about time management.

Secondly, we do not often practice self care because we think there is no time for it. Self care helps in relieving stress and anxiety and it can be practiced in different ways. It could be by taking a walk, reading a novel, going for a massage, journaling, or even talking to friends. In the hustle bustle of school work and long hour lectures, all these would be hard to pull off. Again, it’s all about prioritizing. For instance, journaling about one’s day by just writing down about what you feel about the day, what you feel you could have done better, can honestly help relieve stress because that moment is serves as a moment of reflection where you are letting out your emotions and what you feel, this can really help with our mental health and this could be a coping mechanism to stress and anxiety.

In addition, some feel like going on a walk can make them lose the little weight they have left but it’s not like that, that’s not how it works. Going on walks helps with our physical wellbeing in the sense that it makes us fit, it also helps with our emotional wellbeing giving that you get to relax and think while walking which helps us calm our nerves or worries. Imagine taking a walk in the night with a full moon out with a beautiful breeze blowing and a nice weather, isn’t it lovely? If you want to make your walk fun, you can take a stroll with a friend or your man(for those who have one) but if you love your private space, trust me, it could also be fun and refreshing because you are all alone with your thoughts and you get to have your quiet time without anyone’s interference. This seems like a small task but it does add positively to our health.

Having taken note of all these, it’s evident that we can as well prioritize our health as we do our academics. Actually, they go hand in hand because if you are healthy you will be mentally and physically fit to go to classes and assimilate well, it’s just all about being intentional and deliberate.