ISU Bengal

Issue date: 4/18/07 Section: Life

With the end of a semester just around the corner, it is important to keep your body ready for the late night study sessions, early morning cramming and the anxiety involved in taking exams.

A balanced diet and exercise are key factors for a healthy lifestyle any day of the year, but when finals roll around it is especially important to feed your body the nutrients it needs, and provide a way to release the anxiety and stress. Where eating is concerned, people often deal with stress in different ways. Some people may turn to food as comfort and will engage in eating to reduce their stress. Although the body is getting enough calories to provide energy, these calories are often coming from energy dense, nutrient poor foods, such as, chips, cookies, and soda. These food items contain many calories but do not contain many vitamins or minerals needed for optimal health.

The other side of stress as it relates to food is not eating. Many people do not turn to food when they become stressed and may not realize that they are not eating at all during the day, because they are too busy. This type of response to stress becomes a huge concern because not only are recommended nutrient levels not being met, but total calorie intake is also not at the recommended level.

In both cases, whether a person is turning to snack foods to comfort their stress or if they become too consumed in what they are doing to eat, key nutrients are not being incorporated into the diet. It is important to monitor what you eat in order to keep your body running at a peak level for the stress that accompanies finals.

Simple ways for getting proper nutrition during stressful times are as follows. Eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner with some healthy snacks in between. Breakfast has gained a reputation for being the most important meal of the day, because it is the first meal consumed after a night of sleep and provides energy and fuel for the body to run throughout the day. Lunch, dinner and snacks are important because they replace energy that is burned throughout the day and provide the body with enough energy to last through a long night of studying. Snacking is a good way to get more fruit, vegetables, and dairy into the diet. Instead of grabbing a bag of potato chips or a cookie from the vending machine, pack with you a bag of baby carrots, celery, and green peppers if you are craving something crunchy; or yogurt, string cheese, or cheese cubes if you prefer softer snacking. Whole pieces of fruit such as bananas, apples, oranges, and pears are a great way to add vitamins to help keep the immune system healthy.

In order to relieve the stress involved in the end of the semester it is important to engage in some form of physical activity. Try taking a study break to play ultimate Frisbee on the Quad, basketball in the gym, or take a walk up to Red Hill. Your body will enjoy the change from sitting in the library for hours and you will be more refreshed to continue studying.

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