Keeping healthy can seem like a daunting task when the temperatures begin to drop and stress levels begin to rise, but personal health is of the utmost importance for students. Staying healthy involves more than simply visiting the Simon Rec and eating foods from Terra Ve. All of us must stay healthy physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

With the onslaught of cold and flu season, there is the ever present threat of becoming a breeding ground for some hideous infection or virus, but if students pay proper attention to the warning signs, perhaps this season will be but a tiny impression of years past.

Following your parents’-and yes, your doctor’s-advice and actually eating your fruits and vegetables could save many students the stress and headaches involved with making up work after missing class due to illness. Eating properly in general not only helps your body stay strong during the winter months, but it keeps the body trim in a way the Big Mac never seemed to accomplish.

Your mind is a beautiful thing, and it, too, should be kept as healthy as possible. Though midterms are now behind us, there is the onset of final-exam preparations, which may well include the dreaded term paper. Taking a mental-health day is certainly advisable, but again, we are drawn to the idea of preventative maintenance.

Yoga?

Some high schools have turned to yoga-or other forms of meditative, relaxing exercise-to help students relax and slow down. This is not such terrible advice for college students. When the world seems to be moving at a pace far too quick for the typical student to catch up, there are resources and ways in which the student can step back from life and simply breathe.

There are areas on campus that offer some perfect locales for stepping away from the hustle and bustle of school life. The Olive/Compton Gardens offer a place to seek some quiet and serenity . and feed goldfish. Student Health and Counseling Center created a guide for employees that is specifically designed to help them better direct students to mental health resources on campus. It always helps to talk it out, whatever the issue.

Perhaps one of the most often neglected parts of health, though hard to believe, given our gym facilities, is the body. Your physical health may seem fine because pants still fit and dates still show up, but only a qualified medical professional can accurately check your body. There is a myriad of things that the ordinary person may not know they have, such as HPV (a specific concern for women), high cholesterol (a concern for everyone)-the list goes on. It’s the only body you’ll ever get, so take care of it, and please, by all means, see your doctor.

There is some truth to the phrase, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” However, for the sake of the rest of campus, get a check-up and stay home if you’re sick.