How to stay healthy during exam season

Healthy living as a student is tough at the best of times. When I was an undergraduate, my main form of exercise was dancing on nights out and I considered chocolate and instant noodles key food groups. This last year I have been trying to live healthier (partly because I study Global Health - learning about health makes it easier to live healthier). I joined the gym and started cooking healthier food.

However, staying healthy during the exam period? Forget about it. When I'm stuck at home or the library all day and stressed out by coursework deadlines, making sure I'm getting my five a day and spending time cooking is so low down on my list.

In an effort to figure out how to live healthier during exams, I asked some fellow postgraduate students for their top tips for staying healthy during exam season. Hopefully this list helps other people who face the same struggle as me!

1. Stay hydrated! 

It's so easy to forget or neglect to bring a water bottle to the library with you, especially when you are carrying your own weight in books and a laptop, but if I don't bring any water with me then I won't be able to work for long before I end up with a headache.

2. Buy carrots.  

This one really surprised me but it does make sense. Carrots are one of those healthy foods that you can eat raw and a friend of mine really rates them as a great stress food because you can reach for them when you would normally reach for a chocolate bar.

Okay…so maybe they aren't as satisfying in terms of sugar, but they fulfil that desire to just eat something which seems to affect all of us when we are stressed out. Fruit works too but one advantage of carrots is that they don't get bruised in your bag and they have a longer sell by date which means you are less likely to have to throw them out because they've gone off.

The ultimate comfort food – must resist!

3. Do the weekly shop online.  

The logic for this is absolutely brilliant. Firstly, walking round a supermarket is a total time eater; I know when I go shopping even when I have a list it ends up taking me at least an hour, plus getting there and back during exams and coursework. I just don't have that time spare. Doing the shop online is much more time efficient which can totally help stress as well.

However, the main way it helps you stay healthy is that supermarkets are very good at marketing junk food to customers. As soon as you walk in you see muffins or cookies on offer, and then you walk around and see more goodies on sale. By shopping online, they can't tempt you with sweet and sugary food and instead you can just buy what you actually need. Plus, you can almost always arrange a delivery time that suits you perfectly.

4. Don't forget your friends. 

Revision and working on coursework can be quite isolating, and often you feel it's something you can only do on your own. However, study groups can be an amazingly helpful way to learn and by staying social and getting you out of the house. Even just meeting up to chill out is a good idea – there can be a life outside of exams!

Celebrating the end of teaching with the public health lot. 

Remember that health is not just exercising and eating right. During these intense study periods levels of stress are higher and we have a tendency to stop looking after ourselves in favour of just getting work done. However, this doesn't necessarily work, as the less healthy you are the less productive you are.

I will definitely be trying these four tips for staying healthy, and hopefully these ideas inspire you to find your own ways of staying healthy to ensure the most successful exam season possible.

Emma

Postgraduate degrees and conference perks

One of the great things about being a postgraduate student at the University of Southampton is the chance to attend conferences. Last week I attended a conference day held by the Global Health Research Institute called ‘Exploring commonalities between global health research and public health stakeholders: a workshop to define future action’.

 Admittedly they could have chosen a snappier title, but since it essentially sums up my masters degree I of course signed up to go along. The day involved 5-10 minute talks from a huge range of lecturers both from the University and from other institutions in the morning followed by stakeholder talks in the afternoon.

Professor Maria Evandrou giving a talk on global ageing and health

Conference days are brilliant and I advise everyone to keep an eye out in their department for any that might be coming up. They allow students, academics and professional stakeholders the opportunity to share their work with one another and network, which is key for maintaining interdisciplinary research and creating new contacts for the future.

While some of the talks were given by academics that I am familiar with from my course, many were from others outside of my department or from outside of the University, and it is rare that one has the opportunity to hear so many interesting people talk about their research. An added bonus of this was that it gave me ideas for my master’s thesis, and I was able to discuss some of these ideas briefly with the academic during the networking sessions.

Dr Janis Baird discussing a lifecourse approach to Non-communicable Diseases

Even better, the day was completely free to attend, and food was provided! I don’t mean just sandwiches; we were treated to a full cooked lunch and the chance to chat informally with some of the other people who had attended.

The fanciest lunch any of us have had in a while! 

However, a day at the Chilworth Manor hotel does not quite compare with the week at the LA conference centre that my partner will be enjoying very soon! I am trying very hard not to die from jealousy, particularly since he will be there when the Oscars is on. I have however told him that if he doesn’t come back with at least two boxes of lucky charms then he won’t be allowed back in the house.

PhD application deadlines are fast approaching and for any one still deciding whether or not to apply, consider the conference budget that you will receive as part of your PhD. The chance to travel internationally and meet key members of industry and academia has got to be worth the 80,000 word thesis at the end!

Emma