Three Tips For Staying Healthy While You Study
If you are looking for a career in healthcare, whether it be in nursing, or you are doing something more management-related like a bachelors in healthcare administration, there are now lots of options for you to be able to study for your qualifications entirely online. More and more people are choosing to do this for lots of reasons, from wanting to keep student debts down to wanting to study part-time while they work in another job, there are now plenty of professionals working in healthcare who graduated this way. If you are looking to become one of them and are already working hard on an online healthcare degree, you may already be noticing how easy it can be to slip into fairly unhealthy habits when you are putting in a lot of time studying at home.
Here are three things to think about so that you can maintain your own health while you study to look after other people’s!
Your Workspace
One thing that you will definitely need when you study online is a workspace that is designed to keep you in a comfortable position throughout long periods of study. You should consider the same sort of requirements here as are recommended for home offices, which include having an adjustable office chair with five wheels, set to the right height for you, as well as rests wherever you need them for your wrists while using the keyboard and mouse, and for your feet – again, if needed. Having an ergonomically suitable place to work will help you avoid back and shoulder pain, and reduce the risk of RSI. No matter how comfortable your workspace is, though, you should be standing up and moving around at least once every hour.
Sleep
One thing that can be really problematic for students, especially those who work from home, is that it can be tempting to see the time after which you’d normally go to bed, as time that is available for extra study if you just endure a bit of tiredness the next day. Realistically, almost everyone ends up pulling a few late nights or even all-nighters as a student, but this should never become a habit. A good sleep schedule will prevent you from becoming run down and more prone to illnesses, and will also help your mental performance, allowing you to get more out of the times when you study than doing it when you’re tired.
Diet
Snacking instead of eating proper meals, or alongside meals, can play havoc with your nutrition and weight. While it can be tempting to munch on things out of boredom while you are studying, or to skip meals to save time for more study, it is important to make healthy choices. Snacking on fruit or raw vegetables, or other nutrient-rich foods like seeds, can be a much better choice than going for cookies or salty chips, and if you are going to get takeouts to save time, consider picking healthier options when you do.
These are three ways that you can take better care of yourself while you’re working hard on an online health degree at home.