Good health is the key to a good school year
Good grades are important, but if you don't have your health – physical, mental or emotional – they won't help you as much as they should.
To help you operate near peak wellness (perfection isn't possible – school, by nature, tests all our faculties (pun intended)), we offer this guide to wellness. It features stories on dealing with anxiety, reshaping perspectives on debt, taking care of your body, and more.
We've summarized each one below and provided links to the originals, so you can skim the surface or plunge right in. Those stories also have links to invaluable services to help you throughout the year. Don't miss out!
In the meantime, have an awesome, productive year at NAIT – just be sure to look after yourself as you go.
6 ways to stay positive
Being negative is natural – expecting the worst is an evolutionary mechanism that helps us anticipate threats and survive them. But staying in that state isn't fun or healthy. Here, Personal Fitness Trainer chair Kate Andrews offers six ways to change your perspective. Feel your feelings, but also pause to consider what's causing them and how those causes might be seen in a more positive light.
Know that you belong (and help others feel it, too)
Community is a word NAIT doesn't take lightly. Building it takes work, compassion and time. To help the polytechnic has directed efforts toward honouring Aboriginal knowledge on campus and in classrooms.
Grads are doing this work as well, and offer tips to the rest of us on how to participate. We all want a community that feels inclusive of our uniqueness.
Eat healthy on a budget
Going to school doesn't have to mean giving up on a healthy diet. From the executive chef at Ernest's, NAIT's on-campus restaurant, here are six tips on eating well despite limited finances.
Sort out your sore shoulders
Do you know where your shoulders are right now? Slumped forward? Hunching toward your ears? We hold a lot of tension in this part of our body throughout the day, and it's only made worse by sitting in front of a computer for prolonged periods. To help, here are some stretches from a Personal Fitness Trainer grad.
Dealing with student debt
If you're a student, chances are you have debt. It's no small thing but it's also not a burden that has to weigh you down long after you graduate. JR Shaw School of Business Accounting instructor Stacey Cooper has tips on how to come to peace with your loans, not make things worse and, one day, repay them.
Better sleep in six steps
Sleeping better makes us better at being awake. We're not going to tell you that you need you a solid eight hours a night (well, if you can you should). But a NAIT counsellor has ideas on how to make the most of the hours you get. Get into the right frame of mind, don't try too hard and never take a certain something into the bedroom. Rest assured, these tips will help.
Reduce digital eye strain
How many hours a day do you spend looking at a screen? Probably a lot. And it's likely about to be a lot more, which could lead to sore eyes. A solution is in sight! Particularly if you wear glasses, consider these six tips from grad Tana Currie (Opthalmic Dispensing - Glasses ’06, Optical Sciences - Contact Lenses ’08), owner and lead optician at The Vision Parlour.
How to stay healthy at exam time
It won't be long before you're writing exams, and we know that can be stressful. You'll need to focus on ways to take care of yourself – physically, mentally and emotionally – while you focus on your studies. From our experts, here are ideas on how to do that. Study hard! But also eat well, sleep well, exercise and relax.
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