Healthy Lifestyles

Sarah Lee Sheppard is a health educator at UR and oversees the university's required wellness courses and wellness outreach across campus. She provides the following tips:

"There are many ways that first year students can maintain a healthy lifestyle, even during a traditionally stressful transition period in life. Here are three easy tips to help foster a healthy freshman year:

Sleep: The National Sleep Foundation recommends that young adults average 7-9 hours of sleep each night. Figure out when you need to wake up, and count backwards to know when you should go to bed each night.

Exercise: Aim for at least 150 minutes per week of some sort of moderate exercise that gets your heart rate up. That could include walking around campus, going to a group fitness class, or playing some pickup basketball with your hallmates.

Eat well: Whether you're eating most of your meals at the dining hall or cooking for yourself in your dorm or apartment, make sure you're indulging in moderation and focusing on eating plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats."

Contact Sunni Brown, director of media and public relations, at sbrown5@richmond.edu to connect with Sarah.