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As you will know, a lot of preparation goes into studying for university, and as you will know, some of the most important preparation work for entering college is not necessarily academic. There is a direct link between your health and academics, as result, your health is an important factor in your overall academic success. It’s also a beneficial path to a good start.

If it’s your first time moving away from home, you are likely to spend a lot of time on your own without much supervision. This will be an important time in your life when the demands will be far greater than ever before. And perhaps, this will be the first time where you have to rely on yourself and not your parents/guardians to take care of you.

Maintaining good health is critical to ensuring that you can focus on what you are learning, prepare for exams and meet other demands. Lucky for you, there are free health facilities at the university that don’t require you to spend money. Institutions understand that there are many pressures facing students. Therefore, they provide resources that support good mental health, wellbeing and fitness.

Wellbeing

As a part of cultivating your well-being, being part of a social network is an important part of a fun and healthy experience. Therefore, joining a society or club can be a great way of socializing with people with similar interests, religions, political beliefs, cultures, etc.

Mental health

Most institutions, if not all, have some form of student wellness service where they offer free professional health and counselling services. Here are some health facilities available to you as a student from a few public universities:

UNISA Health and Wellness Clinics

UNISA has health clinics in two campuses, with limited primary health care services:

• Muckleneuk campus
• Florida Campus

UCT Student Wellness Service (SWS)

They “provide professional medical and counselling services to students at a primary health care level. They are involved with the promotion of a balanced and healthy lifestyle as well as the prevention, early detection and treatment of all physical and mental health conditions.

Students can reach these services by calling 021 650 1017.

Wits Campus Health & Wellness Centre (CHWC) 

Offers a wide variety of health services to Wits students and staff members. The services are convenient, accessible, caring and cost-effective. Wits also offers a Counselling and Careers Development Unit, Disability Rights Unit, Gender Equity Office, Safety on Campus and Wits Integrity Hotline.

University of Johannesburg (UJ) Centre for Psychological Services and Career Development (PsyCaD)

Through PsyCAD, the University of Johannesburg offers student support. Sessions are free for UJ students and are generally 30min in duration.

Rhodes University Counselling Centre

The counseling centre offers counseling services to students for free, to work through any difficulty that might be experienced at a particular time. Students can make an appointment by emailing counsellingcentre@ru.ac.za

UKZN CAES Student support services

The University of Kwazulu-Natal offers a range of free, professional and confidential services. They provide academic support in the form of study skills, academic risk assessments, time management workshops; and psychological support for students experiencing personal and psychological difficulties.

Stellenbosh University Centre for Student Counselling and Development (CSCD)

The centre offers psychotherapeutic & support services which offers professional support and counseling to students who are experiencing personal, professional, or academic challenges and emotional trauma.

Students can call 021 808 4994 or email supportus@sun.ac.za

Nelson Mandela Student Health Services

The Health Services actively seek early identification of mental disorders, treatment of common mental disorders, attention to the mental health needs of people with physical health problems, and mental health promotion and prevention and counseling.

North-West University Student Counselling and Development (SCD)

At Student Counselling and Development (SCD) professional services are rendered to students by professional members of staff qualified in psychology, counselling, and social work. The aim is to be a support structure for students in times of need, as well as to inspire and aid them in developing and reaching their optimal wellness potential in all dimensions of life, ranging from emotional, social, and physical wellness, connectivity, growth and influence.

Medical support

Universities often offer Consultations and support are offered through their various Student Wellness Service, which is run by medical practitioners and nurses that are often free and done at a discounted student rate. They offer a range of services for those who are sick or in need of non-urgent medical attention and help students maintain overall health. Please consult your respective university website of student bodies for more information.

Here’s what’s going to be different in your life this year:

You will play at a higher level. You will raise your academic standards.

It’s 2023 my friend, and we are coming with that full court press!

Cheers to acing your academic responsibilities 🥂.

Now then, let’s delve into the concept of Academic Wellness.

For starters, it includes extending your knowledge, building networks and habits that support lifelong learning, whilst taking good care of yourself.

Further than that, it consists of managing academic workloads, using available resources to make effective decisions, challenging yourself to new academic experiences and achieving your goals without burning out.

Number one rule of the successful: strategize to achieve greatness

The year carries twelve months. That’s why it can get overwhelming to handle all the workload and still have time to be a person outside of the classroom.

To be an effective student, break the year into digestible pieces.

Planning and strategy are the lifeblood of consistently successful endeavours.

For example, you may begin by developing weekly (academic) habits, as time goes on come up with monthly milestones, fight to commit to them and before you know it, the habits will be hardwired —— and the year will take care of itself.

And whenever you lose your perspective and motivation, think of an elephant. The analogy goes: you cannot eat the entire elephant with one big bite. (Neither can you see the whole elephant if you are standing too close to it. Take a few steps back to get an unobstructed view.) Self-introspect — and journal your thoughts — all the time.

One lecture at a time until the course is finished. Mantra.

It’s 2023, let’s get academically healthier

First, let’s both accept that wellness is multi-dimensional.

That’s the reason it is important to take care of yourself holistically.

In addition to the need for food, shelter, communication and transport, there’s the need to be healthy —— academically speaking.

It’s your responsibility to monitor how well-off you are on the school front.

And while in pursuit of academic happiness, be on the look-out for:

• Stress (learn to navigate change)
• Anxiety (don’t create problems in your head; breathe, relax, you got this!)
• Sleep difficulties (are you giving enough sleep to the body and mind?)
• Nutrition (how and what are you eating?)
• Depression (what is currently stressing you out? And why?)
• Sexual health (love and take care of yourself always)
• Participation in extracurricular activities (all work and no play made Jay a dull boy; leave behind the textbook, the phone and go interact with the world fully)
• Relationship challenges (learn to solve disagreements with a calm, intelligent and respectful demeanour; that’s how you keep lifelong relationships)
• Alcohol and other types of drugs (look out for yourself; don’t depend on substances to function)
• Body image and self-esteem (how do you really feel about yourself? Explore that question deeply and you’ll be better for it).

Above all else, tend to your wellness consistently. Make it your foundation. Mainly because on a good day, being a student and juggling other life commitments can be daunting. Hence a student with poor academic health has a higher chance of flunking their subjects and perhaps, end up dropping out as a result.

Take advantage of campus health services.

Supportive health services are interventions designed for students. This includes the provision of a wide range of services that can influence health and well-being.

For a tangible feel and understanding of academic wellness in action, check out a few student support initiatives from South African universities:

• WITS University

• University of Pretoria

• University of Cape Town

• University of Johannesburg

• University of the Western Cape

Always keep in mind that health is the gas. Make sure you got too much in the tank.

All the best with the year 👊🏾

In our previous article, we spoke about student wellness and how to begin your wellness journey. In addition to the suggestions we provided, such as exercising and being gentler with yourself, we thought it would be important to remind students of the importance of regular physical health check-ups.

As a student with limited funds, visiting doctors for regular health inspections may seem like an option that is out of reach. However, there are cost-effective ways to take care of your health and we are here to shed some light on a few.

UNIVERSITY STUDENT WELLNESS FACILITIES

Depending on the university or college you attend, each campus offers some form of health service or counselling service. These services are meant to advance students physical, emotional and mental wellness. The services are centred on assisting students to make healthy lifestyle choices in relation to nutrition, sexual health, and stress management. With most students back on campus now, this option might be the most viable.

UNISA has a Student Health & Wellness centre that recognises the importance of healthy living for students and offers an array of programs and services designed to promote physical health and emotional and mental wellness. The Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) has a Student Counselling Reception that provides wellness activities and programmes that range from physical wellness to social wellness. At the Central University of Technology in the Free State, the Wellness Centre is responsible for providing services that range from health and psychological counselling services, social work services and academic support.

Additionally, the University of Rhodes has the Wellness Health Care Centre (HCC) which has a nurse on duty or on-call 24 hours a day. The HCC offers free admissions for all students and further provides support for students with stress, anxiety, and depression. The University of Fort Hare has a Student Counselling Unit that provides counselling for personal, emotional, spiritual, academic as well as social problems. Lastly, the University of the Western Cape has a Campus Health & Wellness Centre that has modern and well-staffed facilities for students’ health-related concerns.  

The universities and colleges mentioned above are provided as examples so that students begin to comprehend that student wellness is within their reach on campuses. With this knowledge, it is up to the student to do further research on what wellness services are offered at their specific university or college.

PHYSICAL HEALTH EXAMINATIONS

Understandably, most students are discouraged from taking more active steps with regard to their wellbeing because of monetary limitations.  However, pharmacies such as Clicks, Dis-chem and Local Choice have experienced nurses that provide consultations and offer basic medical care and advice regarding blood pressure, blood sugar, diabetes testing as well as cholesterol testing and monitoring. As of February 2021, a consultation with a nurse at Dis-chem costs R70, a blood pressure check is R35, a cholesterol test is R85 and a vitamin B12 injection is R60.

Importantly, certain Dis-Chem, Clicks and Local Choice clinics offer pap smears, breast exams as well as family planning services. These procedures may also be available at Marie Stopes clinics, mobile clinics and campus clinics. Numerous reports suggest that young people often think that cancer only affects older people and in a bid to debunk this – we encourage all our students to look into getting pap smears regularly in order to detect cervical cancer and any other conditions such as infections and inflammation. During certain months, Dis-Chem offers pap smears at their Wellness Clinics for just R180.

DENTAL SERVICES

Equally important to physical health is oral health. Because of a lack of awareness and information, most students associate dentists with medical aid or excessive fees. Would you believe us if we told you that there are government facilities that offer free dental services?

The government hospital in your area has a division dedicated to oral health and on top of this, there are government dental clinics such as the Cape Town Dental Clinic that offer free dental services. It is advisable for students to be proactive about their health and do further research on the free and affordable dental services that might be available in their area.

CONCLUSION

What we have emphasised with these articles is the importance of student wellness and how it encompasses both emotional and physical health. When in doubt about certain health-related concerns, always do your research and never let your social standing as a student hinder you from accessing free or affordable health services.

More than anything the past year has made us think deeply about the relationship we have with our health. Up until then, many of us have never really felt forced to introspect the relationship we have with our health. That decision has always been left to our parents and guardians to handle; book us doctor appointments when we are ill, force us to eat our vegetables, go to the dentist and finish our medication. But what happens when you start becoming young adults, move away from home and you don’t always have guardians around to keep you accountable. Essentially when you transition into adulthood and you have to start being accountable for your health. Being healthy does contribute to our energy, productivity, and even happiness. But have you ever taken the time the time to think about how proactive or even reactive you are about your health?

Proactivity vs Reactivity

The main difference between being proactive and being reactive regarding your health is that reactivity is activated action in response to a pain, symptom, or warning sign, whereas proactivity is conscious action irrespective of any trigger.

Proactivity is essentially a state of mind that forces us you to be conscious and in tune with your body. Being proactive is the practice of considering these health choices BEFORE problems arise rather than after. To put it simply, proactivity is getting up and being active because you know that exercise brings with it many benefits, and eventually you’ll reap the rewards. Proactivity is also making informed, timely choices about your nutrition and physical health.

Things to consider for being more proactive:

Maintain a physically active lifestyle

Maintaining a physically active lifestyle is important, whether it’s running, jogging, taking the stairs instead of the elevator, walking instead of taking public transport just to keep your muscles moving. It’s no secret that being mobile has copious benefits not only on your physical health but your mental health too.

Getting a COVID-19 Vaccine

Another form of proactivity is getting the COVID-19 vaccination. You’re choosing to be proactive, because once again “prevention is better than cure”.  Once you receive your first shot, your body begins producing antibodies to the coronavirus. These antibodies help your immune system fight the virus if you happen to be exposed, so it reduces your chance of getting the disease.

It’s true that you can still become infected after being vaccinated, but once more of the population is vaccinated, those chances are further reduced thanks to something called herd immunity. So, getting vaccinated not only reduces your chance of being infected but also contributes to community protection, reducing the likelihood of virus transmission.

Being open to Therapy or Counselling – even if you’re not struggling from a mental illness

When people think of therapy, they think of this intense process that is meant for people who might be clinically depressed, going through a traumatic experience, or suffering from anxiety. According to Business Insider in an article titled: 9 reasons, you can benefit from therapy even if you don’t have a mental illness, “Therapy promotes tools that can improve your relationship with yourself and your brain, something that everyone can benefit from”. It can also serve as a mirror, an objective mirror to openly discuss your feelings in a judgment-free zone, a zone that is not always something we’re privileged to have.

It can also help you navigate big life decisions. In between the transitioning from a high school student to a tertiary student to an employee, there are major life decisions that need to be made. Maybe you just need someone to help you weigh a decision about work, relationships, varsity, and even family. It can also help with having uncomfortable conversations – learning how to express yourself. Expressing your expectations, needs, and dissatisfaction to those around you.

Another misconception is that therapy is about negative issues only. In most cases, talking about the positive things in your relationships and in your life that make you happy, can allow you to be even happier about them. In other words, help you see things that are good as great because we often tend to downplay the big accolades in our lives.

Reactionary

In contrast, reactivity is taking action only when you’re in pain. Prioritizing your health after symptoms develop is being reactive. Being proactive gives us an option to potentially avoid symptoms by maintaining a healthy body, to begin with.

What do you think sounds more beneficial for your overall health and wellbeing? As you consider this question, remember that both proactivity and reactivity are largely a state of mind. If you tell yourself that you want to be in tune with your body, it will happen. However, if you are nonchalant about your body and mental health, this might have negative effects later in your life that could have been easily prevented.