Editor’s note: This column is part two of a two-part health guide for freshmen’s transition to life at Syracuse University. This part addresses how to transition physical health. Part one focused on transitioning mental health.

While last week we covered the importance of transitioning mental health to the college environment, an essential aspect of good mental health is physical health and vice versa — the two are unequivocally intertwined. Here, check out all the basics for eating, exercising, sleeping and sex-related wellness at Syracuse University and college in general.

Eat well

Sustain your energy throughout the day by fueling with foods that make you feel good. Eating well in college is notoriously difficult — we’ve all heard people around campus dropping the phrase “freshman 15” into conversation. The truth is, focusing on avoiding weight gain won’t necessarily help you build a healthy eating regimen.

Instead, propel your efforts toward building healthy habits so that eating well becomes automatic instead of a constant struggle. For example, find a chicken wrap you really like at the dining hall and can look forward to at lunch every day or regularly stock your mini fridge with a bag of baby carrots and some hummus so that when you’re tempted to snack you have a healthy option available.

Do

• Eat breakfast. Start the day right with a healthy breakfast to get you through the morning. If you don’t want to use your meal swipes on breakfast, which is understandable, then try options like yogurt, microwave oatmeal or a bottled smoothie.
• Find the dining hall that suits your needs: Shaw Dining Center offers kosher and halal meals at lunch and dinner and has a kosher dining section, for example. And every dining hall has designated vegan/vegetarian meals each day. If you have allergies, and haven’t done so already, special arrangements for your diet can be made by communicating with Food Services. A registered staff dietitian at Syracuse University Health Services can be reached at 315-443-9005.

Don’t

• Order food. The temptation of fresh sushi from Bleu Monkey arriving at your doorstep is really tempting — trust me, I know — but this is a habit that’ll drain your bank account faster than a barista can tell you, “declined.” Not to mention, the more you order tasty restaurant food, the pickier you’ll become. Before you know it, that ordinary dining hall lasagna that once pleased you just fine will be attracting more disdain from you than your most cringeworthy high school ex does.
• Eat under the influence. When you’re drunk or high, your awareness sharply declines. If you’re in a mental state that makes you less mindful of what and how much you’re eating, you’re more likely to make poor choices that, if you don’t regret the next day, you’ll definitely regret in a few months if it becomes a pattern.
• Skip meals. College gets so busy that it can actually become easy to forget to eat. But don’t. I promise that you’ll perform so much better on whatever it is that’s making you so busy if you’re doing it on a full stomach. And you’ll just be less of a grouch, too.

Keep it moving

Exercise was built into many high school schedules through activities like sports teams, dance class or gym class. In college, working out is more of an individual initiative. Whether you want to do your own thing at the gym, run outdoors, be on a team or take a yoga class, SU offers plenty of options on campus. Either way, the benefits of exercising for college students are undeniable. Whether its quality concentration, improved memory retention, a better mood in general or stress relief you crave, working out keeps you in tip-top shape in every sphere of life.

Fitness Centers on campus:

Be sure to check for the hours of each facility if you tend to go later at night or at odd times.

Archbold and Flanagan gymnasiums

Brockway Fitness Center

Ernie Davis Fitness Center

Goldstein Fitness Center

Marion Fitness Center

Marshall Square Mall Fitness Center

Women’s Building

Fitness classes:

Adult Swim Lessons

• Beginner
• Intermediate
• Advanced

Aqua Cycle

Aqua Fitness

Barre Body

Boot Camp

Cycle 50

Golf

• Beginner
• Advanced Beginner

Mat Pilates

Power Hour

Tae Kwon Do

Total Body

Yoga

Yogalates

Zumba

Intramural sports:

The intramural sports played during the 2016-17 academic year are listed below.

Basketball (Fall)

Broomball (Fall)

Flag Football (Fall)

Outdoor Soccer (Fall)

Softball (Fall)

Team Handball (Fall)

Tennis (Fall)

Volleyball (Fall)

Basketball (Spring)

Basketball Skills (Spring)

Dodgeball (Spring)

Indoor Soccer (Spring)

Kickball (Spring)

Racquetball (Spring)

Volleyball (Spring)

Club sports:

There will be a club sports fair on Tuesday from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Flanagan Gymnasium, where students can get information about each team and meet its leaders. The typical club sports teams offered are listed below.

Aikido

Badminton

Ballroom Dance

Baseball

Basketball (Monday,Wednesday)

Bowling

Boxing

Breakdance/Funk Styles

Cricket

Cycling

Equestrian (English/Western)

Fencing

Field Hockey

Figure Skating (Synchronized)

Golf

Gymnastics (M,W)

Ice Hockey (M,W)

Judo

Kendo

Lacrosse (M,W)

Outing Club

Quidditch

Roller Hockey

Rugby (M,W)

Running

Sailing

Shotokan

Ski Racing (M,W)

Soccer (M,W)

Softball

Swing Dance

Swimming

Table Tennis

Tennis

Triathlon

Ultimate Frisbee (M,W)

Volleyball (M,W)

Water Polo (M,W)

Wrestling

Practice safe sex

With the Safer Sex Express, students can order external condoms, internal condoms, dental dams, hand protection and lube from the Office of Health Promotion at no cost. The office even offers latex-free options. Students who live on campus can have their packages dropped off discreetly at their mailbox, and students who live off campus can pick up their packages at the Office of Health Promotion from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at Suite 006 of 111 Waverly Ave.

If you just want to pick up some condoms right away, they’re located by the restroom in Health Services and next to the vending machine in the Syracuse University Ambulance entrance.

To transfer a birth control prescription or any other prescription to Student Health Services, ask your prescriber to fax a new prescription to the Health Services pharmacy. To have a screening for sexually transmitted diseases at Health Services, you can call 315-443-9005 to schedule an appointment.

For bigger issues than just prevention or simply to stay on top of your sexual health, be aware of Planned Parenthood Syracuse Health Center. Its services include abortion services, birth control, HIV testing, men’s health care, emergency contraception, pregnancy testing and services, STD testing, treatment and vaccines and women’s health care. Planned Parenthood is located at 1120 E. Genesee St. and can be reached at 866-600-6886.

Sleep deep to recharge

When managing the life balance of schoolwork, hobbies, other health needs, going out and more, sleep is often the first priority that gets the chop. But it shouldn’t be this way. After all, sleep deprivation is the culprit of a host of negative symptoms: moodiness, headaches, decreased attention and memory,impaired judgement, depression and more. Protect your quality of life with one simple fix — a good night’s rest.

Here are some top tips for getting great Zs:

• Invest in a night mask and ear plugs. Especially if you live in an open double, you probably will have minimal control over creating the conditions you need to sleep, like darkness and quiet. Take that control back with a few inexpensive props.
• Set an alarm on your phone that tells you to go to bed. There are so many reasons to stay up past 2 a.m. in college. Keep yourself in check with a physical reminder. Chances are tomorrow you’ll be so glad you were sleeping from 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. instead of scrolling through Zara looking at a bunch of stuff you won’t even buy.
• Power down your electronics at least half an hour before going to bed if you want to fall asleep faster.

Alex Erdekian is a senior magazine journalism major and psychology minor. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her learning about different coffees while working at Karma Coffee Roasters or intensely searching WebMD for ironically unhealthy amounts of time. Reach her at aerdekia@syr.edu or on Twitter at @alexxe08.

UPDATED: Sep. 5 at 10:43 p.m.

Published on September 4, 2017 at 9:58 pm

Contact Alex: aerdekia@syr.edu