Staying Healthy During the Pandemic

 Hello everyone! My name is Daniele, and I am a 3rd year Economics and Accounting student from São Paulo, Brazil. I am writing this testimonial on a particular and sensitive experience that I went through as an international student in the United States. I believe that 2020 was considered the worst year to many of you reading this post. To me, it was also the worst year of my 20 years of existence. However, I am sharing with you some things I learned in 2020. Before COVID, I was living my life in Isla Vista as a college student. Went to class, hung out with my friends, studied, and had fun. However, I used to stress so much about grades to the point that I would feel sick before every exam. I also struggled with being confident in my own body due to unpleasant past experiences. 

In the middle of the pandemic, I decided to return to my home country to feel safe with my family. I was living an unhealthy lifestyle and constantly stressed out about school work and getting used to living at home with my parents and brothers. I felt like none of them understood me and how classes worked in the US. Things got worse as two tragic events happened in my life. I had lost two very important people to me. I had never felt that sad and unmotivated to do things in my entire life. I felt even worse because I felt like I was studying but not getting the grades I wanted and because I stopped taking care of my body because of the lack of motivation. I beat myself up too hard about those negatives and things were not progressing or that’s what I thought by looking at the events under a negative light.

New Years is my favorite holiday because my family and I follow many traditions and superstitions as a Japanese-Brazilian family. I personally like to take time during December 31 to reflect on the year and be thankful for it. Reflecting on the series of unfortunate events, I realized some things. 2020 was a tough year for me so I should not feel bad about the feeling of unmotivation. We should all be proud of giving our best during such a complicated time and keep trying our hardest in the next years. Additionally, getting good grades and doing well in school is important. However, our health is very important too. During my time in college, I admit I wasn’t the kindest to my body. A survey filled out by 736 University of Kansas students reveals that although college students as a group may be considered healthy, a high percentage of them  did not reach the recommended daily dietary intake in nutrients such as fiber and the recommended 5 daily servings of fruit (Huang et al. 85). Additionally, the survey found that 16.1% of students ranging from ages 18-34 do not partake in any physical activity (Huang et al. 85). I rarely worked out and did not feed my body with the adequate nutrients it needed. I remember taking a Nutrition class at UCSB and one of the assignments was to track our nutrient intake using a website that calculated and compared our percentage intakes and the recommended daily intake. The results showed me how I was deficient in protein and vitamins and that I was over twice the recommended intake for salt and fiber. I started implementing tofu and fish into my diet since I used to be scared of cooking meat and buying more fruit and believe I became healthier.

Furthermore, my healthy body allowed me to come back home safely to my parents and be able to cultivate my relationship with them. Therefore, it is important for us, college students, to pay attention to our health. Ultimately, I realized that we all go through hardships in life, and there will be moments when we do not feel 100% and it is okay. What is important is to do your best with what you have, to treat yourself with kindness, and take care of your health. 

 

TerryT.-K. Huang, et al. “Assessing Overweight, Obesity, Diet, and Physical Activity in College Students.” Journal of American College Health, vol. 52, no. 2, 2003, pp. 83-86.